Dell studio 15 battery issues

Hi,

I got mt dell studio 15 last week. I'm happy with its performance but it has some seriour battery issues.. for starters i never saw my laptop last for more than 2 hours on a full charge..even while using it strictly for internet surfing on wifi and some word processnling... that too with "dell extended battery" software enabled.
Second the battery status indicator on the top right corner of keypad doesnt work as expected.. the only time it goes on is when im working on battery and it goes down below 10%(it turns on with orange color), in any other case it just doesnt turn on !!
Third is the AC adapter..man i've never seen an AC adapter reach such high temps.. i didnt check the exact temp, but i couldnt hold it for more than 10 secs when it got hot.

This is my first laptop so have never dealt with such issues..

Please do let me in on whether these things are normal or shall i get dell to repair it !!

Thanks

 

i posted it in a hurry.. sorry for the typing errors above

 

anyone out there?

 

Please don't bump your post more than once every 24 hours.

That being said, what're the specs of your Studio? What's the CPU utilization while you're browsing/word processing/etc? The low battery life is probably just a rogue process somewhere eating up your juice...

But if you're still under warranty, you might want to call Dell about the latter two. Those might be actual hardware problems.

 

Okies will take a note of that

and my studio 15 1558 specs are as follows ..

Core-i7 740QM 1.73 GHz
4GB (2x2GB) 1333mhz DDR3 RAM
500 GB 7200 RPM SATA HDD
ATI MOBILITY RADEON 5470 1 GB GRAPHICS
Dell Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Backlit Keyboard
15.6 WLED 1080p (1920x1080) HD Display
6 cell battery
90 watt AC adapter


P.S. I called dell support today..this is what they have to say :
1) 2 hours battery life is good !! also he said 15 minutes for each cell so it should be 1.5 hrs..me getting 2 hrs is good according to them.
2) For battery status indicator, he said Update the QuickSet to the latest version which i had already done..so he said nothing can be done wait for the next release and it will be fixed when u install the next update
3. AC adapter...he said i will get a replacement..so i hope the new 90 watt adapter works good !!


Thanks

 

So... what was the CPU utilization? I'm inclined to believe that, with a 6-Cell and a quad-core i7, the Dell rep might be right about the battery.

If your old power supply was 90W, you might want to try to haggle for a 130W brick... the 1645/47 guys with quad i7s and the like are maxing out the 90W bricks, so you might be coming close, too.

 

Hmm i have been reading about this 130 watt adapter..so i did ask them if i can get a 130 watt adapter..in exchange to this one, they said that 130 watt adapters are for studio XPS systems and if i used it with my system; it would blow up.. I wasnt too sure about this so i went with their response of replacing my present 90 watt adapter with another 90 watt..

And yes..about the CPU utilization..well the 2 hrs i get are by using power saving mode(that means my cpu operated in Lowest Freq Mode, 933 mhz on each core all the time..no turbo boost) along with dell extended battery life enabled...avg CPU utilization not more than 8-10 percent.
Today i tried to keep my laptop ON a full charged battery..and kept it on screen saver(no sleep, no monitor off, lowest brightness) ...it lasted for 2 hours 40 minutes

And any idea about the battery status indicator on right top corner?? does the dell rep sound right on that ?

Thanks

 

Sorry mate, no idea about this battery indicator.

But yeah, if you're in power saver, and your CPU utilization is low, there's probably nothing you can do to improve battery life. You could buy a 9-cell battery if offered, but even then I don't think I'll see anything more than three hours in normal use.

The 130W adapter thing is BS. The computer will only pull the current that it needs from the adapter, regardless if it's 130W, 150W or even 200W.

 

Okies, well for now i'll try out the replacement adapter when i get it, if that's not working properly then i'll have to get a 130W adapter..

I guess Core-i7 eats up more battery than the others and i'll have to deal with it..Anyways, thanks for the help..much appreciated

 

2 hours on a 6-cell sounds like it's in the right ballpark. Changing adapters won't affect that. The 9-cell gets 3-4 hours depending on my usage w/an i7. To get longer life, I enable the power saver option and throttle the CPU down to a 5% minimum or so. Also, try lowering your brightness settings on the display. A significant chunk of the battery life goes toward a max brightness display.

As for the LED, that's just how it works. Off when running off battery or it's full, white when charging, orange when you're in low battery territory.

 

but u see.. the LED never turns white while charging.
The only time i see it on is when i am running on battery power and it goes below 10%(at that time it goes constant orange)

never seen it white or any other color in any other situation

 

sorry to hijack your thread, i'm looking at getting a studio 15 as well.. just wondering if anyone can provide any insight on the difference between i5 and i7? It looks like the i7 really eats up your battery... is there a big difference in performance with the i7 that would justify this? 2 hours battery life sounds like total crap imo

 

well.. i just got it last week..haven't installed much stuff as yet, so cant help you out right now..

ask the mods..they might know !!

 

heh i guess i'll just start a new thread, thx anyways hope you get your battery indicator thing resolved ^^

 

yup do that !!

and yea i do hope the same

P.S. : anyone having any idea how to solve this Battery status indicator problem..plz do drop a reply !!