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xps 13 battery maximization
I just bought a new-ish Dell XPS 13 2015 model on ebay.
It is reading a 15 hr battery life (great!) once charged.
I would like the forum's advice on how to maximize the battery life of the unit, and also to get it set up for best user experience.
1) I was told it's better if I don't have battery charge to 100% but rather to cap the max charge to 90%. Does anyone know how to do so? Is there a third party software I should install? I don't see a way to use the control panel settings to limit the charge to 90%.
2) the laptop does not seem to go into sleep mode when the lid is closed. What settings should I check? Such an issue causes the laptop to lose full charge when I pack it away in a hurry to carry and go.
3) Is there anything else I can do to maximize battery life? Is there any smart 3rd party software to give me more working hours? Any settings I should pick other than dimming the screen? Is there a way I can turn off the backlit keyboard to save energy?
4) The Dell ships with Win 8. I don't like Win 8.. Can I install Win 7 and if I did, would I lose out on battery life? I saw that installing Win 10 has a lot of problems, and that Win 7 install seems to have BIOS issues, according to the forums. Or alternatively, if I keep Win 8 is there a way I can get rid of those *** tiles and make the OS at least look and feel like Win 7?
ejn63
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October 6th, 2016 13:00
As would be the case with buying a used car, how long the battery will last depends mainly on how the previous owner treated the system. Used normally you'll get 2-3 years out of a lithium ion battery so you're at somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the life of the battery over with already. If the previous owner left the system plugged into AC most or all of the time, you may see as little as less than a year out of the battery.
The two biggest killers of lithium cells are over-discharging and heat. It's safe to charge them as needed but not a good idea to run the system on AC only most of the time - that increases the heat stress on the battery.
You can dim the screen, reduce the CPU speed and turn off the backlight (the latter should be marked as a function key sequence on the keyboard.
Windows 7 can be used if you have an unused, unactivated product key but if it's the interface you want gone, install a copy of ClassicShell (open source), which you can use to replace the Windows 8 metro interface with a classic Windows 7 interface.
earthwalker7
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October 6th, 2016 16:00
Just to clarify further, here I am, hunting and pecking through Win8's strange menus and tiles, and cannot find the battery charge limiting setting, or any other of the relevant settings (CPU, backlit keyboard) and thus am just lost in the menus. I am looking for how to do these things but cannot do so.
earthwalker7
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October 6th, 2016 16:00
Thanks for the reply and for your help. I appreciate your advice. I'll just ask you to go further so I can act on it.
The question is - HOW can I do reduce these battery-draining things. I need to know specifically in Win8 how I can specifically limit the CPU speed, turn off the backlight, set max charge to 90%, and have the computer go into sleep or hibernate when the lid is closed. Do you know how I can do these specific things exactly?
I had already tried ClassicShell - it will not work on this PC, and instead I get an error message when I try to install it, saying the version cannot work on this machine.
As for the condition of the battery - it is nearly brand new and the battery is in excellent condition. The charge is over 15 hours. However *I* will probably use the machine when it is usually plugged in. As such I want to save the battery's life. How can I do so? What are the methods of extending the battery's life?
ejn63
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October 6th, 2016 17:00
Much of that comes through Dell drivers and a utility called Dell Quickset -- if someone reloaded Windows without them, you may want to do a fresh install and add them.