Obviously, one of the major things that excite people (me inclusive) about the use of laptops, is the ability to use them when away from home, even when there's no a.c. source. It begins to be very annoying when laptops have batteries that can't last for more than a few minutes. They begin to feel like our traditional desktop PCs. Bottom-line: Laptop+Long Battery Life=Happy Laptop User. Unfortunately, for many of us, this is not the case. Please describe your experience with your laptop along the following lines: 1. Brand 2. How long you've been using it 3. Current battery life 4. Final comment about the battery capability of the laptops of the brand that produced your own laptop Let's go. I'll be the first. 1. Brand: HP-Compaq 2. How long you've used it: 4 years 3. Current battery life: Less than 50 minutes 4.Final comment about the battery capability of the laptops of the brand that produced your own laptop: I think HP-Compaq laptops have terrible batteries.
1. Brand: Apple Macbook Pro early 2010. 2. How long you've used it: 4 years 3. Current battery life: 1-3 hours (1 hour of processor intensive work with full brightness monitor, 3 hours with low brightness and simple activity like reading an ebook) 4. Comment: This laptop had up to a 8 hour battery life when new (when using lowest brightness and not doing intensive tasks), more than advertised by Apple. I've used it a lot and the battery has 1150 battery cycles and 61% health. I think MacBooks have great battery life and is one of the reason I love them.
I have a Toshiba satellite that I got in 2009 and I recently had to replace the battery after almost 5 years. I've heard to make the battery last longer you need to not keep it plugged in all night or at least not more than eight hours and I've been trying to do that with this new battery. I have to say the battery life on this laptop is pretty good, it will last unplugged for about 5 hours.
Your battery life is less than 50 minutes!? To me that seems a bit crazy. You might want to have that checked out because that doesn't sound right.
It's not crazy, it's normal for batteries to fail on laptops. On PC laptops the battery is usually easy to remove, you can buy one and replace it yourself without having to pay a technician to check it out. Usually batteries fail in about 4 years, so by that time most people are ready to get a new laptop.
Hi Nimble Knuckle, I'm not much of a computer hardware engineer, but I don't think there's much any engineer can do for such a battery. Funny enough, this battery isn't even the one that came with the laptop when bought it. The original HP battery that came with the laptop couldn't even survive that long after just 1 full year of using it. It's funny but true. Anyways, thanks for your input.
Hi mariee, thanks for your input. Actually, the battery I currently use (i.e. the one described above) is not even the battery that came with the laptop. It's a new one I purchased after just one(1) year of using my laptop with the original battery installed. It's really sad because when I was about paying for the battery, the sales rep told me it'd last for 3 hours before needing a recharge. Ironically, the battery didn't even last for more than one(1) hour when I eventually installed and used it. A few people have actually suggested to me that HP batteries do have very poor battery life, and that I couldn't expect anything better. Once again, thanks for your contribution; I really appreciate.
Hi Mayvin, thanks for your contribution. I think this tip you've given about not letting the battery remain plugged all night is a nice one. I've never heard of it before. In fact I leave my battery plugged-in all year round. I'll surely consider this in my PC maintenance culture. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate.
Hi mariee, thanks for your contribution. I deduce from your post, that MacBooks are really awesome. Please can you state the configuration of this system of yours? Please reply. Thanks
Mine is MacBookPro7,1. I just searched it and it seems I was mistaken, it's not early 2013 but mid 2013. Here's a page with all the specs (Log In) Now that you mention it I had to replace my brothers HP laptop battery after he had it for about a year. The charge barely lasted 10 minutes when I replaced it. At least it wasn't expensive to replace but kind of annoying that HP would include such a bad quality battery with their laptops. The replacement battery I got was from Amazon but I don't know how it's holding on now.
I also have a HP compaq, I have replaced the battery and the power cord at least once in the last 4 years. I am not happy with the quality of the replacement battery, it does not last more than 2 hours once it is unplugged.
Thanks a lot mariee. I'll check out the link you posted for the system specification. Considering your experience with your brother's HP laptop battery, it goes to confirm that HP laptops truly have batteries with very poor quality, just like my friends suggested. I think your brother's experience was just the same as mine. True, their replacement batteries can be really cheap, but I don't think it means much to me, considering the fact that it's most likely to fail me sooner than later. Anyways, thanks a lot for taking the time to reply, and promptly too. I really appreciate your contribution.
Hi Pat, I concur with you, as touching HP laptop replacement batteries. I think my experience with their replacement batteries is even worse than yours. Mine wouldn't even last for more than one(1) hour when the laptop is unplugged from an a.c. source, or in the face of power outage. Thanks a lot for your contribution brother, I really appreciate.
I have an old MacBook that I've been using for about 5 years now, and I don't really unplug it that much anymore, but whenever I do, I get about 2 - 3 hours of use out of it, although nowadays it's much closer to 2, I think. I'm not completely sure, but I think the battery lasted way longer a few years ago which is understandable. I don't have much complaints about the battery but I do wish their charger wires were made with better materials, mine has already torn and the inside wires re already exposed, and new chargers can get really expensive.
Wow, I think these MacBooks are really solid systems. A system you've been using for 5 years now still has a battery life of up to 2 hours? That's awesome. In fact, even if the battery life after 5 years of use were to be just 1 hour, I'd still respect such a system. Like I said earlier, my HP laptop can't even stay powered-up for more than 50 minutes (that's if it even stays that long) once unplugged, and I've been using it for just approximately 4 years, and changed the battery twice. It's good to know that MacBooks are this good. I'll work towards getting one for myself soon. Concerning the charger wire; is it the charger wire that came with the system you're still using today?
No matter what, laptop batteries will start to fail as soon as a year or two after being used for the first time. They start out by not holding the same amount of charge, and then battery life will deteriorate quickly from there. It's just the nature of lithium ion batteries, no matter their size or manufacturer. These days, you sacrifice overall battery life in the name of performance. Some new chipsets from Intel offer about 9 to 12 hours of battery life with slightly lower performance numbers. There are some great laptops on the market that get over 8 hours of battery life, but you'll get far lower usage after a couple years of regular wear and tear.
Hi, I concur with you as touching the fact that laptop batteries will usually begin to hold less power as they start to age. I think that's understandable. What is not understandable however is the fact that a laptop you buy and make use of for only 1 year will begin to give you a low-battery warning after working for just a few minutes in the face of power outage. This is just too annoying. It hampers work to a great extent, and completely takes away the joy of having a laptop. Personally, I'm ready to sacrifice a little bit of performance to a gain a few more hours of work with my laptop when it's not getting power from an a.c. source. Anyways, thanks for sharing. I really appreciate.
Hi, I concur with you as touching the fact that laptop batteries will usually begin to hold less power as they start to age. I think that's understandable. What is not understandable however is the fact that a laptop you buy and make use of for only 1 year will begin to give you a low-battery warning after working for just a few minutes in the face of power outage. This is just too annoying. It hampers work to a great extent, and completely takes away the joy of having a laptop. Personally, I'm ready to sacrifice a little bit of performance to a gain a few more hours of work with my laptop when it's not getting power from an a.c. source. Anyways, thanks for sharing. I really appreciate.
1. Brand: HP Pavilion dv6 2. How long you've used it: 2 years 3. Current battery life: N/A The battery is pretty much dead. If I plug out my AC adapter from my laptop, it turns off instantly, not even a second's delay. You wouldn't expect this with a 'relatively' new laptop, but I can justify why this is true, embarrassingly. Ever since I got this beast from Best Buy, I've constantly had it plugged into the AC Adapter while the power's on (with the battery inside the laptop). This has apparently caused some sort of leakage in the battery which has pretty much left it useless now. So life lesson learned! Never over-charge your laptop's battery, it'll ruin it.
You're extremely funny. I can imagine the look on your face when you unplug your laptop. I know that feeling because I've been there my self. From the responses I've gotten so far, it's becoming more obvious that HP needs to do more to improve the quality of batteries they ship with their laptops. I also need to look into this tip of yours concerning battery over-charge. I don't remember removing my laptop's battery from its slot since I got it. It's like I charge it none-stop. Thanks a lot my brother; I really appreciate your input.
