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3150

Make longer lasting batteries for better portability

3150 points posted to Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptop Power by winoffice 05/05/07 **IN PROGRESS**

Don't make us recharge our laptops' batteries so often! A recent Cnet article (posted at Cnet's news site at about May 5, 2007) explains that Windows Vista's Aero Glass feature gives you less battery life. So, if we want Windows Vista, then we either have to recharge more often, or pay extra for more and better batteries! Instead, make Dell get rid of the batteries which quickly lose their charge...and come up with something that would give us longer battery life as follows (under Windows Vista), without making us stay away from Windows Vista or pay an extra $99 for another and better battery.

Basic laptops: at least 2 1/2 hours battery life
Entertainment laptops: at least 3 1/2 hours battery life
XPS laptops: at least 4 1/2 hours battery life

chewd
05/05/07		 I think right now Dell is the last company who wants to go experimenting with higher capacity laptop batteries. Have you already forgotten the great battery recall disaster of 06?

For awhile there the name dell was synonymous with 'exploding laptop batteries'
darky
05/06/07		 Continuing chewd argument, the OS itself should be more "lean." The 3d card is much more fit to do user interface operations, saving lots of CPU cycles and power. Of course, Microsofts love bloat because that sells new PCs with most likely their OS on it, so I don't think we will ever get to OSX tiger stage where the CPU just issues drawing commands to the GPU/3d card.

Pixel Shader 2.0 blurring should be off by default. Maybe the GPU doesn't use much more power with it enabled, but GPU's doesn't have much power saving features yet...
wini
05/08/07		 You want more perfomance and longer lasting batteries? It doesnt work this way. XPS 5 hours ?!?!?! I can tell you that the batteries wont get better at DELL but the components like displays and harddrive (SSD). Those will use less battery.
sqlguru
05/17/07		 Have you maximized your power saving settings? My wife routinely gets 6 hours from her laptop. Screen set to the dimmest setting where she can still see it, if optical drive is removable, remove it, minimize unnecessary current draws (USB devices, etc.), turn off bluetooth (and if connected networking, wireless), turn off "pretty" graphics options that don't provide any benefit (such as non-outline dragging), etc. Granted, she isn't gaming (mostly Internet surfing), but the same steps will help any computer running on batteries.....minimize the draw and you extend the charge.

Layne
8blade6
06/04/07		 All companies are constantly looking for ways to create cost effective, efficient and safe products and innovations. There's no bennificial reason for Dell to with hold technology that can extend battery life greatly at a reasonable price. And for the most part battery cells are produced by other manufactures like in the case of the overheating batteries they were due to bad sony cells (which btw affected Apple, Acer sony and more as well as dell. Dell was just the first to take action to replace every single battery, over heating or not, that may have been part of the bad batch). I for one respect Dell for the action they took with those batteries even though Sony slammed them over and over again blamming dell for the issue untill they had to start replacing the same cells in their own computer. Check this site for more info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony#Batteries< time come up with a useful idea
jorge
06/19/07		 Again a mote.
lithiumbattery
11/08/07		 about make long lasting battery,i know some basic tips...although its very ebay,but i also want to share with everyone,i hope i can help others.
1) A new battery usually maintains a discharged condition with very low capacity. It is highly recommended to fully charge new battery packs before using. You can refer to the users' guide of your electronic device for charging instructions.
2) A new battery pack needs to be circled (fully discharged and recharged) three to five times to reach its optimum performance.
3) Rechargeable battery will undergo self-discharging when left unused for a long period of time. Thus, it should always be stored in a fully charged state and kept in a cool, dry and clean place.
4) To maintain the optimum performance of a battery pack, it is highly recommended to circle (fully discharging and recharging) it at least once a month.
5) It is normal if a new battery gets warm when being charged or used. However, please pay special attention if the battery pack becomes excessively hot. This may indicate there is a problem with the charging circuit of the electronic device. Please consult a qualified technician if necessary.
6) New batteries are hard to be charged. Sometimes, your electronic device may indicate a fully charged condition about 10 to 15 minutes when the new battery pack is being charged for the first time. When this happens, remove the battery pack and let it cool down for about 10 to 15 minutes then repeat the charging procedure. Sometimes, a new battery will suddenly refuse to be charged. If this happens, a suggested solution is trying to remove the battery from the device and insert it again.

the detail :http://www.lithium-batteries.net/all-battery-faq.html
zshazz
Jan 21		 Dell, we want THESE

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html
kara_k
Jan 31		 Changed status to **IN PROGRESS**.

Check out the post on Direct2Dell for an update on how Dell is addressing battery life.
jorge
Jan 31		 kara why can't you post the info in the idea comments? In doing that it brings closure to the idea, not a distraction on some other site.
zanlok
Jan 31		 hurray winoffice!
winoffice
Feb 5		 In progress! Hurray indeed!
q0987
Feb 26		 We're still a few years from Nanowire batteries being released into the market. Maybe we can get ahold of a Draft-N(ano) version during this decade
bretta
Apr 11		 Safer, better batteries: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/10/boffins_build_better_battery/
sa324
Jun 18		 Merged Idea originally posted Apr 10
battery life

It would be great if Dell could improve the battery life on their laptops.
undead999
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 10
and drop the price of replacement batteries .. 9 cell battery for XPS m1330 $299.99 http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Power/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=e...
undead999
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 10
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2282488,00.asp
stormrider451
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 10
Its not that simple to create longer lasting batteries since they basically work with chemical reactions and the physics of those chm rxns. So, unless they find a new chemical reaction that yields better energy per quantity, all you can do to make em last longer is to make em bigger, thus having more chemicals to undergo more energy producing reactions.
jervis961
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 10
You should enjoy this video then and feel free to vote on my idea if you haven't already.

http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/65514/Dell_should_use_silverzinc_batter...

jdelidc
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 11
can't think of any company that ain't doing that
robert_p
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 17
Hi All,

Juat a quick response here to what is going on in the world of batteries, I found this article that describes the current situation pretty well:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9903560-1.html
jdelidc
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 17
i thought LG was a japanese company. learn something new everyday
jervis961
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 18
See how dangerous lithium ion batteries are. First they set laptops on fire and now they can't even get them out of the factory before they go up in flames. :D
robert_p
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Apr 18
Here's an article on how to extend battery life:

http://direct2dell.com/smallbusiness/default.aspx
jandern3
Jun 18		 Merged Idea originally posted Mar 2
Extended Battery Life

Please, Please, PLEASE invest more money in R&D for battery life. It does not matter how much money you are already putting into it, it needs more. Advances are simply not being made fast enough to keep up with the ridiculously fast growing electronics market. With phones, mp3 players, and laptops taking over and wireless and portable electronics emerging as constants, battery life is just not long enough to sustain it. Whenever you use a laptop or phone for an extended time period, it needs to be recharged. This means charging it more than once per day. A virtual impossibility if it is being used in its true capacity.
toyota_supra
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Mar 2
Negative. Dell is not a manufacturer of batteries.
Dell just assembles computers/laptops from parts manufactured by other companies.
kaizanne
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted May 14
Agree 100% with the need to improve battery life. From my understanding about battery industry, it takes time to roll out these battery products safely into market like medicine's R&D. As such, the possible ongoing R&D efforts now (eg. fuel cell technology) will take easily another 5 to 10 years before being used in the personal consumer electronics products.
sgogeta4
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted May 14
To toyota: Just because Dell doesn't manufacture batteries doesn't mean they can't extend battery life. Battery life has a big software component to it. Smart optimizations can increase battery life dramatically. How do you think two different models with the exact same components and same battery power can have vastly different battery time?
junior
Jun 18		 Merged Idea originally posted Jun 17
Improve Batery Life for all Dell Notebooks.

when I am using my laptop (6 Cell), I can't really get one movie done, the time length sometimes jumps, plays around with me....I recently purchased a 9 cell battery, its pretty much the same length, in my experience. on the shopping channel, that Dell guy says that "you can get up to five hours of battery life", he also said, "that's like 4 DVD's" I watch a movie, shows that I only have 26 Mins left, it was only 1.5 hours.! this battery was to cheap for me, at a $300 price range, this was a rip-off!.
Improve battery life for all notebooks, use 12 cell with better life.
jervis961
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Jun 18
Up to 5 hours in sleep mode maybe. :)

Really though you would need to turn everything off to get the 5 hours. Turn off WiFi, turn the brightness down, turn off any programs you aren't using in the background, I think you get the point.
paperpilot
Jun 18		 Merged Comment originally posted Jun 18
DELL doesn't need to be told to improve battery life, the mantra of all computer vendors. The biggest users of power in a computer are displays and moving parts like disk and DVD drives, so I would expect movies to suck battery power big time. Better you should suggest a new, power efficient technology than put forward a blanket "improve battery life" as an idea.
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