Acer Netbook - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

OilKiller · 11-19-2010, 08:33 PM

Just bought a AOD255 Netbook. Everything I have read on this thing says it is supposed to have a battery life of 8 hours. Well, I charged it to 100% and was running it tonight and it after about an hour I had less than 2 hours left according to the battery monitor running in the system tray.

Is this monitor just wrong or what? I've got it running in the default power save mode and the screen dimmed quite a bit when on battery and still.

Ideas? thoughts? Thanks guys...

d_phaneuf · 11-19-2010, 08:38 PM

What power plan (may be differently worded on Acer but its basically the performance level) did you have it on?

when they say they have a life of 8 hours its usually on the absolute lowest setting

HotHotHeat · 11-19-2010, 08:41 PM

Apple is the only company that gives accurate estimates of their products. Look at the fine print of that 8 hour claim.

OilKiller · 11-19-2010, 08:46 PM

It's on the balanced setting, which is the recommended setting apparently.

d_phaneuf · 11-19-2010, 08:46 PM

ya found this, http://gizmodo.com/5295188/why-lapto...nt-soon-change

Quote:

the parameters for this test include having the screen at just 20 percent brightness, Wi-Fi turned off and no music, video, games or Web pages running. More or less, the test turns a computer into a dimly lit clock, then sees how long it can run.

thats why it says 8 hours

OilKiller · 11-19-2010, 08:49 PM

Should be illegal to advertise that time. What the hell good is this with nothing running?

FanIn80 · 11-19-2010, 09:33 PM

Well on the bright side, at least you saved some money buying an Acer.

...well 20% of the bright side anyway.

Hack&Lube · 11-19-2010, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Well on the bright side, at least you saved some money buying an Acer.

...well 20% of the bright side anyway.

I will always buy an Acer over an Apple any day...

Because I'm a giant cheap-ass and don't mind if the entire thing crashes and corrupts it's own bios and I have to figure out how to manually reflash it myself (real Acer netbook experience) because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

As far as battery life on netbooks, it also depends on the size of your battery. Some Acer netbooks are only 3 cell and some are 6 cell or greater. Which one do you have? Also, you will never get the listed battery life out of a netbook on the balanced setting. You have to have it on maximum battery setting.

And no, that doesn't turn your computer into an oversized clock. Maximum battery with WiFi on is perfectly good for surfing the internet and that's what I use most of the time when I am away from a power jack. I used to do that at school and managed to squeeze 6 hours of lectures out of a laptop that way. Your computer will downclock your CPU speed, lower screen brightness to the lowest (which I always find is still perfectly visible in most indoor settings), etc. but netbooks are pretty agile and even at this speed, the internet and office programs work just fine.

You can also do little tweaks like getting programs to override the bios fan control so the fan spins up less often which will give you slightly more life over 6-8 hours. I use that on my Acer netbook but mainly to keep it quiter than to save power.

I don't know if your netbook has this feature but many expensive laptops like Lenovo business laptops have smart battery charging where it doesn't trickle charge the battery until it drops down to 30%. Remember with cheaper note/netbooks that might not have these features to never leave the laptop plugged in all the time (like overnight) because slow trickle charge and heat can kill battery life quickly (happened to the EeePC of a friend) and to never let the Lithium Ion battery fully discharge. Recharge at 30%. If you need to leave it plugged in for a long time and the battery is full, remove the battery first. On my netbooks, once the battery is full and if I know I'm not going anywhere for awhile, I pop out the battery.

Ryan Coke · 11-19-2010, 11:47 PM

Yeah, are you sure you got the big battery? My Acers get quite good battery life--the one I'm on right now is quite low, showing 28%, which is still over 2 hours.

OilKiller · 11-20-2010, 12:18 AM

Dunno...just bought it from Best Buy, so whatever battery came with it is what I have.

This one: http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...cce5ee4ba7en02

And as I look, the guy who sold it to me lied. The site says up to 4 hours battery life. He told me 8...ugh.

FanIn80 · 11-20-2010, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I will always buy an Acer over an Apple any day...

Because I'm a giant cheap-ass and don't mind if the entire thing crashes and corrupts it's own bios and I have to figure out how to manually reflash it myself (real Acer netbook experience) because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

As far as battery life on netbooks, it also depends on the size of your battery. Some Acer netbooks are only 3 cell and some are 6 cell or greater. Which one do you have? Also, you will never get the listed battery life out of a netbook on the balanced setting. You have to have it on maximum battery setting.

And no, that doesn't turn your computer into an oversized clock. Maximum battery with WiFi on is perfectly good for surfing the internet and that's what I use most of the time when I am away from a power jack. I used to do that at school and managed to squeeze 6 hours of lectures out of a laptop that way. Your computer will downclock your CPU speed, lower screen brightness to the lowest (which I always find is still perfectly visible in most indoor settings), etc. but netbooks are pretty agile and even at this speed, the internet and office programs work just fine.

You can also do little tweaks like getting programs to override the bios fan control so the fan spins up less often which will give you slightly more life over 6-8 hours. I use that on my Acer netbook but mainly to keep it quiter than to save power.

I don't know if your netbook has this feature but many expensive laptops like Lenovo business laptops have smart battery charging where it doesn't trickle charge the battery until it drops down to 30%. Remember with cheaper note/netbooks that might not have these features to never leave the laptop plugged in all the time (like overnight) because slow trickle charge and heat can kill battery life quickly (happened to the EeePC of a friend) and to never let the Lithium Ion battery fully discharge. Recharge at 30%. If you need to leave it plugged in for a long time and the battery is full, remove the battery first. On my netbooks, once the battery is full and if I know I'm not going anywhere for awhile, I pop out the battery.

Who said anything about Apple? Apple doesn't make a netbook. There's no need to bring them into the conversation.

He could have bought an Asus (best), Dell, Samsung, Sony...

Acer is the absolute worst brand you can buy. Hell, I'd even buy an HP long before I bought an Acer, and I would never buy an HP. That should tell you everything you need to know.

JustAnotherGuy · 11-20-2010, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OilKiller

Dunno...just bought it from Best Buy, so whatever battery came with it is what I have.

This one: http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...cce5ee4ba7en02

And as I look, the guy who sold it to me lied. The site says up to 4 hours battery life. He told me 8...ugh.

Did he lie or was he simply wrong?

OilKiller · 11-20-2010, 12:25 AM

Oh and to those quoting Fanin80, please don't...he's on my ignore list so I would rather not see anything he posts...Thanks.

OilKiller · 11-20-2010, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

Did he lie or was he simply wrong?

OK, fair enough...I don't know he lied...perhaps he simply got it wrong. Sucks though...4 hours is not much at all. Don't know about taking this back. Does anyone know what the return policy is on netbooks? I used it obviously, loaded software on it, etc.

FanIn80 · 11-20-2010, 12:27 AM

Rathji · 11-20-2010, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OilKiller

OK, fair enough...I don't know he lied...perhaps he simply got it wrong. Sucks though...4 hours is not much at all. Don't know about taking this back. Does anyone know what the return policy is on netbooks? I used it obviously, loaded software on it, etc.

Lied, on purpose or accidentally. Either way, it doesn't matter. You were told you were buying X and they sold you Y. Make sure you do a restore at least before you take it back and there is really no way they can say no, unless you bought something that was specifically no returns/exchanges.

OilKiller · 11-20-2010, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

Lied, on purpose or accidentally. Either way, it doesn't matter. You were told you were buying X and they sold you Y. Make sure you do a restore at least before you take it back and there is really no way they can say no, unless you bought something that was specifically no returns/exchanges.

Restore? As in system restore?

There was no way to backup the system before I installed anything...at least no way easily, as there is no CD/DVD drive.

FanIn80 · 11-20-2010, 12:37 AM

You have to do your own research. There are literally 30 new laptop/netbook models on the PC side every month. You guys really expect some high school student making $10/hr to memorize every single obscure stat? There are people making 10 times that amount who would never be able to do that.

I'm sorry, I know it sounds prickish, but I have zero sympathy for someone who doesn't do their own research first. I'm not talking about real geeky stuff like cache or bus speed. I'm talking about silly things that everyone can understand, like battery life.

Considering the kids working at Best Buy are not on commission, I highly doubt the person lied to anyone to get the sale. He makes his $10/hr regardless of what anyone buys.

OilKiller · 11-20-2010, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

Lied, on purpose or accidentally. Either way, it doesn't matter. You were told you were buying X and they sold you Y. Make sure you do a restore at least before you take it back and there is really no way they can say no, unless you bought something that was specifically no returns/exchanges.

Meh, I think I'm going to keep it anyway. It's an excellent little system quite frankly. The 4 hours sucks, but I can plug it in at home while I'm here and that's when I will use it most anyway.

I simply stopped in at BB yesterday and wasn't even sure about buying one of these things, but it was on sale, so I said WTH.

For $229, you can't really go wrong really. Hell, my BB 9700 was $199 with a 3 year plan...LOL.

Hack&Lube · 11-20-2010, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Who said anything about Apple? Apple doesn't make a netbook. There's no need to bring them into the conversation.

He could have bought an Asus (best), Dell, Samsung, Sony...

Acer is the absolute worst brand you can buy. Hell, I'd even buy an HP long before I bought an Acer, and I would never buy an HP. That should tell you everything you need to know.

You always seem to wonder why people bring Apple into your threads when it is obvious. The OP of this thread has even ignore listed you because of it

. Of course it's based on your posting history as you always brag about Apple and always rag on Acer and I find it disagreeable but you are perfectly entitled to your opinion. I have loved all my Acer and BenQ products (originally the same company) over the years because they work for me and really cheap because I am a cheapass but I will admit they are not for everyone.