Envy 14 Battery Life Log

For what it's worth, BatteryBar is very light, so it's not likely to have any impact on your startup times, if that's the issue. You could also just launch it manually every time you run, but you'd get a marginally less accurate report and it's easier to have it set to run on startup...

 

This.

Battery bar seems light. However, I have found to not use it to test my duration. For example, it said I had 2:30 left, I played some youtube videos and it said 1:40, I turned youtube off and started just browsing this forum and it went back up to 2:10. It just depends what youre doing.

When testing the actual battery life I write down my actual time on a piece of paper and report everything I did while on battery power.

 

Yeah, I and some others here have discussed the reliability of BatteryBar as a battery lifetime predictor (or a gauge of actual runtime), and it's certainly suspect in those areas, to one degree or another. However, it's a nice tool to have, and good for giving approximate "time remaining" readings if it's got enough history, as well as indicating approximate power draw, which can be useful. As long as you know what to trust and how far, BatteryBar's worth using, but if not, it might give you more headaches and worries than it's worth.

 

Ok so this is my first set of results, I tried to keep as much as possible the same when I timed both (even down to the time of day that I did them lol). During the time of the tests, there was no usage on the laptop, I literally changed the power plan, unplugged the AC and left it, noting down the % remaining (according to Windows 7) every hour (which I can provide if anyone is really interested). So here we go:

Bluetooth: OFF
Wireless: ON
Screen: 40%
GPU: INTEL
Profile: HP Recommended
- Dim the display: Never
- Turn off the display: Never
- Put the computer to sleep: Never
Processes: 53
Backlit keyboard: OFF

Time: 5h 35m


Bluetooth: OFF
Wireless: ON
Screen: 40%
GPU: ATI
Profile: HP Recommended
- Dim the display: Never
- Turn off the display: Never
- Put the computer to sleep: Never
Processes: 53
Backlit keyboard: OFF

Time: 4h 10m

I don't know if these are much use to anyone

 

how in the world do you have so little processes??

 

Haha, I don't know man, I did a minimised image recovery when I first bought the machine and uninstalled all the MediaSmart stuff but besides that, i've not done any tweaking. Just lucky I guess

 

I think around 50 processes is normal for a clean install/minimal recovery. I had 48 after mine.

 

*figures out how to install the wireless drivers without installing intel proset*

yeah that'll get you down to the lower 50s.

intel proset wireless has like 8 processes

 

by the end of my 3 hour lectures, I had ~40% left

during this time, brightness 40%, wifi on half the time, firefox (facebook) was opened half the time, microsoft onenote& powerpoint was in use.

so i assume 5 hours of moderate use is pretty impressive :d
and no i did not do any clean installs

 

To me that sounds really good. Nice one

This is my first battery result with light usage. I was doing what I consider to be light usage, throughout the entire duration of the test, except for a half an hour break for dinner (my notebook went into sleep mode after 10 minutes of idle). Light usage to me consisted of (roughly) general web browsing (forums, google searches, 3 Youtube videos and 2 SD Gametrailers.com videos), MSN and Skype, so nothing that really stressed the components. Anyway the result:

Bluetooth: OFF
Wireless: ON
Screen: 40%
GPU: INTEL
Profile: Power Saver
- Dim the display: 1 minute
- Turn off the display: 2 minutes
- Put the computer to sleep: 10 minutes
Processes: 53
Backlit keyboard: OFF
Time: 4h 47m

Im quite pleased about my result. I fully appreciate I wasn't pushing the notebook anywhere near it's limit but it's good to know that as a base I have around 4 and a half hours worth of time, if it's needed. I'll try the same kind of test, using the ATI card another time (if you all haven't gotten bored of me lol)

 

When I had just a word processor open, brightness 40%, BT off, wifi on, I was getting draws around 9k. That means I can get up to 6 hours of note taking if I don't get distracted. When I have Chrome open as well, I get more like 12k draw, but that's still almost 5 hours.

 

Same story for me. A very consistent 20% battery usage per hour when viewing powerpoints with 60-70% brightness on a clean install of Windows 7 Enterprise.

Batterybar usually estimates -9,500 to -10,500 mWh, though obviously batterybar's estimate is a little conservative (by timing, the real usage is an average of 11 mWh). The key is to set the hard drive shut off time to something very low (I think mine is 3 minutes) and wifi to maximum power saving, otherwise the power drain is a good 2,000-3,000 mWh higher (up to 4,000-5,000 with active wifi usage and webpage rendering).

 

i7-720
640GB HD
Standard Battery
Bloatware removed
radiance display
Web surfing, IM, downloading, 80% brightness

2.04 according to battery bar

 

I can't seem to get my draw less than around 13K. That's still good for 4 hours or so, but I'd sure love to know what you folks are doing to get close to 10K. And by "doing," I mean other than what I'm doing, which seems to be pretty much the same.

 

Just got the original Canadian Envy 14 -

• Core i5-430m
• 6GB Ram
• 650GB 5400rpm HDD
• Integrated/ATI 5650
• Radiance Display

... and I've been pretty concerned about my battery... When running just firefox with brightness at 40-50%, Power Saver Mode, Integrated Graphics and wifi/bt off, I usually run about 15000mW! When actually USING the thing (autocad, firefox, brightness 80, wifi/bt on) I get 25-35,000mW! (just under 2 hours battery life) how in the world are you all getting draws of >10k?

I fresh installed Win7 Ultimate, and am running ~65 processes. Help! Is there something wrong with it? I can't figure out how to lower my power consumption...

 

May be obvious but sometimes people miss the obvious stuff...

What graphics card are you using during this time?

Nvm, just re-read your post and realised you said. Just checking =)

 

Let your computer idle with nothing unnecessary running, but don't let it go to sleep. Check what BatteryBar reports for the draw after about 20 minutes, and tell us what you're getting.

 

Blah, I'm only getting ~3:30 on mine. 40% brightness/Intel GPU/BT off.

I think it's the processes... mine's at like ninety-something.
How did you guys get yours so low?

 

Don't feel bad, after 2 weeks with my E14 I'm getting 3:50 with
0% brightness
Intel GPU
BT Off
Wirless Off
Idle.

I only have 54 processes. I used to get 4:30-5 hours easily.
Not sure what I am doing wrong.

 

Hey guys, after reading this I'm a bit worried. I have an i5 450 with a 256 SSD .. and did a clean install of W7 Ultimate.. but batterybar tells me my full lifetime is around 2.5-3hrs on thats been consistent since i first purchased it. Im thinking about doing another clean install but when can I do to get around 4hrs of use? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

Have you ever tried actually timing your battery life? Mine also gives about 3-3.5 hours estimates but I get closer to 4-4.5 of continued light use I would say.

 

WHen I bought it, it first came out claiming 7 hours which was with hp quick web ( not w 7) and later the hp site claimed that this battery (stock) could get 3.75 hours of battery life...

NOW, it says 6 hours...
did they buff up the battery?

And also, kind of unrelated but what the hell is going on with the radiance option? It seems to come and go!

 

wow .. it seems battery life on the envy 14 is not constant and it really depends on alot of factors .
im in a dilemma now . i have a bright red pixel on my radiance screen and im thinking of rmaing . shld i go to the i5 for the batt life on the beats edition and nt have the radiance screen ? ( only available with i7 )

if its only 1 hr diff , likely im sticking for the i7 .

btw y are ppl particular about batt life ? dont schools provide wall sockets =x
do ppl actually game on batt life ?

 

No its so you don't have to carry around power plugs when you go study in the library.
Macbooks seem to hold up 5+ hours when just lightly browsing or word processing and for pcs like the envy 14,which is more powerful than a macbook, we hope that it can also have the battery convenience of a macbook (or pro)

 

I get like 2.5 hours doing light stuff with mine...what's wrong? How much does brightness affect it? I really can never get longer than 3 hours even with low brightness, and it's really getting a little annoying

 

Where are you getting this 6hrs battery life at?
Nevermind, I see it... did they change the battery??? I think I am going to ask them about it.
I'm on day 16 of owning my envy.

 

If you want battery life just get a slice battery, really, the i5 would only get you about an hour more. I'd advise you to just stick with your i7, it's a lot more powerful and you get that radiance screen. But the brightview is a good screen too, and the beats edition really looks very nice

 

for those of you who actually get 3 hours of battery life or less (this is timed by you, not by the battery bar program which is a big guesstimate)

I'd call HP and try to get a replacement battery to see what's up.


...well first I"d make sure a program isn't running and using up one of the processor cores.

 

Just a quick tidbit. For those of you complaining about the Envy 14's battery life and saying you're just going to grab a Sony Vaio Z instead, you may want to reconsider:

Review HP Envy 14-1010eg Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Review Sony Vaio VPCZ11X9E/B Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Note that in their review, the Envy 14 achieves 4:23 at idle, while the Vaio Z gets 7:43. Impressive for the Z. Now look again at the other battery statistics. 3:55 when surfing for the Envy 14, and 3:10 for the Vaio Z. Whoops, what happened?! The rest of the battery tests are similar as well, slightly favoring one computer or the other. It looks like Sony managed to really turn down the idle consumption on the Z, but other than that they're just about neck and neck.

Of course, this is just one laptop vs. another, but it still puts things slightly more in perspective. Yes, it sucks that HP originally claimed 7 hours out of the Envy 14. However, when you look at the entire package and consider the fact that you have the OPTION to add on a second battery (in a very nice package, I might add), ~4-4.5 hours seems entirely reasonable to me.

That's my $0.02.

 

I was curious what the real idle time of the Envy 14 is.

When the Envy was first released HP reported a batterylife of 7 hours, then they adjusted it to 3.75 hours and now it's up to 6 hours again. All with the same Envy 14 and the same battery.. We all know how the manufacturers usually determine the battery life. It's the battery life you get with everything turned of. A time you usually can't reproduce yourself. So I decided to see how long it would last on idle, with the screen turned on:

HP Envy 14 1020ED
-Radiance screen
-i5-450M
-500GB 7200RPM HDD
-Intel GPU
-Bluetooth off, Wifi on and connected to the internet
-Power saving scheme
-Windows 7 Prof X64, clean install
-Aero glass on
-Screen on lowest brightness
-Screen wasn't allowed to turn of
-I barely used the Envy and just let it idle. Let's say it idled for 95% during the test
-Standard battery, no slice

I got the 10% warning after 6:02 hours! I think it would be able to hit the 7 hour barrier easily with WIFI turned of and Aero glass turned of. The tweaking I did to the Envy:
-Clean install
-Turned down the Wifi transmitting power and roaming aggressiveness according to: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/501066-envy-14-battery-life-log-26.html#post6540061

For normal use (constant browsing, IM, mail, youtube) I get 4 - 4,5 hours out of the Envy.

 

I previously claimed in this thread that I was seeing a pretty consistent 20% per hour battery draw with light usage (flipping through powerpoints, wifi on, opening firefox periodically, 60% brightness, aero on, modified balanced power setting). Well that was with BIOS F.06

Last week I upgraded to F.13a and the results have been even better. I'm now seeing 50% battery usage after 3 hours (or 3 hours 20 minutes if WiFi is off most of the time, only turned on when needed). Batterybar estimates between -8,500 to -9,500 mWh for the bulk of the usage period.

Again, I think the key is to set the HD turn off time to 1 or 2 minutes (as well as maximum battery saving settings for the wifi and integrated graphics of course).

The trade off of the BIOS seems to be that my idle temperatures when plugged in are much higher even when using integrated graphics. Used to be around 30C on integrated now it's about 40C on integrated and 45 on discrete. Temperatures on battery seems to be the same though.

 

Either the newer BIOS is keeping the fans at a lower RPM or off (to save power?), or the ambient (room) temperature increased between the two scenarios.

 

The only reason I can see to do so would be to decrease audibility, but the fans are at least as audible as they were before. Minute power savings when on A/C power are a moot point.

Damn, you got me there. Maybe I shouldn't have evaluated the BIOS changes in the sauna at the gym.

 

Anyone know if there's any easy way to switch from battery power to direct AC power when plugged into an outlet. Having to take the battery out completely seems a bit ridiculous on a regular basis. Anyone tried this yet? Might save a lot of battery wear if you use your lappy at home.

 

....

...I...

you plug the ac adapter into the outlet and to the computer. it auto goes to ac outlet power

 

I think he means without charging the battery - just direct AC power

 

oh.

why would that make a difference?

 

any more reviews for the i7-840? I'm picking mine up in a minute, still kinda curious what other people out there are getting, although it doesn't seem to be a popular configuration :lol:.

One guy claimed 4+hrs out of his w/o slice, if I can see ~4hrs without the slice I'll be happy, otherwise may need to "downgrade" to the i5.

 

That's at idle after a clean install. Realistically you'll get about half of that.

 

i7-720
50GB SSD (replaced stock 500GB HDD)
Radiance screen
Standard Battery
Clean Install
Bluetooth off, Wifi on
Balanced Power profile
Screen brightness 3 notches below maximum
edit: Web surfing, MS Word


2:51 before getting down to 3%. Discharge rate varies from 14k to 26k. I'm now on my 4th run and the battery is at 44%. BatteryBar says that i have 1:23 minutes left.

I was initially very disappointed with my battery life prior to replacing the HDD with and SSD and doing a clean install. Best i could manage was >2:00 with a constant discharge rate of 25k before hibernating. I'm now very pleased with my results considering my processor and screen size.

 

Intel Core i5-460M Processor
4GB DDR3 SDRAM memory
640GB
HP BrightView Infinity
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Clean install
BT/WiFi on
High Performance profile
Max screen brightness

Heavy gaming. Was on dedicated GPU the entire time. Switched from CounterStrike Source, SC2, MW2, and WoW.

With Slice battery, started at 93%, battery lasted about 4:30 until getting down to about 4-5%.

Have yet to test how long I can extend the life with slice as I just got it.

Before that, I was getting about 4:30 with the Intel GPU, brightness all the way down, and wifi off at the 4 hour mark. Battery saver setting. No slice.

 

one user claim that updating the BIOS to F. 12A can increase the battery life . does this really work. will the newest BIOS F 13A increase the battery life of the envy 14 ? thx

 

uhhh....


it depends? I dunno. I don't think any of the bioses improve battery life by much.

they don't fix that issue where your battery was only getting half life or something (that was a bad battery. HP reps were confused and said a newer bios would come out and fix that. nope. not happening)

 

So yesterday I was fully charged at about 120k with the slice in - BatteryBar read about 4% and 0% wear on the batteries respectively. Today, after charging all night, it's full at about 112k and battery #1 (system battery) now says 10% wear, even though it gets a lot less use than the slice since the slice is drained most of the way before the system battery starts getting used.

HWMonitor also reports the same 10% wear on the system battery and the same maximum capacity.

Now, I've seen wear levels jump around in this thread and on my own computer, but from 0 to 10% in one day, while I know tomorrow it might be back down to 2%, is still pretty extreme. Anyone else have an extreme jump like that in the reported wear levels?

Also, what are the wear levels for the other early purchasers (i.e. got the E14 in July)? I use my computer on battery power for several hours a day, at least 5 days a week, so my wear levels might be worse than others, but I'd be interested in comparing, as well as trying to figure out how long I can expect good battery life before it becomes time to get a new slice, if I should choose to do that in the future.

 

3.6% battery wear. purchased at 30% BCB deal. Its stayed about there the whole time.

 

Update - after charging overnight, wear levels are listed at 2.7 (down from 4.3) for the main battery and 0.7 for the slice, and it's charged up to 119,347, up from about 112k yesterday. I had the batteries mixed up when I posted yesterday, I thought batterybar's #0 was the slice and #1 was the main, but it was the other way around, so it's the slice that's jumping more than the main battery.

 

makes sense. windows probably doesn't know what to do with the slice so it's just "I dunno, here, go with this"

could be that charging method in the bios too (there's the two options 90%, 90%, 10%, 10% or just 100%, 100%)

 

Hi, im getting my laptop back after replacement and after reading these two posts, i got 2 questions. I have an i-7 720, 320gb HDD, and 6 gb ram.

1) For the first guy, does doing a clean install increase battery life? significantly? How about getting a SSD? How is he getting 4 hrs of gaming? i can get like 1 on high performance

2) How is the second guy using a 50gb SSD? i can barely stand having 320 gb. are you just not installing any programs, pics, or videos? or do you have an external for that? How much should i get for a SSD if i get one, im looking at ~180gb

 

With the Slice battery I was able to get 4:30 hours gaming at high performance. Im not sure how much more battery you get with a clean install because I didnt even test it stock. I couldnt stand all the junk right when I turned it on. The computer felt very laggy and slow before I did the clean install.

An SSD would help in battery life but it would also depends on how much time the HD is spent spinning. SSD isnt going to nab you an extra hour but it might nab you 10-20 minutes I believe.

 

Is the 6-cell slice a higher capacity than the stock 8-cell battery??

PS. did you have power play "maximize battery life" on?