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    WIRELESS / BLUETOOTH - Battery Wasting?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by DUNCANGEL, Oct 3, 2005.

  1. DUNCANGEL

    DUNCANGEL Notebook Consultant

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    i was wondering if i switched wireless and bluetooth on, if it will drain more rapidly out of my battery and by how much more?
     
    DUNCANGEL, Oct 3, 2005
    #1
  2. nickspohn

    nickspohn Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    It will drain your battery faster. I dont know how faster but it will. I have wireless on 24/7 but im plugged in a lot. I would give a guess and say that it will cut it down 20min.
     
    nickspohn, Oct 3, 2005
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  3. DUNCANGEL

    DUNCANGEL Notebook Consultant

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    so what would be the difference between WIRELESS ONLY and WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH
     
    DUNCANGEL, Oct 3, 2005
    #3
  4. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    No exact number, but it will drain battery, depends on the activity, device, etc.
     
    coriolis, Oct 3, 2005
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  5. Brian

    Brian Working at 486 Speed NBR Reviewer

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    You said on. If it's just on, you're talking about a marginal battery drain. If on and active, it's quite significant. I'd estimate you burn battery 25-35% faster with active wireless connections.
     
    Brian, Oct 3, 2005
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  6. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    Receiving a signal uses very little power. The battery load goes way up when you transmit.
     
    olyteddy, Oct 3, 2005
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  7. Venombite

    Venombite Notebook Virtuoso

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    I loose an extra 30-45mins when I enable bluetooth on my notebook.

    -Vb-
     
    Venombite, Oct 9, 2005
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  8. nickspohn

    nickspohn Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    I dont want to brag but with my 8600 on wireless constantly i get about 5 hours of battery. I love centrino! But again, it just all depends how fast it will.
     
    nickspohn, Oct 9, 2005
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  9. Venombite

    Venombite Notebook Virtuoso

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    I guess is also comes down to what your current config is and how big the batter is, but a general 30-45mins is a good average.

    -Vb-
     
    Venombite, Oct 12, 2005
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  10. Raidflex

    Raidflex Notebook Guru

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    The atheros WIFI card really cuts down on battery usage, and also the fact that im using 802.11a 108mbps also cuts way down since the transmit power is only 40mW instead of 100mW which is common on 802.11g. The problem with 802.11a though is the decresed range, as long as you have a good router and wifi card there should be no problems. My Dlink router handles it fine though I get 90-100% signal anywhere in my house also i like the idea of using the 5gighz range instead of 2.4gighz much less interference since many devices like cordless phones use the 2.4gighz frequency.
     
    Raidflex, Oct 14, 2005
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  11. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    I don't have bluetooth in my laptop (yet :p), but my cellular phone has bluetooth. When I use it, the battery life on the phone drops dramatically.

    Try to disable it whenever you are not using it.
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Oct 16, 2005
    #11