M6400 Battery life - 2.5hrs!

Just got 2.5hrs usage on battery from my M6400 (QX9300, FX2700m, 16GB RAM, 500GB RAID 0 disk array). I was pleasantly suprised by this, as previously I've only managed 1.5hrs. I was working on a virtual PC hosted by the M6400 - developing C++ code - (connected via RDP), included lots of builds and test runs etc to the (also hosted as a VPC on the M6400) sql server.

I guess the secret to the longer battery time is that I am working outdoors - and it is quite cold (8C) - so the fan never came on at all. I am connected to the internet via the mobile broadband card that came with my D820 and I moved to the M6400, WiFi is switched off, but aside from the lack of WiFi no other power saving things are in place.

I guess come summer when I'm working outside, I'll only get 30mins usage!

 

Hmm, the fans should not take much energy. Was your 1.5hrs experience with this laptop ?

Thats quite some rig u got, how much did it cost ?

 

Yes - normally, when working indoors (which to be honest is most of the time, today I was sitting in the back garden with a beer....) I only get 1.5hrs before it hibernates. Most of the time though, it just sits in my study on my docking station about 20' behind me with all the servers etc, powering 2x 26" monitors.

Laptop cost £2535 (inc VAT) - but the spec there was 4GB RAM, single 250GB hard disk - but did include 3yr accidental damage warranty, docking station with extra 210W PSU. I added the extra HD and RAM afterwards (much cheaper than buying from Dell).

Normally when running the M6400 I find that the fans are on for 6 minutes or so out of every 10. It keeps your lap warm!

 

Where did you get the RAM from ?

Perhaps undervolting the CPU (and possibly GPU ?), and turning off modules like bluetooth might help ?

I bet this makes you wanna get a 17" MBP with 8 hrs of battery life

 

Well how much battery life do you expect with a quad-core processor?

 

Don't know where the RAM was sourced - I asked one of my underlings for more RAM and gave the specs and it arrived.

I haven't got bluetooth fitted.

I didn't expect a long battery life with quad core and a huge screen - 1.5hrs is enough for whenever I'm away from power.

I like the fact that the most power PC that I've ever owned has any battery life at all! It is more powerful than my servers - and they have *huge* battery packs that only last 15mins given a power outage.

When I use my old D820 now, it feels so small....still, I did get 9hrs usage from the D820 (I used a 2nd battery in the modular bay).