laptop battery life

[squelly]

How long should a laptop battery last , when the laptop is switch off.

[boxtops]

mine lasts about 4 hours.

[EvianBaby]

When its switched off Boxtops?

Surely it wont be using any battery (or a tiny fraction) if it is completely powered off.

[gingejbee]

If switched off and already fully charged - months and months. Lithium-ion batteries don't self-discharge.

[sunny-dave]

Depends entirely what you mean by 'switched off' - if it really is "shut down" then yes it should last weeks or even months - but if it is "hibernated" or "sleeping" then you won't get anywhere near as long. A week in hibernation, a day or two in sleep perhaps.

It also depends on the initial charge level of the battery, what its capacity is and how old it is. Elderly Li-ion batteries which have been through many, many charging cycles *do* lose their charge quite quickly, even if not used.

[gingejbee]

s-d: my answer depended on the laptop being "switched off" (as OP stated) and the battery being in good, working order - not clapped-out.

[sunny-dave]

Sorry gingejbee - wasn't nit-picking at you - just chucking my two-pennorth in.

Very often people assume that because a laptop is physically closed it is also 'shut down' - which is far from the case given the (in my view) perverse initial default settings for the 'off' button - my latest laptop was certainly set to 'hibernate' until I had words with it ..

Cheers

dave

[gingejbee]

dave- no worries. Feeling a bit "iffy" today- overly sensitive, perhaps? Sorry!

[WF8MAN]

Here's a tip, if you want to save your battery from wearing out. Remove it whenever it's plugged into the mains. Normally, a battery, only lasts a few years before you have to buy another one, so, run your laptop off the mains when you're at home and put your battery in a safe place until you need it again. Oh, don't worry about accidentally disconnecting the adapter, so long as it's not disconnected for too long! (Is there a back-up system inside?)

[squelly]

thanks sunny dave. the laptop was bought at christmas ,and when switch off using start and turn off, the battery goes flat in ten days.how do i switch the off button to off.

[sunny-dave]

Hi squelly

Follow the instructions on this link

http://www.howtogeek....buttons-to-shut-down/

and change the drop-down for Power Button Action to 'shut down'