help my 1530 battery to last longer

Hi, I'm wondering how can I run my XPS 1530 longer than couples of hours on 6 cell battery ?

how about 9 cell users ? Can your battery last more to 4 hours ?

With lowest brightness, only 1-2 tasks running, how many hours can you get with 6 cell and 9 cell? I get only 1.5-2 hr on 6 cell which is actually quite bad and have to take adapter everywhere every time...hoping to take less weight

 

If you have Wi-Fi on that is using a ton of battery power.

 

yep, it can save some but not much. During my test, I closed all apps (even msn messenger) except firefox browser(yes, no wifi off). It lasted only around 2-2.5 hours.

 

That's not a bad length, 2-2.5 hours. Try undervolting cpu, that can probably buy you another 20 mins.

 

wow...cool idea abt undervolting...where can I change ? using windows portable application ? Like, set to CPU slower speed (or power saver mode) ? I'm thinking to change 9 cell if it can save me bringing adapter everywhere for the whole day...

anyone wanna share with your experience about powersaver mode on 9 cell battery ? How many hours you get ? I guess 3-4 hours on normal usage.

 

If I underclock my processor for low usage I can get just under 3 hours on a 6 cell battery, which is handy if you can live with the performance loss. A 9 cell battery should add on another hour or more.

 

Download RightMark CPU Clock Utility, aka RMClock. It gives you full voltage and multiplier control over your processor.

You don't have to underclock. Using RMClock, you can undervolt and maintain your existing clock speed. It's not the clock speed that uses battery life, it's the voltage. Higher speeds have higher voltage presets, but you can lower them if you're comfortable with it.

 

thanks...! but I'm so sad that I cannot use that programs as I'm running in Ubuntu anyway will try later after I make dual boot with windows 7 or vista 64bit.

appreciate your advice.....!

 

Good luck with that...keep in mind, though, that any voltage adjustments you make will only take effect in Windows, while RMClock is running. Once you reboot, it's back to factory settings.

And I'm not sure if there exists any voltage management utilities for Ubuntu, sorry. Linux is not my field of expertise.

 

It's difficult to say how long the battery will last due to each user's config is different. You also have to weight in the programs and services running in the background. Around 2.5 hours for 6 cell and 4 hours on the 9 cell for me on Dell recommended mode on half brightness with internet with some videos (you tube).

 

I recommend you stick with the 6 cell battery, trust me the 9 cell is just not worth the extra money and the extra weight.

i have both, and i have to say i love the 6 cell, i just cant stand the 9 cell, it makes my computer look and feel huge.
as for battery life: the 6 cell gives me 2 hours, whereas the 9 cell gives me 3 hours.

but think about it, for the extra chunk that the 9 cell battery adds to your computer, you could use it to make space for the adapter...

that's my opinion anyway, if you want to try out the 9 cell battery, and you have the money to do it, then go for it

 

I get about 5 & 1/2 hrs of web-browsing on a (newish) 9-cell battery, with brightness probably around 75%.

That's with Win 7, and the CPU undervolted (which also has the effect of making the fans run less), and the power setting on 'balanced'.

 

Are you kidding me?

 

No. On Vista it was around 4 & 1/2, but Win 7 seems to have some great improvements. The discharge rate usually stays around 15,000-16,000 mW, which gives me about 5 & 1/2 hrs.

That's just web browsing and basic use, obviously if I was doing something intensive it would be a bit less.