E1705 battery life with the 9-cell upgrade?

If anybody has an E1705 with the 9-cell battery upgrade, would you mind sharing how long your battery lasts on average? I have a night class that's 2.5 hours long so I'm just wondering if theoretically that would make it the whole time while taking notes/surfing/trying not to fall asleep

 

Hi,

I never looked on my watch to see how long the battery is lasting (don't use it very often), but I think, 2,5 hours are manageable, if you try not to do energy consuming tasks. So, if possible, switch wireless and bluetooth off, lower the display brightness etc.
I think, I used mine already more than 2 hours on battery with wireless on, USB devices plugged in and the battery still wasn't empty.

Greets

 

Thanks. The only thing above that I would not be able to do is turn off the wireless because the internet about the only thing that keeps me awake in that class I think I read previously that people with the 6-cell default battery were seeing around 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes, so I would think the 9-cell should be able to do another 1/3 of that and put me over 2.5 hours.

 

Yes, I think it will be fine although you have wifi on. With 100% battery charge, mine shows around 3 hours running time. I just never tried it out how much run-time I can get in real use, 2,5+ hours seem realistic to me.

So have fun

 

I must say it depends heavily on your graphics card.... The Intel GMA 950 gets up to 3 hours on 9 cell.

 

Video cards, hard drives, and CD-ROM access are your biggest energy draws. If you have a 7200rpm drive, use the CD-ROM a lot, or do graphic intensive (watch movies, video editing, etc) tasks, battery life will quickly disappear. If you are only taking notes, minimize disk usage and keep the screen light level at 3 or below, I think you should get 2.5 hours from a 9 cell battery.

 

I also mainly leave it plugged in but it lasted a bit over 2 hours I believe when I brought it to a friends place running it on batteries. Well mine did.

Curious though, your classroom doesnt have any places to plug your adapter into?

 

I get 2.5 hours on mine with normal use (Word processing and surfing). With games and burning, the time drops. For your 2.5 hour class, it might be close. Make sure you turn your radios (Bluetooth and Wireless) off. That will stretch your battery life some. Same thing with your screen - if you can stand bringing the brightness down a notch or two that will conserve battery life also.

I love this laptop ... See my signature for my laptop details ...

 

No, this particular room has no handy outlets. I do get a 10 minute break that I could use to slightly charge the thing if needed, but I'd rather not hassle with it. My current laptop doesn't last nearly long enough--I usually wait 1/2 hour before even turning it on because I know it won't last. Then I turn it off during the break and it still barely makes it to the end of the class.

The only things I'll be doing are taking notes and surfing online, so the wireless will be on the whole time. Nothing graphic-intensive, no drives being taxed. I'm going to go ahead and spend the extra $50 on the better battery because I *know* the 6-cell won't last long enough. If it weren't for this one class I wouldn't have a problem at all. Oh well. :\

 

Hi,

just one hint: Turning the computer of during the break is not the best thing, because booting afterwards needs a lot of battery-power. Best is to use standby.

 

It might be close then.

You could always buy a second battery too and just bring both charged to class. If you need the other one, you swap and you're good to go.

Not sure if you need the bluetooth, or if it is even configured with it, but if you do not need it, you could shut that guy down. You could also toggle your wi-fi on and off only when you need it. I am not sure how taxing that would be though and if that would buy you any extra time in the end. You may want to test that out a little.

Good luck!