Windows 7 Notebook Battery Life

by Lee

At a Microsoft forum, users are complaining that the newest Windows operating system takes battery life at a faster rate than previous Windows operating systems.

“Unbelievable! It is Feb 2010, so this issue is already 8 months old and no fix from MS?” wrote RVBoston who is a forum member.

Another member said, “It was working fine then all of a sudden, around the 1st or 2nd week of October 09, it wouldn’t hold a long charge and I got the error.”

Source: Information Week



About the Author

Lee is a computer enthusiast and technology writer.

Comments (2)

  • Doesn’t seem too surprising to me that Windows 7 would demand more power than XP, which is what most people are use to. Just running Aero all the time is going to make your video card churn faster. And then there’s the background indexing for search, desktop gadgets, etc etc. Shouldn’t more power consumption be expected, or is the problem that Windows 7 is reporting a lower battery charge than there actually is?

  • Bruce Tech Guy says:

    MICR,
    Good questions.
    Though it sounds like folks are thinking that somehow Win7 drains the battery faster.

    My question, for the folks I work with who have Win7 laptops, does it really drain and cause a shortened battery life (which would be bad), or is it just draining the battery faster (which would be inconvenient but not fatal)?

    Q1) Short of a real solution from MS, could you Technibble recommend best settings to extend life?
    Q2) Will this have any effect on users who leave their laptop plugged in most of the time?


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