About first time Battery Usage and the relation with the screen brightness.

I've just got my XPS M1530 with this configurations:

Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5 GHz 6MB L2-Cache
4GB DDR2-SDRAM
GeForce 8600M GT 256MB G-DDR3
200 GB 7200 RPM Free Fall Sensor Harddrive
Intel Wireless Next-Gen
LCD WSXGA+ 1680x1050 TFT True Life
56-WHr battery.

My questions:

1. After I got it, I charge the battery for 8 hours. Then I took off the battery and use the AC power.
Yesterday, I tried the battery to find out the battery performance.
When I turn my laptop on, it DID NOT INDICATE 100% BUT 94% ONLY.
Is it normal if the FULL CHARGED CONDITION BATTERY is 94%? So where does the 6% go?
If it is normal, why it can be like that? Please give me detailed information.

2. I use it to read email, Internet surf and video call and only got it for about 1 hour and the battery indicator show low battery (24%). Is it normal to get only short hours of using but it ran out very quickly? What I have been thought was I haven't even use it for programming, playing high-requirements games, 3-D rendering or other heavier task!

Or maybe other component of my specifications above affecting the battery performance? Maybe the harddrive which is 7200 or the graphic card or what?

3. I feel that it is different between using battery and AC power. I feel that the screen brightness is darker if using battery, what I mean is I feel that the electrical supply to the screen is not enough.
Is it normal if the screen behave like this?

Thank you.

 

It's normal for the screen to dim when it's unplugged; that's part of Vista's power management program, to save power when it's unplugged. Having a 7200 rpm hard drive and powerful cpu and gpu will decrease battery life. However, it still seems like your battery life is too short for a brand-spanking new system. Maybe you can talk to Dell and request a new battery; their XPS customer service is very helpful.

 

The chronology was:

I've just got my laptop last week on the evening of 1st of May 2008. so from May 1st night until May 2nd morning I charged the battery but after that I plug off the battery and use the AC Adapter.

1. On May 5th evening, I use the battery and that was when I saw the battery indicator showed 94%. Could the "94%" value caused by the Vista boot up that takes the 6%? Or maybe I was a little bit to late seeing the indicator?

Which is not normal? The 1-hour usage that spend a lot of battery or the 94% number?

For make sure if it is ok or not I will charge it FULL again later, but I'm a bit lazy to take off and put the battery on again on the laptop.

2. Is it ok if I use the AC Adapter with the battery plugged in on the laptop?

3. Approximately, how long usually it take to get the battery FULLY charged?

Thank you.

 

1. The combination of boot up, misreading %, and the fact that naturally batteries will lose a bit of power over time is why you are seeing a drop when you put it in.

2. Just leave the battery in at all times, there is no need to constantly keep removing it. This way if you ever lose power it acts like a UPS.

3. Shouldn't take very long at all, maybe a few hours at the most. You can use Notebook Hardware Control to give you an estimate. This tool is also good to look at specifics such as battery wear.

 

also depends on if you got a 6-cell or 9-cell. a 9-cell lasts much longer than 6-cell.

 

I read in :
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91846#post1696317

said that if I leave the battery in when on AC Adapter, I will lose charge cycle and make the battery aging process faster.

Which one is correct?

Thank you very much.