Battery life of any computer whether it is a laptop, a phone or even a device contributes to an individual’s final decision of whether to purchase that specific device or not. This is mainly due to the fact that it determines the time period that one has to work, surf or chat with friends, family colleagues among other functionalities. We all want efficient machineries and the best’s possible possibility that it will not require continuous recharging. With the proper battery life, you are assured of doing or carrying out your tasks smoothly and efficiently without worrying about the battery life.
Battery Life
This refers to the time taken for a laptop to indicate battery low and initiate shutdown process after it was fully recharged. Many brands and companies claim above five to ten or twelve hours battery life for their laptops. However, according to which? Tests were done on different brands to determine their battery lives under use.
Drawn Conclusions
It was concluded that many brands have batteries that last for about half of the advertised time period. In fact, Apple Macbook Pro was the only laptop that was able to reach its advertised time period for battery life, which is around 10 hours. Others such as Dell, HP, Acer and Lenovo’s battery life performance was at half. The test was based on using the laptops on a continuous basis by watching movies and surfing the internet using a Wi-Fi connection.
Optimum Conditions
We should not direct blame to anyone in specific but to those who design the laptops. As they test the battery life, they do it under the optimum condition which will always upgrade the computer’s performance. They fail to consider that people use their machines differently and the mileage incurred is different for each individual. In addition, one may use when it is fully lit and the brightness is at 100% while another one lowers the brightness, adds some contrasts etc. Others have more than a single application running at the same time which drains the laptop’s battery at a faster rate.
Average Laptop Use
This is highly dependent on an individual. A person may use his/her own laptop continuously without stopping while working, watching or surfing. Similar to driving a vehicle, it is possible to use your laptops in totally different ways such that your battery life differs from the other even though the machines or laptops are of a similar brand and similar make. The way you use your laptop especially in regards to the running applications, storage space and current usage, your battery performance is impacted on in many different ways.
Which Tests
Which? Tests carried out several tests on different brands of laptops from some of the top brands in the manufacture of these consumer goods. The results obtained were astounding especially in reference to battery performance. It is important to note that the similar tests were carried out on all these brands. The results obtained were as follows:
- Acer E15 whose battery life claim is around six hours lasted for only 2 hours and 56 minutes under the conditions that were set.
- Macbook Pro from Apple who claims that its battery life is around 10 hours did better and outshone the period with an additional two hours under the same conditions.
- Inspiron 15 5,000 from dell who claim that its battery life is around seven hours lasted for around 3 hours and 58 minutes.
- Pavillion 14-al115na from HP lasted for around 4 hours and 25 minutes. However, the claimed time period for the battery is around nine hours.
- Yoga 510 from Lenovo claims to have a battery life of around five hours. However, it only lasted for around 2 hours and 7 minutes.
Durability
Many laptops have been designed for different uses and are of different brands. However, repair experts indicate that the durability of a laptop’s battery is directly correlated with the amount of applications or software that are running on the laptop at any given moment and the amount of time that the user inputs into using the laptop on a daily basis. To enhance the said durability and battery life, one is advised to ensure you operate under these conditions when using your laptop.
- Lower the screen brightness to a suitable level if surfing the internet and you can increase it when watching a movie.
- Turn off Bluetooth connections, Wi-Fi connections and sharing portals whenever they are not being used to minimize battery use
- Activate the power saver by using the set power saving installed on windows, Mac and other software running on the laptop
With these, you are assured a longer battery life and time to complete the tasks assigned.
Conclusion
Which? Tests have given a food for thought and a line of thought that manufacturers should incorporate when testing the battery life of a laptop and when testing any other feature. By putting it in similar conditions as the actual user, better and accurate readings can be achieved. This will ensure that the numbers are no longer overrated, but accurately measured and recorded at all times for all the different brands.
