m1210 - Only 4:30~ on a 9 cell battery

How can I get more out of my battery when i'm on the road? Screen is all the way down, cpu at 50%, but not undervolted. wifi on, bluetooth off.

sound is off. webcam drivers arent installed, so its never on.

Any other ideas?

 

If you have a high end processor with a 7200 rpm that could be the issue. I have a low end processor and 5400 rom hd and I get 6 hours so your compenents could be the issue.

 

5400/7200 shouldn't make a big difference.

My biggest battery life improvement with my extended battery was from undervolting. In a small system with a small screen, etc, it represents a significant fraction of the power being used.

 

i have a 2.0ghz core 2 duo along with a 7200 hitatchi HD.

How do i undervolt? Do you HAVE to do it in bios? Or is there software? Intel Speed step, where the heck is the program for it.

 

Neither the processor will make a much of a difference, if any. Any of the C2D processors use the same (or close) voltage at the maximum step (fullspeed) You can undervolt this to whatever is stable using either RMClock or NHC. Google those if you are curious. You cannot change the minimum voltage--usually when you are on battery the computer will locked down at the minimum step (1.0ghz and .95v) Unless you are doing intensive processing on battery, undervolting won't do anything. Intel speedstep is a 'program' which allows the CPU to run at various "steps" or speeds based on the amount of processor power needed. 90% of the time during normal usage your computer will be at the minimum step/clock speed of 6x or 1Ghz. Don't disable speedstep in the BIOS if you want to preserve this function

What are you doing on the 9cell? At what level is the screen brightness set? If you want to maximize your battery life you should turn it down to the minimum. Using WiFi and bluetooth will also affect battery life. Turn the radios off when not in use. Excessive hard drive use will cut into battery life as will optical drive usage (watching DVDs, etc)

 

That is more true with the P-M chips;the Core and Core 2 Duos have locked lower voltages. It is a shame. =/

 

I use my laptop for taking down notes in class. And surfing in between classes.

I dont see how I am only getting 4:30 AT BEST when a lot of people are getting 6 hours. Thats one of the reasons I bought the m1210, was to get a lot of hours off the battery.

Brightness is always at its lowest. Hard drive usage might be whats killing me.

i've been running a video off the hard drive for an hour now. with wifi and screen at its lowest, turned off the sound. and its been running for an hour and 3 minutes. says 2:44 is left.

Is it possible I got a crap battery?

 

yea maybe a few cells are damaged? It could be possible.

 

Should I call tech support and ask them about it? The battery isn't under warranty is it? But when its defective thats different right?

I'll give them a call tomorrow and inquire about it.

 

It could be that the battery gauge is not calibrated correctly. You might want to charge the battery up and then discharge it completely. It won't change the capacity of the battery but it might make the gauge more accurate.

 

The battery isn't under warranty regarding natural use and wear-n-tear. But yes, if the battery is a dudd or something is physically wrong with it (and you didn't do it) then yes it is covered.

Check out a program called Battery Eater Pro. The freeware software (I don't know if there is a pay version...probably not) can communicate with most batteries and tell you the designed and actual WHr capacities, as well as how many cells are in the battery (and presumably if they don't work).

FYI: The program measures the number of cells a little strange. I have an 8 Cell battery but it registers as a 4 Cell battery. I'm fairly certain it is counting something like positive-negative pairs, but I know for a fact the WHr ratings are accurate.

 

Thanks for the idea! I'll call tech support and see what they have to say about that.

 

My lappy (spec below) is running about the same as yours, around 4.40mins on the garge, thats with 2/8 brightness, wireless off and Powermaze on (nvidia thing, u should try). i dont think u can ever get 6hours on this laptop, cos theres a fair bit of power in it.

 

With Wifi On, BT off, and everything Idling I am using around 17.3-17.5 watts per hour as calulated by NHC. 17.5/85whr battery runs me around 4hours and 40 minutes, in actual usage it would be closer to 4 since you're not idling... nothing wrong with the battery, this is just simple math.

(Not to say - Im dissapointed with the bat life... Id expect 3-4hrs with the 6cell blah...)

T7400
2GB Ram
160gb HD
GF 7400

 

You can get closer to 12-13 IDLE watts by disabling the camera and installing the microsoft usb power drain fix.

Also, if u plug in an usb hub and unplug it, that will increase your ide watts, even if u install the usb power drain fix.

 

EXPLAIN MORE!

I dont have the drivers installed for my camera, does that mean its disabled?

Where can i get the microsoft usb power drain fix? I've done all the microsoft updates.

12/85 is 7!!! thats closer to the expected 6 hours i had. I'd be happy with 5:30.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918005

is this it?

 

Well, if I turn everything low I can squeeze 5 hours, but in reality, you will get roughly about 4-4:30 so it's fine. Don't worry about it!

dL

 

without the usb fix even if u don't have the drivers for the camera, its still draining power...

yes that is the fix..

to be on the safe side, i would disable the device in the device manager.

 

A funny thing happend when I installed the USB fix - my power consumption went up by about .4W/hr, disabling the webcam made no difference.

 

i'm at 18 watts right now, with wifi on, brightness 0, usb power fix installed. Im surfing and typing notes, On start up I noticed the time went to 5 hours, I looked at my wattage and it was 16watts .

I wonder how I can get it that low.

 

I've installed NHC, and under battery there is Capacity, and full capacity.

83983 is the full capacity, 2% battery wear.
74625 @ 89%... I will charge it to 100% later to see if it reachs the 83983 mWh rating

 

Try disabling the usb controller port for the camera and reboot and see if that helps. Make sure u don't have any other usb peripherals attached.

 

yeah the battery charges correctly to 83983. does anyone know how to lower their watts per hour?

Normally I have around 18.1-18.5.

 

I have had my M1210 for about a month and I am getting about 4-4:30 with note taking in class and wifi on, Bluetooth off.

Last night with a fully charged battery I was barely able to play 1 dvd movie with Wifi and Bluetooth turned off. I did have to turn the volume all the way up but it still wasn't load enough to hear all the words of the movie.

 

What the deuce? How can a smaller laptop get worse battery life thanmye1505?

 

you make me leak water from my eyes.

 

hehe, with the extended battery on my old 15" T42 (2 years old) running a Centrino, I could get 7+hours of bat life..with dedicated ATI graphics, 7200rpm drive, etc.etc. that was the life.

 

i normally get out-ran by my laptop anyway. Cant study for longer than 4hours in one time

lol

 

oh yeah! Asus z70v. If i was buying LAST here it would have been the perfect laptop. cept a little bit bulky.

 

My apologies, I didn't mean to cause the inducing of aquarious substances to leak from your eyes.

 

Each class (MBA) for me is 4 hours straight with a 15 minute break at the 2 hour mark which is the reason why I went for the XPS and 9 cell battery. If I bother to use the computer before class then I run the risk of running out of battery. Is there any way to get the allocated 7 hour battery life?

Thanks,

P.S. each class is a challenge in holding in bodily fluids. I had to learn to dehydrate a bit before class in order to last the 2 hours until the break. Of course not to the extreme.

 

Are there any outlets in the classroom? What laptops are others around you using?

 

The outlets are on the wall so students using laptops have to get to class early and reserve the seats along the side and back of the rooms to plug in. There are not many so it is a rat race. The school is rennovating the rooms to have power outlets on the desk but the rennovation is going slow. By the time they update the classrooms I would have already graduated.

Those in the center are using IBM/Lenovo X60s which I am impressed with their battery life. I was about to buy one last month before the M1210 for this reason but wanted the 2Core duo and read that the XPS gets 7 hours with the 9 cell. Of course I learned the hard way. I can do with out the CD drive for my immediate purposes so I just might have to pass on the M1210 to the family and buy the X60s next year when it comes out with the new chip.

 

I suppose if you have the extra dollars that would be the way to go. You could always consider getting a second battery and swapping it out during your 15 minute break. Might be somewhat of a hassle but it would do the trick.

It would be nice if Dell just came out with a higher capacity battery
There's also the external batteries such as the N-charge
system. Which provides 10hrs of power.

Might be a bit unwieldy but it will get the job done.

Mike

 

Just as above, a review on the ncharge

http://www.mobilityguru.com/2006/10/31/valence_ncharge_battery_power_system/

hope it helps

 

I was thinking about the spare battery.The campus is quite large and carrying around more weight is already a pain as it is with my books and the computer. Buying the higher capacity battery was to save weight from carrying the charger but it is just cheaper to carry the charger and plug it in when using before and after class. A fully charged battery gets me by with 15 minutes to spare for my class.


I appreciate the time you took to send me the link. I am going to investigate that.

Thanks,

 

that ncharge is ridiculous! Who wants to carry that thing around, might as well just buy 2 more battery's from your manufacturer. You might even SAVE money while you're at it.

In terms of the 4.5 hours I'm getting from my 9 cell. It is enough for me, but I wish the m1210 lived up to my expectations and gave me over 5 hours of battery life. I was seriously expecting more out of it. Maybe I'm not tweaking properly...

Ah well, thanks for all your help guys.

 

ive got the extended battery with my m1210, with core running at 1/2, and brightness down all the way i get around 5 hours on a full charge...

 

azskyrider

One is quick to learn not to trust what the manufacturer quotes. Especially performance numbers and battery life for a notebook system, as they would be almost unrelistic.

There is a way to get 7 hours of battery life on the M1210 with the 9-cell, assuming you get the Intel Integrated Video option, turned off all wireless radios (WiFi/BT/WWAN), LCD screen brightness to lowest (1/7), CPU mostly idle at the lowest frequency setting (=1GHz for all Core Duo and Core 2 Duo), and with a slow 4200rpm HDD, and no USB device attached (that includes the webcam, or any USB mouse).

Simple maths really, in order for a 85WHr battery to last 7 hours, the total system power draw must not be greater than 85/7 = 12 Watts.

While it is not impossible for the GF Go 7400 equipped versions to get 7 hours, it is highly unlikely unless you leave it sitting idle untouched and unused (and what good would that be?).


However, under a more relistic usage scenario, and now that I have had my M1210 for nearly 2 months now, I can say that with the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 set to "Maximum Battery" under the driver's PowerMizer settings, WiFi on (but BT/WWAN off), LCD screen at roughly half brightness (3/7), CPU auto-switching with SpeedStep, and my 7200rpm HDD browsing the web, listening to music non-stop, I register between 20W-25W total system power draw (using a tool called MobileMeter), that translate to around 3.5 to 4.5 hours of battery life (I usually get a little over 4 hours).


The only advice I can give you to sqeeuze out every last drop out of the batteries would be:
- Force the CPU to run at its lowest frequency mode (i.e. SpeedStep it to the minimum 1GHz). Dual Core 1GHz should still give you enough performance for most tasks, and the power consumption should stay well below 20W most of the time (I'd say 10W-12W average).
- Set the LCD screen to the dimmest, although even at the highest brightness level, a 12.1" widescreen LCD such as the AUO panel in mine) only draws 4.5W maximum so at minimum brightness I'd say you save maybe 2W. But I guess every Watt counts.

 

if you are really concerned about battery life, why not pick up an extra 6cell or 9cell battery to carry as a back up.

 

I guess the reason for making this thread was the fact that I thought I was the only one. but seeing as how Angrymob also gets between 20-25 watts per hour doing his tasks. 18 watts to me sounds fair.

the only thing i have not yet understood is the intel speed step, does it do it by itself? and how do i know if its working?

thanks for your continued support, it means a lot.