Expected battery life??

[robegusn]

I just got my first Thinkpad after 9 years of using the Dell Latitude series.

As with all things there is always a balance. The model I have - 2007-62U - is far thinner and lighter than my old Latitude D610, but I am wondering what to expect in terms of battery life.

In addition to the stock 6 cell battery I bought a 9 cell battery and a media bay battery. The media bay battery is much lighter than the Dell offering but the trade off is less life too.

With the 9 cell battery alone I am seeing about 3.5 hours of life. This certainly less than the nearly 5 hours I could squeeze from the Latitude but I am willing to make the trade off for the smaller size and weight of the T60.

What is normal in terms of battery life for a T60? Any T60/Thinkpad specific tips or tricks for squeezing the most battery life out of this model?

Thanks

[ryengineer]

The standard 6-cell Li-Ion battery lasts about 3.5 hours and the 9-cell battery lasts about 6 hours.

For battery tips, refer to: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 50944.html

[kimx]

I've got a 2007-63G, with at hitachi 100GB 7200 RPM harddrive, and it gives me around 3.5 hours when I'm doing normal typeing work.(6-cell battery)

[tvsjr]

Battery life is hugely dependent on many factors:
LCD brightness
Processor speed
Optical drive usage
Installed accessories (internal and external)
Wireless network/WWAN usage
Etc.

I'm a systems engineer, so I'm largely doing analysis and development using Visio, Visual Studio, SQL Server (I run a development instance on the laptop), etc. I also prefer turning the brightness up to maximum (and have set it to high in BIOS). As a result, I see about 3.5hrs. with a single 9-cell battery. Thus, I carry two.

I can get another full hour, potentially more, simply by dropping the LCD brightness to minimum. Thus, any statistics you receive from other users are specious at best.

Squeezing the most life out? LCD brightness to minimum, no ThinkLight, remove optical drive, disconnect all USB accessories, disable wireless radios, keep CPU usage (thus heat, thus the fans) down.

[robegusn]

Thanks to everyone who replied.

I am checking out the http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 50944.html website.

The T60 I purchased was a demo machine that Lenovo/IBM provided so I could compare it with the Dell products that have comprised our corporate fleet for the past 9 years (since June of 1998).

The T60 was in very good condition, but I suspect it may have seen a previous "test drive".

According to the battery information, the 9 cell I have was first used in May 2006. That may explain the shorter than expected battery life, but according to the Power Manager software it shows the battery in "good" condition.

[tomh009]

In battery information, it will show you full charge capacity as well as design (original) capacity. How do these two numbers compare for you? How many discharge cycles does it report?

[robegusn]

I went and checked - the battery cycle count is very low! It shows only 6 cycles.

Manufacture name = SANYO
First used date = 2006-05
Cycle count = 6

Totally unrelated - Is there anyway for me to edit the title of the thread? I misspelled "battery" and my obsessive compulsive side gets all "twitchy" every time I read the title

[tomh009]

If you edit the very first article in the thread that should change the thread title as well.

[robegusn]

Thanks

[lord_galathon]

Thanks to everyone who replied....

The T60 was in very good condition, but I suspect it may have seen a previous "test drive"....

You probably got a refurbished or certified used laptop. It happens...

[CarrerCrytharis]

Interesting, I made the exact same switch as you (I use my old D610 for Linux development). I can usually get about 5 to 6 hours from my 15" T60 with my media bay and 9-cell battery, with wifi on constantly and brightness set to 3.

Going into the power management software and using an optimized power profile is very important. (You can access it by double-clicking on the big green battery gauge.) You can also design a custom profile: the green gauges for each performance aspect make it very intuitive. The custom ThinkVantage power management software is much more powerful and customizable than Windows' power management options: using it should make a big difference.

I don't know whether you've already tried that, though.

[robegusn]

I did some battery maintenance by draining the battery to zero and recharging.

By entering the BIOS and letting the laptop completely drain the battery, and then re-charging, I am now seeing about 5 hours of battery life with very careful use.

The Thinkpad intelligent battery meter is fairly accurate and does reflect changes such as lowering the screen brightness.

I also have a media bay battery but it only seems to add a bit of extra life. The media bay battery is a Lithium Polymer battery so I don't know how it will stand up to repeated charges and frequent use. For now I will use only when absolutely necessary.

[marlinspike]

Next time you want to do battery maintenance on a Thinkpad, go to the power manager, click the battery information tab, then the battery maintenance button, and finally click perform reset.

Does the demo have Vista or XP? If I do everything I can to get all the battery life I can out of my 9 cell in my T60 (with the 15" screen and X1400 video card) I can get about 6hrs (consider I've been using this laptop day in day out since early November, so it has held its charge pretty well). I've heard Vista takes a fair chunk out of battery life.

Things I do to save battery life that come to mind: make a power scheme with everything turned down, don't have a hard drive in the ultrabay, though a CD drive doesn't seem to hurt things. turn off all wireless devices using the switch at the front, while waiting for the computer to boot close the lid to turn the screen off. And if I'm really trying to get every last drop of battery life, I'll turn off the touchpad.

[robegusn]

It is a T60 with Windows XP Pro, SP2 + any relevant updates.

I do pretty much the same thing when I need to stretch the battery life.

What would be a big plus for me will be when there are more external power options available: I have a couple of external batteries. but none support the newer Thinkpads. I had a similar challenge when the Dell D series arrived - it took a while until a proper power connector/end was available.

This is my first Thinkpad and like all things there is both good and bad. I have to say I like the unit but there are few things that still require some getting used to.

[marlinspike]

It is a T60 with Windows XP Pro, SP2 + any relevant updates.

I do pretty much the same thing when I need to stretch the battery life.

One thing I forgot is to also use the mute button and turn off the modems.

What are the things you don't like yet? I'm just curious, because when I got my T60, which was also my first Thinkpad, there was nothing I didn't like better about it compared to every other laptop.

[marlinspike]

BTW, the max battery life scheme isn't really...it puts the screen at 1/7 instead of 0/7.

[robegusn]

I made a trade-off in terms of weight and screen size: the D610 was SXGA+ on a 15" screen and the T60 has a 14.1" screen. I under estimated the impact of the smaller screen. I must confess that I am getting to "that age" where a little bit smaller also means a little bit harder to read.

The D610 includes a real serial port which makes configuring routers and switches quicker since I don't need to drag out a USB to serial converted. I know that 99%+ of the public has no need for a serial port, but for me it is a convenience.

The keyboard layout is a bit different than what I am used to. The lower left key on the dell is the <CTRL> key. On the Thinkpad the same key is the Function key. Neither is better than the other, it is just a matter of remembering where my fingers are.

Without a doubt I like the size, weight and build on the Thinkpad, but as I said I made a trade-off. There is no way to reduce size and weight without sacrificing something.