NP900X3E-K01US Finding Easy Setting/Battery Life Extender?

Hello, I currently own a NP900X3E-K01US book 9, but I'm having a hard time finding the Easy settings everyone has been mentioning about in the BIOS. I'm mainly looking for the battery life extender, but can't seem to find the setting that will allow me to hook up the battery charger and stop at 80 or 70% without overcharging the laptop. Can anyone help me find it? Is there a software I have to install or download?

Many thanks.

 

Hello santoki6, welcome to NBR.

First check in BIOS to see if you have Battery Life Extender in there. If it's not in there, you will not have it in [Easy] Settings.

Some of the most recent models no longer have this feature -- apparently Samsung replaced it in these models with an automatic feature of some kind.

Are you using Windows 7 or Windows 8? If you use Windows 8, don't install Easy Settings, it was designed for Win7. Instead use Settings which was designed for Win8.

Also, make sure to get the latest version of Easy Settings (or Settings). It's an odd procedure to locate it, as described in this pots.

 

Hey Dannemand, thanks for the reply!
I've already tried looking for it in the BIOS but was unable to find it.
I am using Win 8 and it seems you're right, there's only "Settings."
I tried looking for it in Settings, but was only able to find ECO mode which seems to be only related towards carbon emission.

I tried seeing how much this laptop would charge and it went as high as 100%, unfortunately.
Could it be that it's not implemented for win 8?

 

No, it's not dependent on OS. I have it in both Win7 and Win8 -- but it's an older model that has the feature in BIOS. If it's not in BIOS, you don't have it. As I describe in this post, I wouldn't be so concerned about not having BLE.

Eco and Silent Mode are just two different modes that reduce power consumption by capping CPU speed and switching to the Power Saver profile. They're explained in this post.

 

Someone in another thread recently queried Samsung about the absence of BLE (they had one of the newest models) and were told that it is no longer necessary.

Time will tell ...... Trawl the Samsung websites for claims about the battery longevity and keep a copy. IIRC their recent claim was 70% of capacity after 1500 charge cycles (which the battery probably records - use HWiNFO or similar to check). If you are down near 70% capacity within a year (the normal warranty period) then ask for a replacement battery.

John

 

Hi John, One of the benefits of having something like BLE is knowing that your laptop isn't being overcharged when you keep the charger plugged in. Because samsung says it's ok now, does that mean I can leave the charger plugged in? FYI, I'm really bad about unplugging when the charge hits upper 90 percent...

 

We have to assume that Samsung know what they are doing. Perhaps the 100% charge reported to the user is less than 100% of the battery's true capacity.

Just let the battery charge until full and keep the PSU plugged in. Pulling out the plug and running on battery then filling it up again will cause more wear.

John

 

This does not make sense as it would implicate a size & weight overhead of the device.

Not neccessary to sell more batteries or even new devices?
Can someone elaborate if this is also true for 900X3E-A and 900X3F models?

 

Hi Oled,
For what it's worth, I spoke with a samsung tech rep and she told me that it's perfectly fine to leave the charge on the laptop even after reaching 100% as long as you are still using the computer. It becomes bad, however, when you leave it idle or it's not in use (off).

Here's a scenario she and I walked through:
1. User watches movie with charger on at 95%. 5 Minutes into the movie the charge hits 100%, user watches through the 2 hour movie. Perfectly safe for the laptop.

2. User's computer is at 45% and goes to sleep with charger on. Charge reaches 100% in a few hours, but user is asleep and wakes up 5 hours later. This is bad for the laptop and may damage batter.

Hope that helps!

 

I don't agree with that advice.

The charge management is handled at the BIOS level irrespective of whether the computer is operating, sleeping or turned off. Once the charge level gets above about 80% the charge rate progressively slows and is turned off completely when it reaches 100%.

There will be no further charging provided the mains power is left on and plugged in (one can observe, over several days the charge level dropping by several percent). However, pull out the power plug then push it back in and a top-up charge is initiated.

[The above is based on observations of my Series 9 notebooks. I doubt if the other Samsung models behave differently.]

John

 

It would have been nice to see an improved BLE with variable settings between 50-80%. But instead they remove the feature altogether!?

How come they say it's not necessary anymore? It'll be nice if they at least give a technical explanation for that.

Isn't the charge handled by the battery itself?

 

I agree: It's a double-act. Every Lithium battery has a chip on it which monitors its condition and communicates with the charging device.

John

 

Just checked: X3E-A still comes with "Battery Life Cycle Extension" while X3F also has the feature removed.