DV9000 battery

ok, so i've got a DV9000 series laptop with the standard 6 cell battery, and i'm wondering what's the best way besides either setting it into "power saver mode" or creating your own power setting with everything really low. i'm going on a trip where i'll be on a plane (first time where i've actually needed the battery part, typically i just use it throughout my house.) so what can i do to keep this thing going as long as possible. i'd like to play some movies off the Hard drive. (would i save power by shutting off one of the HD's? i have two.) or is there any software out too to help with this? thanks!

 

you could undervolt your cpu and save some extra power during the trip.
check the undervolting guide for info : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824&page=105

switching off the second hdd, wireless/ethernet/bluetooth might save some additional power.

 

The DV9000 series comes with a standard 8 cell battery. For optimizing the battery life, here are a few tweaks which could help you get the last bit of battery for usage rather than some fancy effects :

1. Undervolt your CPU from RMClock - You could assign profiles to the software i.e. powered by AC or on Battery. You can also limit the speed the CPU should kick in once on battery.

2. Lowering screen brightness is a user specific setting, so take it down to the extent you are comfortable.

3. Underclock your GPU - If you have a dedicated graphics card (like the nVidia series) you can underclock the various speeds it operates on from RivaTuner.

4. If you are running Vista, you can switch to the basic color scheme. Disabling Aero nets some needed battery time for larger laptops like these.

5. From Windows Device Manager, disable items you wont be using. This helps save some power, thought not appreciably.

6. If you intend to watch a movie, try to get it on the hard drive. Using the CD/DVD drive for movies is a battery guzzler for sure.

7. Use Windows XP : I have XP and Vista installed on my DV9500 and constantly find XP edging Vista out for battery life. In some cases, XP managed to work about an hour more than Vista with the same scenario.

8. Keep the minimum number of items in the System Tray. Keeping them running in the background consumes CPU cycles as well as RAM.

9. If you are not browsing the internet, turn WiFi off. It helps conserve power.

The best I have been able to squeeze out of the DV9500 is about 2.5 hrs, give or take a few minutes. It is designed as a Desktop Replacement and does the job appreciably well. Besides, after Apple Mac's, it comes across as the second best gorgeous budget machine.

 

ive gotten a total of 2 hours before... with wi-fi on. so if i turn off wi-fi and the HD i think i might get better battery life. also i turned the cpu down to like 10 percent last time. and i also wasnt watching a movie when that test was done, so we'll see.