Extending the Batterylife

Hey guys, I was wondering if there was any way to extend the time on the battery when Im not plugged in. So far all I know that will do this is underclocking, and no using wifi. Anything else? Thanks.

 

You probably know this already but you can go with a lower screen brightness and stay away from DVD watching/gaming. You can also set your power settings to Max Battery.

 

That is a good point - the screen uses a lot of power. Use Fn + F4 or F5 to bring it down or up. I find 3/7 brightness to be comfortable, or less in a low-light environment.

You can also use the touchpad instead of an external mouse to save power.

 

when you guys don't use the computer and the battery is fully charged do you guys keep it plugged in?

 

How do you set it to max battery. I was able to do it on the my other hp but i can't find it on the hel80.

 

Start>Control Panel>Power Options>Power Schemes tab is part of it, but the rest is diming your screen to the lowest brightness level that is still readable, stopping all programs in your System Tray that you don't need running in the background, and turning off your wireless card unless you absolutely need it.

 

Yes, since batteries are defeated by recharging cycles, keeping it in the machine won't hurt it and it is really better to do so in the event you get a sudden power outage. The small advantage in overall battery life that you MIGHT gain by taking it out is not worth getting caught by the sudden power outage.

 

maybe it's just me, but don't you always absolutely need wifi turned on? 99% of the time i'm unplugged from power i'm connected to wifi...

any estimates on how long the HEL80 would run with low screen settings and wifi enabled?

 

Judicious use of your wifi card is only important if you care about battery life. Are you actually ON the Internet 99% of the time? If not, then turn the wireless card off when you are not.

The wireless card will steal about 20-30 minutes from your overall battery life.