Laptop Battery

[Evans Electric]

We have a laptop in addition to the office PC  .  I got it from Tesco with  £100 off as it was from their display but I did notice that the battery didn't last too long when in use.

  Had it  about 6 months and a " Replace battery" warning appears now . Ordered one at a reasonable price on Amazon  but I wondered how long a battery should last when the laptop is working without the power lead.  

Also , does anyone know what sort of lead I need to connect to a phone socket.  It's WiFi connection is not very strong .

Its a Dell Inspiron BTW .    

 

[Andy™]

you cant just connect it to a phone socket, it would need connected to router or modem. you would need a RJ45 lead for that

i would expect battery life to be a few hours, but that depends on many factors

 

[OnOff]

Windows 7? In Control Panel there will be settings within Power Options to set up the battery according to how you use the laptop, e.g. mainly on battery or on mains etc that can be set to extend the battery life. This screen dump is off of our Acer:

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z346/clicon357/power.jpg

As to the Wifi we have a BT Homehub and it is superb. Maybe you should think about a cheap range extender?

 

[steptoe]

you could try one of these in your laptop

or,

one of these on your router

 

[Doc Hudson]

You would need to know what Ampere hours rating the battery is and how many amps the laptop is typically consuming during normal operation, greater Ah and less amps consumed = greater length of battery operation. The same model of laptop can often have a different rating battery installed if improved battery operation is needed.

Doc H.

 

[Andy™]

could always use one of these

 

[pewter]

My MacBook lasts 7 hours on battery and 30 days on standby.

 

[kerching]

If it has gone a bit 'moody' after 6 months then take it back and see what they say...nothing to lose really

 

[Apache]

If it has gone a bit 'moody' after 6 months then take it back and see what they say...nothing to lose really

Agreed!

 

[Andy™]

few years ago my dad bought a camera from a well known supermarket.

about a year later, it broke. so he took it back. the only cameras they had at the time were better & cheaper than what he paid, so he got a new camera, and a refund on the difference in price...

 

[Steve3948]

And for network use these, no loss of speed at all.

 

[Evans Electric]

Thanks for all that  guys !!

Andy :-   Yes of course ...  connect to modem.... stupid of me ...I'll stick with the WiFi.

Pewter :-  7 hours eh !   this lasts about 1 hour at most just surfing the Forum . 

Not too sure about returning it as it was discounted by £100 as a display model.

I sent for a batt at a reasonable price .  

 

[Andy™]

so you get approx 1 hour use from a 48 hour charge?

 

[Evans Electric]

Yep !

 

[Apache]

The fact is was a display model matters not

 

[husky2013]

I agree with most,   take the laptop in question back, you are still covered by your statutory rights if the item is not fit for intended use in a reasonable time period then you are entitled to refund of original purchase price or the option for the retailer to in fact correct the issue, unless the following applies:

1) The item was purchased with full knowledge of any defects noted on purchase invoice/reciept

 if no defects noted then retailer is required to honor the guarantee and manufacturer's warranty, as untill 12 months old your contract of purchase is with retailer not manufacturer!

My laptop is 2 years old  and i can still get 5 hours on a 24 hour charge and thats on a Dell of all laptops!