DELL XPS 15Z battery life

[pratheeshps]

I have bought a brand new DELL 15z with i5 configuration.I am getting only 3 hours battery backup with wi-fi & a browser, brightness 30%, balanced power mode.An 8-cell battery is used & drivers are uptodate. .

Is my laptop battery faulty? Please reply as soon as possible ..

I have foundout that 15z with i7 processor gets 5 hours battery life on average.

 

[ArjunKiller]

That's the idle battery life. You are using the laptop. The battery life is fine..

 

[aniket.cain]

I believe XPS 15z has switchable graphics. Have you checked if it is constantly running in Performance GPU mode (or whatever it is called )?

 

[pratheeshps]

I believe XPS 15z has switchable graphics. Have you checked if it is constantly running in Performance GPU mode (or whatever it is called )?

Yes..it is running at auto select mode

 

[aniket.cain]

Though it might be something else, but the GPU eating the battery issue I have faced earlier myself, so I suggest you to try this once. If it doesn't work out, you can move to other options.

Sometime some apps may use your ATI GPU quite often, without you sensing it. Used to happen to me all the time with Chrome. It would kick start the ATI every now and then (depending on the sites I visit), and became a major GPU hog, consuming at times 700+ MB of VRAM. Do you have the option to keeping it in fixed mode? If yes, try checking by keeping it in Power Saving GPU mode. Otherwise manually select to use Power Saving GPU for all the applications that are running.

 

[siddharthx64]

I have a Dell XPS 15, with i7 and 9-cell battery. On Linux, it used to give me only 2 hrs, while on windows, 4.5 to 5.5 hrs of use. I have Nvidia Optimus based card running in my laptop

However, if you are running lInux, you might want to install Bumblebee Drivers.
That will bring your battery consumption to normal.

In windows, Try checking whether Drivers are properly installed. Also check and remove unnecessary programs, that may be running background processes, and thereby consuming power. Also check temperatures, to determine whether the Discrete graphics switching is being done properly.

Basically, your graphics card must power down when not in use, or when you are running applications that do not need it.

If this is not happening, you might have an issue.

However, 3 hrs continuous usage sounds slightly below normal. nothing to be worried about, if you are running intensive applications, gaming, or rendering, or even watching HD movies

 

[pratheeshps]

Though it might be something else, but the GPU eating the battery issue I have faced earlier myself, so I suggest you to try this once. If it doesn't work out, you can move to other options.

Sometime some apps may use your ATI GPU quite often, without you sensing it. Used to happen to me all the time with Chrome. It would kick start the ATI every now and then (depending on the sites I visit), and became a major GPU hog, consuming at times 700+ MB of VRAM. Do you have the option to keeping it in fixed mode? If yes, try checking by keeping it in Power Saving GPU mode. Otherwise manually select to use Power Saving GPU for all the applications that are running.

Thanks for the reply..GPU is set to Auto-select mode[No Power saving Mode available]..I think I should try to use Integrated Graphics only & then should check the battery life..What do u think?

I have a Dell XPS 15, with i7 and 9-cell battery. On Linux, it used to give me only 2 hrs, while on windows, 4.5 to 5.5 hrs of use. I have Nvidia Optimus based card running in my laptop

However, if you are running lInux, you might want to install Bumblebee Drivers.
That will bring your battery consumption to normal.

In windows, Try checking whether Drivers are properly installed. Also check and remove unnecessary programs, that may be running background processes, and thereby consuming power. Also check temperatures, to determine whether the Discrete graphics switching is being done properly.

Basically, your graphics card must power down when not in use, or when you are running applications that do not need it.

If this is not happening, you might have an issue.

However, 3 hrs continuous usage sounds slightly below normal. nothing to be worried about, if you are running intensive applications, gaming, or rendering, or even watching HD movies

You get 5.5 hours on XPS 15!!..
What is the usage when You get this battery life?

I have checked the drivers & they are up to date. I have also found out that there are about 92 processes running on the background even when I am not using any application.Also I am getting this battery life when I do do just basic things like Normal browsing only [no gaming,no HD movie] & GPU is at Auto-Select Mode..Also I have also found out that sometimes GPU turns ON [hearing the GPU Fan] when I do normal use [ no HD movie,no gaming] & get heated up.I am using a Cooling Pad for reducing the Heat from GPU too..