Battery Life Survey: T61 or Z61t w/7 Cell and Vista

sorry guys, i know this comes up quite frequently, but i feel like the answers are never very concrete.

how much battery life do you guys get w/ a t61 or z61t w/ 7 cell battery and vista with: 1) moderate usage (low screen brightness moderate wireless activity, office computing) and 2) minimal usage (lowest screen brightness, no wireless).

For me:
1) Moderate usage: ~ 2 hours
2) Minimal Usage: ~3 hours

doesn't that seem low to you guys? i remember getting about 4.5=5 with minimal usage when I was running xp. I know that there is some decrease in battery life over time, but i don't think that's it.

 

anybody? at the very least, i would like to see if your numbers are similar.

 

with the screen all the way down...power saving cpu settings....wifi on I get 4.5

14" wide t61 with 7 cell

 

what are you using for a power manager vista or lenovo?

 

t61 14" wide 7 cell - 1:45 mins
with 4 cell - i get 40 mins.

I don't get how 3 cells can make a 1 hr + difference....

oya on 4 cell it takes 3% for me to just boot up the computer

 

what are your batteries reading for wh watt hours for full charge capacity??????
also how many cycles?

 

UCS.... i'm assuming you are using wireless with those numbers. those numbers are pretty similar to mine. doesn't that seem a bit low? sigh...

Hja, i am using Lenovo power manager, and i am using the Power Source Optimized version, but i've modified it to save even more batteries (i changed the indexing settings to power saving). It's settings are basically equivalent to the "Maximum Battery Life" settings, but it goes to full brightness when the AC adapter is plugged in.

My full Charge Capacity is 56.28 Wh (design capacity is 65.52 Wh). So that's like 87% of original capacity, which should go to about 3.9 hours. With my wifi on, my battery life is about 2 hours! hrmmm...

 

wow....how long have you had it....seems as though I will be getting to the point you guys are at eventually...my wh is still at 71...with 65.52 design capacity

 

I can see a 4 cell @ 40 minutes because their max is just a little over 1 hour, but for a 7 cell to get under 3 hours is not normal. 7 cell should be just about the same as a 6 cell (3-3.5 hours).

Of course these stats are for new batteries. If the battery is over a year old don't even expect to get those number

 

ItZcoolz yes i am using Wireless with that power. And it get that around of hours i don't base it off the power manager time as i think it not acurate at All.

I just based it off when I turn my computer on in Class ( when class start) to when computer shuts down. I just look at the time on the clock and see how long it lasts.

Also my 4 cell is 4 weeks old and 7 cell is 2 days old.

Edit.

Oya i accutally use the computer in class not to just screw with . I use it for my Comp sci class. I mostly use unix on it w/ media player & headphones.

 

hrmm... hja, if your batter started off with 71 wh, then maybe mine did too and it's just dropped off a lot. that means i have about 77% of what you have, and 77% of 4.5 hours is like.. 3.4 hours.

i do charge and recharge mine a lot (just cuz i bring it to a lot of coffee shops where there is no charger). my cycle count is at 115, and i've had it since february of this year.

hmm... so i guess my 2 hours with some wireless activity and lowest display brightness is not too abnormal. still seems a little low though.

any other people want to contribute how long their batteries last? (t61s or z61ts with 7 cell battery and windows vista, low brightness, and wifi on)

 

Naw its not that low its just that Lenovo got small batteries.

I mean my Toshiba U305 13.3" comes with a 6 cell Standard battery. And i get around 2-3 hours on it.

And a Thinkpad t61 14.1" comes with a 4 cell wtf.....

I think levono really sucks when it comes to batterys. I seen expansion bay battery for toshiba to be 6 cell while thinkpad expansion bay is only 3... Wtf

 

My T61 wide 14'' gets just above 3 hours with a 7-cell, with Vista Ultimate, brightness all the way down, WiFi on, all options on power saving mode (I set everything I could in power manager to low power), and very moderate use (email+Word). The battery is 3 months old.

It feels little to me.

 

My Z61t gives 3 - 3.5 hours on maximum battery life setting. On balanced power profile I get 2 - 2.5 hours at the most. Thinkpads really suck on battery life compared to other consumer based notebooks. This is my second battery on this notebook. The first one went haywire only after 7 months of usage. I was safe under the warranty so got the new one for free. I think batteries for T61 series lasts some 30 mins longer than the Z61 series. My roomie has a T61 that shows 4 hours on full charge while mine shows 3:30 only. Lenovo should improve vastly on batteries compared to HP and Dell.

 

dang, so i guess i'm not alone. i always thought thinkpads had a good reputation with battery life.

hey aptorrent, you said you got a new battery under warranty? what happened? it's been about 7 months for me, too. maybe i can get a replacement under warranty too?