Tips for maximizing battery life on an 8-9 hr trip?

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Louis · #1 Post by **Louis** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:05 pm

I am going to Europe next month and the 8 hour flight is usually a bit of a pain when it comes to me running out of battery while watching a movie on my Thinkpad.
Now for those of you who take long trips with the laptop...
I was reading that if you burn the DVD to the HD you will get more battery life since the CD drive isnt spinning all the time. Has anyone done this and if so, how much of a difference did it make?
I currently have a 7-cell battery for my z60t and was thinking of buying either another 7 cell or a 4 cell to have as a second battery for the trip. However this seems a bit of a waste because I only use batteries when I go on a trip and I go to Europe maybe once a year.
Somehow a $135 expense for a new 7 cell doesn't seem justifiable for a one time trip. Even the 4-cell is 109... not too crazy about that for a once a year trip..especially since probably by next year's trip the battery will have probably lost much of its charge power by sitting unused for a year
I know I can finish one DVD and a bit of the second one with my current battery....just wondering if by reading it from the harddrive i could save enough juice to watch 2 entire movies? or thats too much to hope for and might as well get the battery?

Thanx for any tips!

#2 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:14 pm

If you travel business class, some companies provide a power outlet, where you can plug in your laptop.
You'd need a special adapter for flying, such as this one from Kensington: http://us.kensington.com/html/6368.html
it comes with various adapter bits for use in car, train, plane etc.

Louis · #3 Post by **Louis** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:27 pm

Thanks, I read about the in-seat power..unfortunately, business class is a bit too much for me, this being a personal vacation trip. If it was a company trip then I'd have a better shot at aiming for those..
For now I guess battery will have to do....

cj3209 · #4 Post by **cj3209** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:47 pm

1) you can purchase IBM OEM 7-cell batteries for your Z60t for around $80 (I bought one);

2) I have ripped DVDs onto my hard drive and it does indeed save on battery wear but I don't remember how much battery life I saved. There are many software options to do this. The one that I use is called anydvd and it works well although it's not free. There are 'free' dvd rippers out there if you search.

Personally, if all you're doing is watching movies, I would use another platform for watching dvds such as a Sony PSP, an old pocket PC, or even a video iPod if you have one. True, the screen is much smaller but for 2-3 movies on a flight, it's fine (I've done it before).

Good luck.

CJ

andrzej · #5 Post by **andrzej** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:55 pm

check yours seat
http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-sea ... _power.php
'The Ultimate Guide to In-Seat Laptop Power Ports'

check AC plug on destination country
http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm 'ELECTRIC POWER AROUND THE WORLD'

yours ThP z60t
ThinkPad with high capacity battery

1. ac/dc combo adapter
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62290 40Y7630
2. external battery charger
http://www5.pc.ibm.com/europe/products. ... enDocument 40Y7625
3. additional high capacity battery
4. stereo headset - music and skype
5. usb flash drive - with portable apps
6. usb travel adaptors - for mobile phone etc
7. carry bag

FYI
sorry to say but for your ThP z60t
mentioned above by RealBlackStuff
ac/dc adapter need additional tip (not included)
Kensington N29 smarttip http://us.kensington.com/html/10442.html SmartTip® pack for IBM/Lenovo
SmartTip® pack for IBM/Lenovo - includes tip N2 and N29 Model number: 20048 Price: $9.99

BTW
the same with Targus ac/dc adapters
Targus Tip #31A - (also not included)
http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=APT31 Price:$14.99
for yours ThP z60t

#6 Post by **bill bolton** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:08 pm

Louis wrote:I know I can finish one DVD and a bit of the second one with my current battery....just wondering if by reading it from the harddrive i could save enough juice to watch 2 entire movies?

Short answer, probably not.

Even if you ramp down all the power to levels to the minimum levels that will still support viewable video replay from HDD, you are unlikely to get the duration you are looking for on a Z60.

Cheers,

Bill B.

#7 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:20 am

I have traveled across many times. Usually within an hour I am fast asleep, get woken up for a meal and sleep on. I've never managed to even watch a whole in-flight movie.
Bring a good book, it needs no battery power at all!

Louis · #8 Post by **Louis** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:04 pm

Thanks for the tips/link guys...still have a month or so to figure out what to do....by the way where do you get a 7 cell IBM battery for 80 bucks? Cos the original lenovo one even with my corporate discount doesn't come close to 100....unless you mean the ebay ones but I don't know if those batteries work very well.....

cj3209 · #9 Post by **cj3209** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:37 pm

I purchased from this vendor and the battery is indeed OEM IBM and works well for me:

Sanyo
FRU part #: 42T4512

Link

Good luck!

CJ

MOD EDIT: Link modified for better scrolling.

joester · #10 Post by **joester** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:08 pm

Just another thought...

I convert my video files (movies) to .AVI format, then I copy them to a thumb drive. I use VLC to run them.

By changing the settings for the hard drive, you can have it shut down after a few minutes and run the entire movie from the thumb drive without ever having the hard drive spin.

With a 2GB drive, I can easily fit 2 movies. Yes there is a drop in resolution, but the movies are certainly watchable.

Joe

cj3209 · #11 Post by **cj3209** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:24 pm

Joe: that's a very interesting option - running a video from an external thumb drive. I'll have to try it!

CJ

andrzej · #12 Post by **andrzej** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:46 pm

be extremely careful with OEM batteries
so follow recommendations

FYI in my experience
mentioned are so far from perfect
both OEM used by me
ThP X60/s Series 8 Cell High Capacity Battery ~ 92$ (in PL)

1. Manufacturer name: PSPSP (?)
+ OK shape (possible connect Ultrabay)
+ OK Battery spacer (42W3050)
+ OK capacity (75 Wh)
- cannot charged by ThinkPad External Battery Charger (40Y7625)
- Temperature: 32 C

2. Manufacturer name: GW (?)
- wrong proportion (cannot attached Ultrabay)
- Battery spacer (42W3050) NOT present
- smaller capacity (63 Wh)
+ charged by ThinkPad External Battery Charger (40Y7625)
+ Temperature: 18 C

BTW New rules limit lithium content
in batteries carried on aircraft
January 1, 2008
http://www.dailytech.com/New+Airline+Ba ... e10172.htm link

joester · #13 Post by **joester** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:02 pm

cj3209 wrote:Joe: that's a very interesting option - running a video from an external thumb drive. I'll have to try it!

CJ

Even older laptops with lower video memory run well on the thumbdrive. My 600E and several older Gateways I have run great if the movie is on a thumbdrive. Having the movies on the HDD in the older systems caused the video to jump and stutter, and using the optical drive ate the battery too fast.

Thumbdrive movies cured it!

Joe

Afterthought....
I probably just caused an increase in older laptop prices....

jaldro · #14 Post by **jaldro** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:40 pm

sorry to say but for your ThP z60t
mentioned above by RealBlackStuff
ac/dc adapter need additional tip (not included)
Kensington N29 smarttip http://us.kensington.com/html/10442.html SmartTip® pack for IBM/Lenovo
SmartTip® pack for IBM/Lenovo - includes tip N2 and N29 Model number: 20048 Price: $9.99

Does anyone know if the N29 tip works with the Kensington model 33051?

If not, anything I can do other than buy a whole new device?

Louis · #15 Post by **Louis** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:00 pm

Regarding the DC adapters...i was just reading another post that mentioned that empower in plane seats output about 75W, if my z60 needs a 90w power brick, does that mean that it will not work on the em power on the plane?
This is in case I can sneak up to a powered seat once the flight takes off.

joester · #16 Post by **joester** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:13 pm

You should be able to run the laptop on the 75W...BUT... Don't expect to charge the battery, run the optical drive, and whatever else at the same time. As long as your power requirements are not at maximum, you should be OK.

In other words, if your battery is reasonably charged and you want to run a DVD, there shouldn't be a problem.

If your battery is almost dead, you should not run the optical drive until the battery is charged.

Joe

m509272 · #17 Post by **m509272** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:45 am

Not sure what if any options you have to slow the CPU but do that if you can to the point where the movie is still displaying properly.

Two memory sticks, remove one. Screen on as low a brightness as possible.

Last thing I read regarding the extra batteries restriction is you can't pack them in checked luggage. Not a problem with carry on. They don't want a short in the cargo hold where they can't get to it easily.

I've been using 3rd party batteries for years. Generally just a good idea not to leave them charging unattended, overnight. Perhaps I've just been lucky.

Louis · #18 Post by **Louis** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:25 am

Thanks guys!

bradtem · #19 Post by **bradtem** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:28 pm

It seems to me it would be useful if somebody wrote a DVD playing program that grabbed as much of the movie into RAM as it could (from dvd or hard disk) and then spun down the device. With x264, you can easily get 30 to 40 minutes in 500mb of spare ram, which you probably have if you're not running anything but the movie. So only spinning up the disk every 30 minutes should make its power use minimal -- how long can you run in that circumstance?

But yes, running off usb stick or even better off SD card ($10 for 2gb cards) is probably even better. You could even watch a movie on the flight out and then have an empty sd card for photos.

ukchris · #20 Post by **ukchris** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:06 am

For me a laptop isn't the best option for watching movies, an iPod or, even better a PSP works great. I copy movies to my PSP and it'll run for hours and hours, nice and small so you can watch it while you eat if you choose, you can even play games too!

I can get three MPEG4 movies on a 2Gb memory stick or a bunch of TV episodes, I can then use my laptop battery time for things I need a laptop for.

hellosailor · #21 Post by **hellosailor** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:04 pm

Some of the carriers (American Airlines, domestic) provide Airpower to everyone--including us hoi-poloi in the cattle seats on some flights.

I've seen Intel figures, buried somewhere on the Intel web site, that indicate the Core Duo chips get about 40% more run time when the DVD drive is not used, so YES, moving the movie to the hard drive and watching it from there will gain you some time. I'd guess some 20-25% more time, but of course you can try it and clock it at home to find out for sure.

Or, if you have a "smartphone", rip it to the smaller device format and play it from there. (Or from an SD card in the computer, so no physical drive needs to run it at all. That's GOT TO make a huge difference.)

Bottom line, nine hours...you need a power cord or spare batteries. Or that other thing...whaddaycallit...a book?<G>

Rahula · #22 Post by **Rahula** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:53 pm

[quote="joester"]Just another thought...

I convert my video files (movies) to .AVI format, then I copy them to a thumb drive. I use [url=http://www.videolan.org/vlc/][color=blue]VLC[/color][/url] to run them.

By changing the settings for the hard drive, you can have it shut down after a few minutes and run the entire movie from the thumb drive without ever having the hard drive spin.

With a 2GB drive, I can easily fit 2 movies. Yes there is a drop in resolution, but the movies are certainly watchable.

Joe[/quote]
--------------------------------
Joe,

If you can run the movie on just the USB thumb drive alone, and with the HDD shut down, does the movie player, VLC, or any other video player, have to be a portable application installed on the same USB drive?

Drawing on this analogy, is it possible to run other portable apps (e.g. word processing) on just the USB stick, and with the HDD shut down?

Can you please give me an example on how to configure the HDD to shut down after, say, five minutes, on my T23, which probably is similar to your T21.

I am most interested in this unusual strategy in battery conservation as I previously thought that the HDD shuts down only when the computer is shut down, in hibernation, or standby.

Thanks.

SHoTTa35 · #23 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:34 pm

just go into windows power settings and change the it. It's in the Control Panel under the Power Options tile. Just enable spindown at 5mins or something.

As for the other stuff, they don't need to be on the stick because once they are open they are in RAM, the info is copied from the HDD to RAM and stays there till it's closed.

joester · #24 Post by **joester** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:40 pm

Exactly. Once the program (like VLC) are loaded, they reside in the RAM and run from there. The program looks to the thumb (or SD) memory for the file it's running. No need for the HDD at all once things are up and going.

Joe

Trekk69 · #25 Post by **Trekk69** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:22 am

Just regarding longer achieved battery life, I've been taking out my battery whenever I'm plugged in and using my laptop (with battery) to ink my Uni notes, and I've been able to last 7-8hrs with my X61T, w/o doing a recharge on max battery life setting

Tips for maximizing battery life on an 8-9 hr trip?

Tips for maximizing battery life on an 8-9 hr trip?

RE: recommendation for overseas trip

Re: Tips for maximizing battery life on an 8-9 hr trip?

RE: my OEM batteries

Low power playing

running entirely on USB stick with HDD shut down?

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