Spectre x360 Battery Life

[leongwengheng]

Thanks for the tip. Didn't think of turning off Cortana! Hopefully there is an option to have it always listening of power is plugged in.

[leongwengheng]

Just making sure I have done all the steps you have done. What do you mean by set to HP Power Settings? Thanks.

[GBO323]

When you go into Power Options, just select the 'HP Recommended'. That will take care of it.

[GBO323]

5th Battery cycle down....

Battery Time of 11:30

BatteryBar estimated average runtime of 9:00 per cycle.

WOW!!!!

Hope this post helps others achieve better battery. Loving the Skylake edition.

[leongwengheng]

I don't seem to have that power option. Not sure if it's because I am running a clean install of Windows 10 or if I have the older broadwell edition. Very jealous of your 9 hours!

[Ruzy]

GB0369 What is your BIOS version?

[GBO323]

I'm running F.2D

[dannyboy2005]

My Experience.

I have had my HP Spectre 13-4106na x360 Convertible Laptop Special Edition for around 2 - 3 weeks now and I was sold on the looks, performance and the claimed 12 hour battery life. I was never expecting a 12 hour battery life but I was expecting 8 - 9 hours of solid use before a recharge.

I noticed that after initial set up and a full charge my battery life was around 3 hours before it would die - I assumed it was a new battery and needs to be charged regulary to beef it up. I have been vistiing the forums on a dialy basis for a while to see what people have suggested. I understand that the QHD screen has a big part to play in the performance as well as the i7 processor. I understand that the bigger the 'engine' the more 'fuel' it'll use. This is like a Aston Martin - Quick, looks good but very thirsty.

I downloaded all the updates from Windows and HP user assistant and now all up to date but only managing 2 - 3 hours with basic web surfing in Chrome and the odd bit of word processing. My BIOS is fully up to date and the brightness is at 60% (Why should I have to strain my eyes to compensate my battery life?)

I have had enough and contacted HP online support who have basically been useless. I've spoken to 3 people and someone on the phone and they say all the same thing.... Let the battery drain and give it a full recharge, callibrate the battery and also perform a UEFI test.  I have had one support rep say that the laptop shouldn't be used on my lap (complaining about a hot bttery) and should be used on a table to allow circulation. I pointed out that the x360 has the air vent going the whole width of the laptop and when the laptop is mounted on m knees, there is still a reccomended 6" air gap where my legs are apart. 

I have been fobbed off saying WiFi is a huge drainer on the battery and I should be plugged into a Ethernet port. Sadly this back fired on HP bescause 1) Its a portable computer and if I wanted cables i'd get a desktop conputer and 2) the x360 doesn't have a ethernet port.

I have followed your guys reccomendations on saving battery but i'm not really having any luck. I will be returning this for a refund.

GB0323 - What model is your x360 and how old is it?

Thanks

[GBO323]

DannyBoy,

My Spectre X360 is the the 4100 series with the SkyLake Chips. i7/8GB Ram/512SSD. I did a customized laptop and opted for the FHD screen for two reasons. One, I can't ever seem to pick a resolution that fits most apps and Two...QHD requires more battery to run. I've been VERY pleased with the FHD screen as I don't see any visual difference, yet the 1920 resolution max works great for me and my work.

For an i7 QHD, getting 4 to 5 hours looks to be the average. I have a Broadwell X360 with i7/8GB Ram/512SSD with QHD and have an average of about 4-5 ahours of battery at 50% brightness. I'm sellng that one.

The Chrome browser is a power hog, so I dropped it and am using the IE11 with XMarks syncing across my devices. Since I use my laptop on battery alot, it was worth the swap of browsers to save battery time.

Hope this helps.

[dannyboy2005]

GB - How on earth are you achieving such good running time? That is amazing for an i7. 

As i said in my first post, I do believe alot of it is due to the FHD and QHD screens. I have spent about an hour researching 'FHD or QHD screen for laptop" and alot of the responses are get a FHD as it'll save your battery life and in all honestly, who is going to watch a 4K film on a 13" screen?

Another thing I have found out is that some users recon that Windows 10 uses more battery then windows 8, though I cant find any clear proof.

I have now returned my laptop back to HP for a full refund mainly due to the battery life. It was a beautiful laptop and felt well made but they do need to improve on the battery life OR admit that the 12.5 hour useage is for the laptop on 'Standby' as the help agent said to me. I have no idea what to get next, an i5 FHD for sure.