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    TX users- battery life / tips?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by JoeDUK, Jan 1, 2007.

  1. JoeDUK

    JoeDUK Notebook Enthusiast

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    I regularly get 5.5 - 6 hours use from my TX3HP on a single charge, but Sony reports 7.5 hours as possible. I realise that Sony milk their figures and that this would be 7.5 hours with the power on but with nothing being done etc.

    Do any of you other TX users have any tips as to how to improve my battery life?
     
    JoeDUK, Jan 1, 2007
    #1
  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    Manufacturers tend to be optimistic when estimating battery life. Dimming the screen and running in low power mode are the best avenues to getting more battery life.
     
    ZaZ, Jan 2, 2007
    #2
  3. chrisyano

    chrisyano Hall Monitor NBR Reviewer

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    ZaZ put it very well. You can use a utility like RM Clock or Notebook Hardware Control to control the power schemes of your notebook.
     
    chrisyano, Jan 2, 2007
    #3
  4. Fotogrfr

    Fotogrfr Notebook Guru

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    Your numbers sound about right. I don't think I've gotten the 11 hours Sony quotes for my TX850, but I've gotten darn near. Although I've never worked straight through for the entire period of time, I'm getting at least 10 hours with simple word processing in Open Office. Other activities use more juice, of course, but working in Open Office is what I primarily do on the TX. I did do some tweaking in Power Management and eliminated unneeded software/processes running in the background.
     
    Fotogrfr, Jan 2, 2007
    #4
  5. Rahul

    Rahul Notebook Prophet

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    I know 6 hours sounds low compared to what Sony claims the TX can fully get, but I think its a very good number in terms of real world usage. The only way you can get the 11 hours Sony claims is by turning off the screen and just letting the computer sit idle for instance.

    Really, there's not much you can do to increase it by much, only thing to do now is to get the extended battery.
     
    Rahul, Jan 2, 2007
    #5
  6. JoeDUK

    JoeDUK Notebook Enthusiast

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    thanks for your feedback guys.

    Fotogrfr - would you mind telling me which background processes you killed off? or maybe tell me which processes you still have running, if it's easier? I've seen guides online listing processes that can be safely disabled but it would be good to hear this directly from someone with a TX since I don't want to remove anything sony-related that is necessary.
     
    JoeDUK, Jan 2, 2007
    #6
  7. Fotogrfr

    Fotogrfr Notebook Guru

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    Sorry for the delay in responding... I've been nursing a cold.

    Task Manager states that I have 35 Processes, 0% CPU usage and a Page File of 158 upon boot. I didn't get all those documented yet (I'll get those for you soon), but I did jot down the services I have running (per Control Panel---->Admin Tools)

    There are some listed as Disabled, and some as Manual, or Automatic that are NOT running.

    These are listed as running:

    COM+ Event System
    Cryptographic Services
    DCOM Server Process Launcher
    Event Log
    Logical Disk Manager
    Plug & Play
    Print Spooler
    Protected Storage
    Remote Procedure Call
    Security Center
    Shell Hardware Detection
    System Event Notification
    System Restore Service
    VAIO Entertainment Database Service
    VAIO Entertainment File Import Service
    VAIO Entertainment UPnP Client Adapter
    Windows Audio
    Windows Management Instrumentation
    Windows User Mode Driver Framework
    Workstation
     
    Fotogrfr, Jan 5, 2007
    #7