Battery life options?

DavidB4

I'm looking at buying an Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop with 15.6" screen.  However, I understand that although the battery life is advertised as "up to" 7 hours, it generally pulls off more like three, if even. Do I understand correctly that this has an internal battery, screwed down to the frame?  If that is true, do I assume correctly there is no option of an extended battery?
If there a docking port on this machine?  If so, is a battery slice an option?

I need some good battery life (at least 5 hours of moderate to heavy usage, if possible) but I don't know if this can accomplish that.

Thank you!

Skelomorph

Honestly, I think it is practically impossible to get anywhere near 5 hours let alone 7 on this laptop without extreme throttling. The 7700HQ is a very powerful processor and eats power accordingly. With the CPU pulling power and GPU (heavy usage), you even get as little as 45-60 minutes or less on the battery.  I can get around 3 hours with my CPU throttled down and light usage but no more without risking crappy performance. While not hating on Acer, as all companies do it, but they all overstate their battery life.

The battery is internal and no way to extend it. Only thing I see possible is getting a portable power pack, but not really a solution. You can try throttling everything, but its going to significantly hurt performance, so not really worth it.

Skelo

DavidB4

Typo: I meant, "Is there a docking port on this machine?"

Skelomorph

Honestly, I think it is practically impossible to get anywhere near 5 hours let alone 7 on this laptop without extreme throttling. The 7700HQ is a very powerful processor and eats power accordingly. With the CPU pulling power and GPU (heavy usage), you even get as little as 45-60 minutes or less on the battery.  I can get around 3 hours with my CPU throttled down and light usage but no more without risking crappy performance. While not hating on Acer, as all companies do it, but they all overstate their battery life.

The battery is internal and no way to extend it. Only thing I see possible is getting a portable power pack, but not really a solution. You can try throttling everything, but its going to significantly hurt performance, so not really worth it.

Skelo

DavidB4

Skelomorph said:

Honestly, I think it is practically impossible to get anywhere near 5 hours let alone 7 on this laptop without extreme throttling. The 7700HQ is a very powerful processor and eats power accordingly. With the CPU pulling power and GPU (heavy usage), you even get as little as 45-60 minutes or less on the battery.  I can get around 3 hours with my CPU throttled down and light usage but no more without risking crappy performance. While not hating on Acer, as all companies do it, but they all overstate their battery life.

The battery is internal and no way to extend it. Only thing I see possible is getting a portable power pack, but not really a solution. You can try throttling everything, but its going to significantly hurt performance, so not really worth it.

Skelo

I'm not surprised that was an overstatement.  The one I have now (a Dell, not for gaming) advertises a 7-hour life, but can only get close (about 5 hours) using both an extended battery AND a slice battery.  Of course, intensive use still decreased that time to ~2 hours.

DavidB4

DavidB4 said:

Skelomorph said:

Honestly, I think it is practically impossible to get anywhere near 5 hours let alone 7 on this laptop without extreme throttling. The 7700HQ is a very powerful processor and eats power accordingly. With the CPU pulling power and GPU (heavy usage), you even get as little as 45-60 minutes or less on the battery.  I can get around 3 hours with my CPU throttled down and light usage but no more without risking crappy performance. While not hating on Acer, as all companies do it, but they all overstate their battery life.

The battery is internal and no way to extend it. Only thing I see possible is getting a portable power pack, but not really a solution. You can try throttling everything, but its going to significantly hurt performance, so not really worth it.

Skelo

I'm not surprised that was an overstatement.  The one I have now (a Dell, not for gaming) advertises a 7-hour life, but can only get close (about 5 hours) using both an extended battery AND a slice battery.  Of course, intensive use still decreased that time to ~2 hours.
Does Acer have any laptops with replaceable batteries, or other options which could help?

Skelomorph

If you are looking for longer battery life, you will need a laptop that is made for that, such as Acer's TravelMate laptops (don't have one so can't really recommend, only suggest you look, maybe look at their forums?). Considering they say *10 hours* you might get an easy 5 or 6 out of it. 

The processors in all Predator series laptops are meant for intense usage, so they eat power like crazy. The power efficient laptops will have no graphics card (any of the GTX ones) and will have a U series Intel processor that are ok performance but more battery oriented. You might also find some laptops with a 9-cell lithium ion instead of 6.

I will say let you know you could underclock this one and undervolt and get better battery, but it wont get any better with stock settings and will feel slower because of it.

Skelo

DavidB4

Skelomorph said:

If you are looking for longer battery life, you will need a laptop that is made for that, such as Acer's TravelMate laptops (don't have one so can't really recommend, only suggest you look, maybe look at their forums?). Considering they say *10 hours* you might get an easy 5 or 6 out of it. 

The processors in all Predator series laptops are meant for intense usage, so they eat power like crazy. The power efficient laptops will have no graphics card (any of the GTX ones) and will have a U series Intel processor that are ok performance but more battery oriented. You might also find some laptops with a 9-cell lithium ion instead of 6.

I will say let you know you could underclock this one and undervolt and get better battery, but it wont get any better with stock settings and will feel slower because of it.

Skelo

Hmm... Ok. The problem is, I want the best of both worlds, I just don't care how bulky it is.  
I do need some performance, I was just hoping I could get some good battery life with a slice or something.  Oh well.  Thank you for the information!

vikasbhardwaj1

I want to know 1 thing that when my predator was switched off my battery drained off how this could be possible please reply because yesterday I have brought this laptop.do you think there is some problem with the battery?

DavidB4

vikasbhardwaj1 said:

I want to know 1 thing that when my predator was switched off my battery drained off how this could be possible please reply because yesterday I have brought this laptop.do you think there is some problem with the battery?

If it was fully powered off (not in standby) then the only thing I can think of is that one USB port (I think it's the USB 3.0 port) remains powered while the laptop is off. If you left anything plugged into it (such as a phone, external hard drive, or even a mouse) some power would have been lost through that.

xapim

vikasbhardwaj1 as it was said above your usb 3.0 port its always on (unless you switch the setting in the bios) when you shutdown to power mobile devices etc so if you left any device connected to that port its normal that your battery had been drained apart from that if it was properly shutdown i dont see anything else that could do it