System76

Laptop Battery time

Asked by flechadeorion

I just got a Gazelle Ultra with a 4-cell battery, and believe that there must be a problem with it. Working with the laptop or just surfing the internet will cause the battery to run out in around 1 hour 20 minutes. The longest I have been able to run it was leaving it idle with low screen brightness and still then got less than 2 hours from the battery.

This is very satisfying as the average time I expect a regular laptop to run on battery is around 4 hours. I used to be Mac user and my macbook had 5 hours of battery life. 1 hour is just unacceptable. I have even tried some programs referred in the Ubuntu forums, however this just changes the battery life almost insignificantly, +-10 min, but I need to add 2 or so to my battery life. What can it be done to fix this? Could this be a manufacture defect in my particular battery? I appreciate your help. Best,

Leonardo Urbina

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Thomas Aaron (tom-system76) said : 		#1

Maximum 4-cell life on Gazelle is 1.5 - 2 hrs, depending heavily on usage. Below are methods of increasing battery life. To pursue this issue further, please send an email to <email address hidden>.

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Battery life is largely dependent on how you are using your computer. If you typically use programs that tax your cpu, your battery will be used up more quickly than it will if you are using lighter programs. For example, playing a DVD will use your battery much more quickly than, say, a word processing program.

Here are a few things I know of that can maximize your battery life.

1. SCREEN BRIGHTNESS
Go to System > Preferences > Power Management. Under the AC tab, set your brightness. Under the Battery Tab, select the checkboxes labled: "Dim Display When Idle" and "Reduce Backlight Brightness."

2. POWERTOP
Go to a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and install powertop by running this command: sudo apt-get install powertop
Then start powertop by running this command: sudo powertop
Powertop will present you with opportunities to press keys that will kill un-needed services. You must leave the terminal open to keep powertop running, but you can minimize the terminal so that it isn't visible.

3. STARTUP PROGRAMS
Go to System > Preferences > Sessions > (Startup Programs Tab) and uncheck any startup sessions you do not need. It is not a good idea to uncheck startup programs unless you are sure you really do not need them. Some that are generally safe to remove are: Bluetooth Manger, Evolution Alarm Notifier, Remote Desktop, Tracker, Tracker Applet, and Visual Assistance.

4. SEARCHING AND INDEXING
Go to System > Preferences > Searching and Indexing and select the checkboxes labled: "Disable All Indexing When on Battery" and "Disable Initial Index Sweep When On Battery."

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