Gateway MX8738 horrible battery life

Just got the MX8738 and it's beautiful. Nice display, very quick and I love the full size keyboard.

I have to say, however, that this is the worst battery life I've ever seen. I'm luck to get 1hr 15mitues out of this thing. It seems to drain almost immediately. It kinda looses it's charm quickly when I always have to plug it back in.

1 - Are there extended batteries for sale that would increase it's life?

2 - What is the average life of a battery these days for a comparable PC? Is there some kind of a 'review' that I can look for.

Battery life is one of the most important this that I want to look for in a laptop.

Thank you.

 

Generally speaking, 17" notebooks aren't known for their battery life....... those big 17" screens take a lot of energy.

Usually this doesn't bother most people because 17" notebooks are mostly used as desktop replacements, and thus can be plugged in most of the time.

I think even in the best scenarios, people usually are lucky to get 2 hours of battery life generally; and when you're talking about a machine that only costs $600-700, there isn't that much that can be expected.

I'd probably argue that if battery life is a major concern, a 17" notebook probably isn't the right notebook for you anyway.

Usually battery life is combined with a need to use it a lot on the road or away froma power adapter; but most 17" notebooks aren't really ideal for that.

The question is, why do you need more than an hour and 15 minutes out of your laptop? Are you using it often in places other than a desktop?

If so, you really might want to look at a smaller laptop, which will also probably have better battery life too.

-Zadillo

 

Everything zadillo said is right on. But I searched a little and have some maybe good maybe bad news. When I looked up specs on web found your batt is 2400mAH, I took out my Gateway MX6453 batt 6 cell 4800 mAH twice the power (life of yours). I suggest you pull your battery out and see what it is. If 2400 mAH maybe you can buy a 6 cell like mine 4800 mAH.

As an add on from posting about 6 cell 9 cell Chaz pulled out the mAH, I think it is fine two talk about cells but the real # we need is the mAH so we should also include that, cells don't mean much.

 

Thanks for the info.......it just dawned on me the other day that an 'additional' battery may be the way to go. In response to your question, I am looking to use my laptop at the airport and outside on my deck for at least 4 hours. Since I love the display, I really would rather not downgrade to a smaller LCD.

I checked the battery in the laptop and it is a 6MSBG model number with a Rating 11.1V and 4800mAh. I've been googling all batteries that go with the MX8738 Gateway and I'm coming up empty. Ideally I would like to get an additional battery for this model with perhaps a higher mAh as baddog suggested. Worst case scenario, I'll just pickup a 6MSBG http://www.become.com/gateway-6msbg.

I'll keep searching for a battery (perhaps extended) battery for the MX8738 - I already emailed Gateway. Thanks all.

 

Glad to hear that their is another MX8738 owner out there! I just picked one up and thought it was a great deal for the specs. You may already be aware but if you're planning on using the optical drive such as watching DVD's that will also drain your battery pretty quick. Sounds like a second battery is your best option.

As this is a retail model finding parts and accessories for it is pretty hard and as you likely noticed the Gateway website treats it like a second class citizen compared to their buy-direct models. The NX series seems like the same chasis.

My two main gripes with the laptop so far - it runs pretty hot and they skimped on including a proper dock connector on the bottom so you can't use the Gateway docking station with it. Called tech support and they suggested using a USB port replicator - not exactly the same thing....

Good luck and have fun with it!

 

I found a battery at http://www.shopbattery.net/gamxmxmxseli16.html that gives you 50% more life than the standard battery. Its not a real gateway battery though.

EDIT: Also found this battery http://www.batteryvalues.com/Gateway-mx8738-laptop-batteries-product-b5815.aspx which is also sold by Duracell. Not sure if they are the manufactures or not but its 40 bucks more at Duracell here http://www.duracelldirect.com/gateway_mx8738_laptop_accessories.aspx

 

Hmm I don't have a MX8738 but I do have a laptop that seems like it may be similar to yours.

I have about 3 hours on my 12-cell battery and if I optimize it to use less electricity to just type word docs and web surfing, etc. I can get about 4-4.5 hours out of it.

My advice is to find a 12-cell battery.

 

We got one of these a month ago. Battery life is well over 4 hours. Maybe you should have asked gateway if something was wrong with it instead of assuming it's normal.

 

4 hours of battery life on a 17" machine with the stock battery (not even the 12 cell)? That is pretty impressive.