Laptop Battery Life

hardusb

hardusb

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Hope this is the correct thread, Just need some advice from people who may have been through this setup.

I recently upgraded from a Dell Inspiron i5, 8Gb 5th generation laptop to a Dell XPS 13 10th generation laptop (2nd Hand).

The new laptop:
Dell XPS 13 73190
512G SSD NVMe
i7 10510u @ 1.8GHZ 2.30GHz
16Gb Ram
Windows 11 Pro

I use the following apps all at once:
Corel Draw (2022 Version)
Photoshop 2022
Google Chrome (20+ Tabs)
Spotify

I use 2 external screens with 2 USB c hubs
The keyboard and mouse are both Bluetooth.

Under full load, I sit with the CPU and Ram both at 80-90%
I have the 20 tabs open with WordPress editing products in Chrome.
I have 3 projects open under Corel Draw
I have an average of 1 open in Photoshop where I just edit photos with.

On Battery after scaling down a bit, I have 50% CPU and 60-70% ram
I use max 5 tabs in chrome and only one file open in Corel and photoshop.
Everything plugged out.
I get about 2 hours of battery life on this.

The bios and Dell Battery management report the battery is "Excellent"

When I use a 3rd party tool to check it reports the battery :
Design Capacity: 51999 MWh
Full Charge Capacity: 35735 mWh

Will replacing the battery solve my issues and give me a couple of more hours?
Is it the laptop that works too hard and uses more battery?
Is it the laptop's power management that's no good?
The hardware of software issue, I considered downgrading to windows 10 but apparently, Win11 is better at battery management?
Recommendations?
 
backstreetboy said:
Battery is close to toast. Replace it.
Click to expand...
Is it though ?

My laptop has a mere 120 cycles on it and windows reports a much lower capacity is available. My laptop lasts the whole day on light work.
cpu goes to idle a lot, wonder if i would get similar results if i was on 50-60% constant usage.

DESIGN CAPACITY 56 018 mWh
FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 37 364 mWh
CYCLE COUNT 120
 
hardusb said:
Hope this is the correct thread, Just need some advice from people who may have been through this setup.

I recently upgraded from a Dell Inspiron i5, 8Gb 5th generation laptop to a Dell XPS 13 10th generation laptop (2nd Hand).

The new laptop:
Dell XPS 13 73190
512G SSD NVMe
i7 10510u @ 1.8GHZ 2.30GHz
16Gb Ram
Windows 11 Pro

I use the following apps all at once:
Corel Draw (2022 Version)
Photoshop 2022
Google Chrome (20+ Tabs)
Spotify

I use 2 external screens with 2 USB c hubs
The keyboard and mouse are both Bluetooth.

Under full load, I sit with the CPU and Ram both at 80-90%
I have the 20 tabs open with WordPress editing products in Chrome.
I have 3 projects open under Corel Draw
I have an average of 1 open in Photoshop where I just edit photos with.

On Battery after scaling down a bit, I have 50% CPU and 60-70% ram
I use max 5 tabs in chrome and only one file open in Corel and photoshop.
Everything plugged out.
I get about 2 hours of battery life on this.

The bios and Dell Battery management report the battery is "Excellent"

When I use a 3rd party tool to check it reports the battery :
Design Capacity: 51999 MWh
Full Charge Capacity: 35735 mWh

Will replacing the battery solve my issues and give me a couple of more hours?
Is it the laptop that works too hard and uses more battery?
Is it the laptop's power management that's no good?
The hardware of software issue, I considered downgrading to windows 10 but apparently, Win11 is better at battery management?
Recommendations?
Click to expand...
try powercfg /batteryreport in cmd and see what it says
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Yuu
seshy57 said:
try powercfg /batteryreport in cmd and see what it says
Click to expand...
A New battery costs R1800-2100, so I need to see if it's worth it. I did a test and closed all apps and only vlc and watched a couple of movies, the battery only lasted 4h. Half brightness with all the battery saver features turned on.

Installed batteries​

Information about each currently installed battery
BATTERY 1
NAMEDELL G8VCF6C
MANUFACTURERSMP
SERIAL NUMBER1973
CHEMISTRYLiP
DESIGN CAPACITY51 999 mWh
FULL CHARGE CAPACITY35 469 mWh
CYCLE COUNT-

Recent usage​

Power states over the last 3 days
START TIMESTATESOURCECAPACITY REMAINING
2022-05-2510:01:00ActiveBattery94 %33 759 mWh
11:19:02ActiveAC91 %32 376 mWh
14:11:08ActiveBattery100 %35 735 mWh
18:11:32ActiveAC72 %25 604 mWh
18:41:28ActiveBattery90 %32 095 mWh
18:41:30ActiveAC90 %32 095 mWh
18:42:58ActiveBattery90 %32 285 mWh
18:43:23ActiveAC90 %32 186 mWh
21:32:41ActiveBattery99 %35 332 mWh
21:32:43ActiveAC99 %35 325 mWh
22:14:36ActiveBattery99 %35 203 mWh
22:14:38ActiveAC100 %35 735 mWh
2022-05-2610:35:45ActiveBattery97 %34 550 mWh
10:35:46ActiveAC97 %34 550 mWh
10:35:47ActiveBattery97 %34 542 mWh
10:35:48ActiveAC97 %34 542 mWh
10:36:42ActiveBattery97 %34 512 mWh
10:37:02ActiveAC96 %34 398 mWh
10:37:03ActiveBattery96 %34 398 mWh
13:21:27Suspended4 %1 550 mWh
14:22:07ActiveBattery5 %1 832 mWh
14:22:07ActiveAC5 %1 832 mWh
14:29:51ActiveBattery11 %4 020 mWh
14:29:53ActiveAC11 %4 020 mWh
14:51:09ActiveBattery27 %9 470 mWh
14:51:11ActiveAC27 %9 470 mWh
16:05:24ActiveBattery73 %25 817 mWh
16:05:25ActiveAC73 %25 817 mWh
17:00:42ActiveBattery98 %34 633 mWh
17:40:29Suspended93 %32 969 mWh
17:55:41ActiveBattery92 %32 475 mWh
18:00:54ActiveAC90 %31 844 mWh
22:22:32ActiveBattery97 %34 329 mWh
22:22:34ActiveAC97 %34 322 mWh
2022-05-2722:29:00Suspended100 %35 469 mWh
22:54:06ActiveAC100 %35 469 mWh
23:00:00Suspended100 %35 469 mWh
23:00:35ActiveAC100 %35 469 mWh
23:01:19Suspended100 %35 469 mWh
2022-05-2808:11:53ActiveAC100 %35 469 mWh
09:59:18Report generatedAC98 %34 694 mWh

START TIMESTATEDURATIONENERGY DRAINED
2022-05-2510:01:00Active1:18:024 %1 383 mWh
14:11:08Active4:00:2328 %10 131 mWh
18:41:28Active0:00:01--
18:42:58Active0:00:25-99 mWh
21:32:41Active0:00:01-7 mWh
22:14:36Active0:00:01--532 mWh
2022-05-2610:35:45Active0:00:01--
10:35:47Active0:00:01--
10:36:42Active0:00:19-114 mWh
10:37:03Active2:44:2492 %32 848 mWh
14:22:07Active0:00:00--
14:29:51Active0:00:01--
14:51:09Active0:00:01--
16:05:24Active0:00:01--
17:00:42Active0:39:475 %1 664 mWh
17:55:41Active0:05:122 %631 mWh
22:22:32Active0:00:01-7 mWh


Battery capacity history​

Charge capacity history of the system's batteries
PERIODFULL CHARGE CAPACITYDESIGN CAPACITY
2022-05-2136 313 mWh51 999 mWh
2022-05-2236 313 mWh51 999 mWh
2022-05-2336 366 mWh51 999 mWh
2022-05-2435 531 mWh51 999 mWh
2022-05-2535 735 mWh51 999 mWh
2022-05-2635 628 mWh51 999 mWh
2022-05-2735 469 mWh51 999 mWh
 
Surely windows has the equivalent of showing which apps are consuming most power?

Only ask as I had a co worker who got infected with a miner. His fan was always running and had poor battery life.
 
If the laptop can charge via USB C then get a big USB C power delivery external USB battery bank, just make sure it’s output wattage is sufficient to charge the laptop or at the very least stop it from depleting the internal battery.
 
I can either buy a new battery or a PD powerbank, costs the same.

SPL charges R1064 for a battery but no stock, takes a month to get here, Partserve charges R1700 and has stock. Both Original Dell batteries.

I had a miner awhile back and know how to spot it, been very careful since then with what and how I install software. I killed the killer app now, its part of the system apps that comes with the machine, disabled it awhile back but it came back with a recent update.

1653726035791.png

1653726077714.png
 
hardusb said:
I use 2 external screens with 2 USB c hubs
Click to expand...
Aaah.

Are you powering your monitors via USBC? This is how I am powering my externals to keep cables down. I.e my Mac supplies power to them via usbc and no direct kettle cord to each. Pulls around 20 to 30w per display depending on your brightness.
 
airborne said:
If the laptop can charge via USB C then get a big USB C power delivery external USB battery bank, just make sure it’s output wattage is sufficient to charge the laptop or at the very least stop it from depleting the internal battery.
Click to expand...
Yes it does, but the only one I can find is a 20 000mah one, laptop is 45w. Bigger ones has less watts.

Aaah.

Are you powering your monitors via USBC? This is how I am powering my externals to keep cables down. I.e my Mac supplies power to them via usbc and no direct kettle cord to each. Pulls around 20 to 30w per display depending on your brightness.
Click to expand...

Monitors are both AC Powered and don't work anyway when I have loadshedding. So I plug out all the usbs when its loadshedding.
 
I see you have a dell maybe once you replace the battery..there should be a battery protect setting in BIOS that will limit charge to 80% and allow you to keep the laptop plugged in the whole day, which will help reduce the battery cycles and wear on the battery.
 
s0lar said:
Surely windows has the equivalent of showing which apps are consuming most power?

Only ask as I had a co worker who got infected with a miner. His fan was always running and had poor battery life.
Click to expand...
yes it does sort off windows settings(ctrl+i)---->system----->battery
 
seshy57 said:
I see you have a dell maybe once you replace the battery..there should be a battery protect setting in BIOS that will limit charge to 80% and allow you to keep the laptop plugged in the whole day, which will help reduce the battery cycles and wear on the battery.
Click to expand...

I saw that Setting, Built into the Dell power management App also. You can set schedules for charging etc.

The Bios reports the battery as Excellent, strange.
 
It sounds like you need a desktop more than a laptop!
Those Dell's last for absolute ages on battery if you just do basic office type functions on it, as soon as you do anything with higher memory and cpu requirements then they chew through battery at a crazy rate.
 
Since mostly using graphic apps a Mac may be better suited to your workflow. Built from the ground up for creatives for good reason.
 
Rocket-Boy said:
It sounds like you need a desktop more than a laptop!
Those Dell's last for absolute ages on battery if you just do basic office type functions on it, as soon as you do anything with higher memory and cpu requirements then they chew through battery at a crazy rate.
Click to expand...

I checked many reviews before getting it and based on that they say you get 6h on full bright on the 4k laptop and much more with half bright watching movies. For me, it lasted 4h of watching movies. If I tune down work stuff to a minimum I get 2h out. Ill get a new battery and power bank. The PD Powerbanks is about 1200 for a 20000 mah

s0lar said:
Since mostly using graphic apps a Mac may be better suited to your workflow. Built from the ground up for creatives for good reason.
Click to expand...

I agree a MacBook is ideal but they are just a little too pricey for me now, the maintenance especially if something needs replacing, etc. models with 16GB ram is close to R30k+ and if you need to run 2 screens like I'm doing you need an M1 Pro, did my research. I have to first get properly running and a few more clients then I can look towards apple.
 
What I do is i go windows advanced cpu settings, under power settings. Then I limit the cpu to 50% max speed when on battery which is enough for me. Thought you have U model you might not see much diffrence :(
 
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