T61: Actual experience with battery life?

One of the major areas of confusion with the T61 seems to be battery life. Some reviews report abysmal results, while the spec sheets suggest 4-6 hours, depending on battery size. I know Lenovo's estimates reflect the best case scenario, but the reviewed models are typically largest processor/discrete graphics configurations.

I'd like to hear from anyone who has used their T61, especially those who chose the integrated graphics option. How much actual battery life are you getting, with what configuration/battery size, and doing what type of tasks?

[Alternately, if anyone knows of a review of the T61 with integrated graphics, that would be helpful, too.]

Thanks.

 

The review on this site that I did has that information.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3708&review=ThinkPad+T61

 

Thanks, Andrew. I'd read that review but forgotten about those numbers. Quite helpful. Can anyone else provide additional feedback, if only to increase our sample size?

 

I got the T61 with the 2.2ghz core2duo, 2.5gb of RAM, and the quadro graphics card. On a full charge with 7cell battery that I upgraded to I get 3 hours, less if i'm playing games or watching movies.

I'd be interested to see what people with the integrated graphics get.

 

Well, I can now answer my own question. T61, 7-cell, 1.8Ghz, integrated graphics, 7200rpm HD, I can get 4 hours pretty easily, even with Wifi on (bluetooth off) and screen at about 1/3-1/2 brightness. I haven't run a DVD test, but the little I've tried has really taxed the batter (estimates while playing a DVD dropped to around 2.5 hours).

 

I like the sound of that. It appears to be somewhat of around a complete full hour of discrete vs. integrated graphics.

I'd suspect that integrated graphics w/ a 6 cell would get around 3:30 hours?

 

im more concerened with the insane charge times....yea sure a slow trickle charge is nice for battery longevity, but id rather have it 90% charged in 1 hour. these bats wont last more than a 1-2 years with daily full charge and discharges, im wondering how much lenovo is saving in warranty replacements

 

With the nvidia and the 7 cell, I get around 3 hours. It does seem that the discrete graphics knock about an hour off On the bright side it plays many games well.

I wonder if nvidia could ever enhance the drivers to better utilize the powermizer options on the GPU. Also I was thinking of dropping vista to 16 bit to turn off Aero and seeing if that gains anything.

 

With Aero off and dropping colours to 16-bit... might as well upgrade/downgrade to XP .

 

I really do not like the fact that it takes around 6 hours to charge. If I only get 3 hrs of battery life, then I am pretty much charging it 2 minutes for every 1 minute on battery. s4iscool is right, the charge time is insanely slow! Express charge as dell calls it or any other laptop, even if they don't tout the quick charge times have always been able to charge in 2 hours or less. Even most budget laptops charge in under 2 hours. I don't think Lenovo can call the slow charge a feature.

Were the t60's as slow to charge?

 

How long does it take to charge the 4/6 cells with the 90w charger ?

 

you can purchase a 9battery up alot fas0W charger from lenovo that will charge your battery up a bit quicker. to my understanding, those who have nvidia graphics will automatically be given a 90W adapter. Mine came with the standard 65W one

 

I've just begun working on setup for a colleague of a T61-766417U (T7300, 2GB RAM, NVidia card). It came with the 90 watt charger. I haven't done enough testing to see what battery life is like as yet, but I haven't noted long charging times. I haven't timed it, but It's similar to my Dell Inspiron 600m.

I'm giving this one a close look to see if I want to purchase one like it for myself.

Dave

 

I have both the 90 watt charger for my mini dock and the 65 watt that came with the notebook. I haven't really paid any attention to the charge times, but I will try both out and report back.

 

I have a T7300, Vista & integrated graphics. With the screen at about 1/2 and wifi on (bluetooth off), I get 4:30 with the 7-cell battery browsing the internet and doing basic things.

I have the 65w charger and charging times are extremely slow when the computer is on. Not an issue for me, but I can see how it might be a problem for some people. With the computer off, charge time is about 1/2 I guess.

 

ill try my kingston 120w brick on the T61 soon, but i doubt itll have a big impact. the 90w charger is insanely slow already

 

Maybe try under volting it? Thats about all I can think of except for turning aero off and I don't think you need to turn down the colors to 16 bit for that.

The only thing I think is coming up for power usage is when they start using intergrated and discrete switching like what Sony did.

 

If we got the Nvidia card, do we still get the integrated graphics as well?

 

No, it's one or the other, not both.

 

Yeah, not right now. Maybe on a future laptop.

 

I like the sound of that. I also like your configuration; a balance of power and battery life.

I mean, I have a Dell i8600c which is a P-M @ 1.6GHz 1 MB Cache, 1GB Ram, and 80GB 7200rpm w/ a 7 cell battery and I could always just get under 4 hours of battery with everything low, wi-fi on, and doing basic things.

It's good to see, compared to yesterday's standards, that laptops are always improving on energy efficiency.

Maybe Lenovo will address the slow battery charge times, BSODs, and improve on the few manufacturing defects in a later T61 revision.

Other than that, the T61 sounds like a fast and cool portable laptop!

 

This is funny because I just remember a month ago, everyone was flaming the T61 for having "terrible" battery life. Idiots.

 

It sucks that the batteries are that small. Where Dell offers a 85 WHr 9 cell battery, Lenovo goes only up to a 65 WHr 7-cell battery.

And while watching a DVD the powerconsumption of a T61 seems to be bad. The D630 does slighty better.

I have T61 with the nVidia, 6 cell battery and Ultra Bay battery. And the highest expected batterylife (as Windows says) is 4:45 with both accu fully charged..

But mostly I have BF2 minimized so mostly 5% CPU usage and a continuous stream of WiFi activity.

 

The battery life was criticized because the Dell D630 has much better battery life than the T61 14.1" laptop. The D630 on full brightness and wi-fi on has 5 hours and 15 minutes of battery life and 5 hours and 45 minutes with wi-fi off. These tests were done with the screen on full brightness. So, the T61 does have bad battery life in comparison.

 

so which battery life indicator is more accurate? vistas built in or leovos "Power Manager Gauge" . The vista one estimates on the optimistic side

 

Last night running a T61 (6-cell battery) with discrete graphics, wi-fi on, some downloads and a one installation from CD of a program -- I was in action on the computer the whole time, I got 2 hours 50 minutes on a charge.

That's not the horrid numbers I saw mentioned some weeks ago, but it's still not a great number.

Dave

 

Just a hint for those wanting to watch DVDs on their laptops. Do yourself a favor and rip it to the hard drive beforehand. Hard drives are far more power efficient than DVD drives are.

Anyway, I just ordered a T61 with integrated graphics, a 7 cell battery, and the Ultrabay battery. Hopefully it lasts a while.

 

that will last like 5-6 hrs easilly

 

How in the world could this be? It seems that it would make it impossible to run off the charger -- i.e. it is unable to power at the same rate it is losing power. I guess if you were running the computer at the same time, maybe. But more likely has this user got a bad one?

 

You and me both, friend. I'm actually still trying to decide if I did the right thing -- you'd think that with a 7-cell battery and the Ultrabay Battery there'd be plenty of juice to spare, and discrete graphics wouldn't create a dealbreaking hit.

I just want Vista Aero, 720p videos, and potentially XGL/Compiz under Ubuntu to look smooth as hell. Hopefully the X3100 can get the job done.

 

I have a 6 cell battery and 90 W power adaptor on my T61 newly bought with discrete graphics (NVS 140m) and Vista business. I get a battery life of 3 hours with 25% brightness and 1 min idle monitor switchoff and no wifi and bluetooth.

The charge time for 90% to 100% seems to be more than an hour.

I shall post better stats very soon.