Recently bought Acer Nitro 5 2020 but it has extremely overstated battery life?

Acer claims 10 hours of battery life and obviously I didn't expect that much but on testing it barely lasts 2 hours even on idle. I am wondering if it is a calibration issue or if it is just misleading marketing. Is this a recurring issue? I read forum posts about other previous model nitro 5 users experiencing the same. I would like to get more feedback from forum users about this so as to decide whether or not to file a complaint to consumer court.

I ran custom power schemes to see if there is any significant difference but there doesn't seem to be any. I expected at least 4 hours on idle but this is completely unacceptable. Imagine not even being able to finish a movie without having to plug in the charger again. Everything else is satisfactory on the 2020 model except for the battery. Please do share your experiences as well.

2.5 GhzGHz Intel Intel Core i5-10300H processor 10th Gen processor
8GB DDR4 RAM
1TB 7200rpm hard drive + 256GB SSD
15.6-inch screen, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Graphics
Windows 10 Home 64 bit operating system
10 hours battery life, 2.3kg laptop
Processor: Intel Core i5-10300H processor, turbo up to 4.5 Ghz | Display: 15.6" display with IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology, Full HD
Memory: 8 GB of DDR4 system memory, upgradable to 32 GB | Storage: 1 TB HDD 7200RPM + 256 GB SSD| Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650Ti with 4GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM

Accepted answers

batmalin

This review says it all https://pokde.net/review/acer-nitro-5-2020-review/
"In PCMark’s Modern Office endurance test, you can see that battery life is clearly the weak point of the Acer Nitro 5 2020. Other gaming laptops running similar configurations can do better. Even in the gaming endurance test, it only managed a measly 56 minutes. This is a good sign that you definitely need to bring a charger around if you’re taking this outside.

As for my own use with web browsing, YouTube videos, Photoshop, and word processing, the results vary at times. Sometimes I find myself with 2 and a half hours while other times, I find myself exceeding 3 hours. This is to be expected as it’s based on my usage but basically, the battery life is average."

All comments

batmalin

This review says it all https://pokde.net/review/acer-nitro-5-2020-review/
"In PCMark’s Modern Office endurance test, you can see that battery life is clearly the weak point of the Acer Nitro 5 2020. Other gaming laptops running similar configurations can do better. Even in the gaming endurance test, it only managed a measly 56 minutes. This is a good sign that you definitely need to bring a charger around if you’re taking this outside.

As for my own use with web browsing, YouTube videos, Photoshop, and word processing, the results vary at times. Sometimes I find myself with 2 and a half hours while other times, I find myself exceeding 3 hours. This is to be expected as it’s based on my usage but basically, the battery life is average."

AcidIced

Yes that does seem to be a recurring issue then. Either way I think it's **** that they state a battery life that can't even be remotely achieved on the laptop as is. I can squeeze out ~4 hours on battery if I make some changes though. It might be useful for other users as well so: When on battery,

Switch refresh rate down to 60Hz (use desktop shortcuts with command lines, to switch between 144Hz and 60Hz more conveniently)
Make sure Nvidia Power Management Mode is set to 'Adaptive'
Set Intel Graphics Power Plan in Advanced Power Options to 'Maximum Battery Life'
As long as you're just browsing or watching videos, Battery Saver can be enabled
Turn off Keyboard Backlight and adjust Screen Brightness

These are just minor tweaks and other than for the first two, there will only be marginal gains in On Battery duration. No one's gonna bother with the hardcore tweaks anyway and it would still suck..