| Apr 20 @ 10:09 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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lj450
Posts: 7,724
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I sure wish it would run all day with no cord, but unfortunately it does not.
Heres something to try. Make the screen dimmer ( FN + Down Arrow on my dell). This will increase the time it will run on battery power.
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| Apr 21 @ 1:09 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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If you are intending to watch a movie (perhaps during a cross-country flight), copy the DVD to your hard drive (there are multiple freeware programs to do this) and watch it from there.
The DVD player sucks up much more electricity than the hard drive does.
A large-capacity memory stick also works well.
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| Apr 21 @ 9:14 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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BandTMom
Posts: 24,708
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(there are multiple freeware programs to do this)
Any suggestions off hand?
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| Apr 21 @ 9:46 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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DVD Decrypter can be found here.
DVD Shrink can be found here.
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| Apr 21 @ 10:03 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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lj450
Posts: 7,724
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dvd cloner will do it......but its not free.
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| Apr 21 @ 10:36 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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sealacamp
Posts: 2,788
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Any suggestions off hand?
Download.com has lots of free ware. I got some there for my wife to record and play DVD's and CD's too. If you don't find what you want there just use freeware as a keyword search and you'll find lots of stuff, some you never even thought of I'm sure.
S
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| Apr 22 @ 4:31 AM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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sirdidymus
Posts: 1,087
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basically dvd decrypter allows you to copy the movie to your hdd - it strips away any encryption which then allows the contents of the dvd to be copied.
dvd shrink is really more for then, copying the files created above onto another blank dvd - for backup purposes. for many/most commercial dvd's - there is too much info to fit onto a regular single layer dvd - so that's where dvd shrink comes into play - it shrinks out various aspects to allows the movie to fit onto a backup dvd - and you can remove unwanted stuff like - foreign language subtitles and such - which ideally won't save that much room anyhow.
if you really want to fit a lot of dvd movies onto your computer - you want to look for something that copies dvd movies to avi files. i haven't used these myself but i know they exists. basically, it copies only the movie portion instead of all the extra stuff that most people don't watch. it might be a bit to navigate for the uninitiated though - not sure.
when you get movies from bit torrent or rapidshare - they'll almost always be in avi type format.
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| Apr 22 @ 12:04 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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waterfire
Posts: 2,575
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Well the first thing that comes to mind is buy a spare battery, maybe a 12 cell, that coupled with you stock battery should giev you 8 (?) hours.
Oh, set your power management to balanced or power saver, helps a lot.
[Edited on 4/22/2008 12:17 PM]
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| Apr 23 @ 4:26 AM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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mystery2u888
Posts: 4,237
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 This is great information.......thanks you guys........   
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| Apr 25 @ 12:59 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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According to this article, Toshiba will have solid-state 512GB storage devices by next year.
Initial prices will be high; after another two years, they should be quite affordable. No noise, less power, faster access...
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| Apr 25 @ 4:21 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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sirdidymus
Posts: 1,087
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my recommendation is do some research before you buy any system with solid state drives.
the computer company that i worked for, we had a lot of complaints from customers regarding the solid state drives. Of course is was an "issue" that didn't really exist  .
That having been said, in all fairness, the amount of computers that we sold - is stupendous - when compared to the number of calls we actually get back. So even if we're getting 10-20 calls a day on a particular issue (a number i'm totally making up) - that may still be only like 1/2 of 1% of all customers.
that being said, solid state drives are still a relatively new technology - at least as far as being used as hard drives in computers for regular storage is concerned. so all i'm suggesting is that before you buy, do some googling, see if the company you're buying from has user forums (i imagine that most, if not all, probably would) and start researching and asking around if there's been any problems that users have noticed.
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| Apr 25 @ 7:54 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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While what you say about new technology is certainly true, the potential for greater reliability certainly exists for the solid state drives. They have higher resistance to shock and vibration damage and certainly will never suffer the types of mechanical damage to which hard disk drives are susceptible. Toshiba specifies a 1,000,000 hour Mean Time to Failure for these devices. SDDs in various forms have been around since the early 1970s.
We also need to remember that current hard drive technology, with vertically stacked bits, is also technology that is quite new.
I expect that by the time the R & D costs have been recuperated (3-5 years) the prices will be competitive with hard drives and reliability issues will have been resolved.
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| Apr 28 @ 11:01 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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lj450
Posts: 7,724
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Holy cow, I just priced the battery for my laptop (Inspiron 9400)......$154.00!!!!!
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| Apr 28 @ 11:31 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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You can probably find a replacement (non-Dell) battery for less than half of that...
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| Apr 29 @ 9:32 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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mystery2u888
Posts: 4,237
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LJ........I even knew ........they were expensive...  ....and I am .......soo not a computer person  I will send you a link .......of a really good place.......
Hey everyone 
[Edited on 4/29/2008 10:35 PM]
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| Apr 30 @ 9:53 AM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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A quick search yielded a generic 9-cell battery for $64.25 at this site.
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| Apr 30 @ 1:21 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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lj450
Posts: 7,724
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I would sure hate to void my Dell warranty by using one of those though.
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| May 5 @ 6:56 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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mystery2u888
Posts: 4,237
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 hmmm...... go check out that site...LJ....I got all my stuff.......the other day.......... so I am all set...with everything I need..... Hey everyone.... 
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| May 5 @ 9:50 PM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only.
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sealacamp
Posts: 2,788
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Hey mystery! Welcome to computer land.
S
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| May 6 @ 2:21 AM |
How to make your laptop run longer on battery only. |
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mystery2u888
Posts: 4,237
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Hey Seal.... .........computer land.......  well.........with the help I get from you guys.......I should be able to get around just fine......... 
Thank you.......
[Edited on 5/6/2008 2:46 AM]
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