gHacks technology news » battery http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:26:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Web Browser Have Impact On Battery Life http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/15/web-browser-have-impact-on-battery-life/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/15/web-browser-have-impact-on-battery-life/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:52:49 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=16382 A recent Anandtech study suggests that the web browser has an impact on a mobile PCs battery usage. The test, which analyzed battery performance under various popular web browsers and three websites, can probably not be seen as representative but it could indicate which web browser uses less battery power to operate. A test with more websites would certainly help to get a global result. Still, test results were somewhat surprisingly as the difference between the best and worst performing web browser were greater than two hours.

The web browsers of the test were: Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.5.2 with and without adblock add-on, Google Chrome 2, Opera 9.64, 10.0b3 and Safari 4. Three laptops were used in the test. Two entry level Gateway laptops with AMD and Intel cpus and the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA netbook.

Gateway NV52

gateway nv52

Gateway NV58

gateway nv58

Asus EEE PC 1005HA

asus eee pc 1005ha

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 is the web browser that drains the least amount of battery on the two entry level laptops. Most other web browsers with the exception of Safari come close to that results, especially Firefox with the adblock add-on. The benefit of the adblock add-on suggests that web advertisement does have an impact on battery usage. Safari 4 is the only web browser in the test that performed worst in all three tests.

Google Chrome 2 was first in the netbook test with all other web browsers close by except for Safari which completely drained the battery of the netbook more than two hours earlier than the other web browsers.

Even if the test needs to be replicated with a larger website sample size it seems to indicate that laptop users are better off without the Safari web browser. Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox with adblock and Google Chrome were the best performing web browsers in the test.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/15/web-browser-have-impact-on-battery-life/feed/ 1 Laptop Battery Monitor BattCursor http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/04/laptop-battery-monitor-battcursor/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/04/laptop-battery-monitor-battcursor/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:54:46 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/04/laptop-battery-monitor-battcursor/ microsoft windowsIf you use a mobile computer like a laptop or netbook on the road you better make sure to keep track of the battery to avoid running out of power when its most important to have access to the computer. We have seen several laptop battery monitors in the past like notebook battery monitor, BattStatt or Notebook Hardware Control. All of these computer programs visualize the remaining battery power visually either in the Windows system tray or small widgets that are placed on the computer desktop.

BattCursor adds another battery monitoring possibility for computer systems running the Windows Vista operating system. The free software program displays the remaining battery power next to the mouse cursor so that it is always in sight.

laptop battery

The colors of the mouse cursor change at thresholds to inform the user about the battery status. A red cursor for instance indicates a low battery while a green cursor indicates that lots of battery power is remaining.

Battcursor requires the Microsoft Windows operating system and the .net Framework 2.0 or higher. It comes with a few additional settings that can extend the battery life of the laptop further. This includes dimming the computer display or turning of Aero.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/06/04/laptop-battery-monitor-battcursor/feed/ 3 Notebook Hardware Control http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/14/notebook-hardware-control/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/14/notebook-hardware-control/#comments Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:10:43 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=8992 When you are working with notebooks on the road you have to ensure that you make the best of the remaining battery power. Nothing’s more annoying than a notebook that is automatically powering down because of a battery running out of power. One way to take care of this problem is to reduce the power needed when working with a notebook running on battery.

One of the bet ways to save battery is by reducing the power of several core components such as the processor or graphic adapters.

Notebook Hardware Control is a free software program that has been designed to take care of the needs of notebook users. Power management is however only one – very extensive – option of the software.

The software comes preinstalled with several hardware profiles like max. battery, dynamic switching or battery optimized. These profiles can be easily set by right-clicking the icon in the System Tray.

The maximum battery setting can for example be used to use the notebook for as long as possible while dynamic switching ensures that battery life will be saved as long as the system does not need additional power.

It is also possible to customize those settings further by defining multipliers and voltage settings manually.

notebook hardware control

Next to that are similar options for the video card and hard disk. The hard disk settings go further by providing access to advanced power management and acoustic management settings. An Advanced Configuration and Power Interface system can be enabled as well.

Notebook Hardware Control is a software program that is compatible with 32-bit editions of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or higher.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/14/notebook-hardware-control/feed/ 6 Run something if battery is (dis)connected http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/23/run-something-if-battery-is-disconnected/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/23/run-something-if-battery-is-disconnected/#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:56:48 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/23/run-something-if-battery-is-disconnected/ It sometimes happens by accident that the power cable gets disconnected when you work with your notebook. It does not have to be by accident though, maybe you want to use the notebook in a different location without having to save everything and boot again. The problem that arises when a power cable gets disconnected is that the notebook loses battery power which is a huge problem if the battery was not loaded fully.

Battery Run is a little command line utility that checks if a power cable is connected. Once it gets disconnected it starts a user defined action and another one when the cable gets connected again. You could for instance play a sound if the power cable gets disconnected to notify you or a software that would reduce power consumption.

Usage is straightforward. Download and unpack the file on your hard drive. Use the command batteryrun load-program-when-disconnected load-program-when connected. For example: batteryrun disconnected.wav connected.wav

Batteryrun will play the disconnected.wav file when the power cable gets disconnected and the connected.wav file when it gets connected again. A icon should appear in the system tray if everything was setup correctly.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/23/run-something-if-battery-is-disconnected/feed/ 3 Test your notebooks battery http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/03/test-your-notebooks-battery/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/03/test-your-notebooks-battery/#comments Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:33:37 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/03/test-your-notebooks-battery/ Do you know how long the battery of your notebook lasts in different modes like idle and workload ? You probably know that the manufacturer of the notebook claims that it would last for a certain time but you don’t know if you can believe the figures ? Battery Eater Pro is a freeware utility that tests the battery of a notebook in certain modes and displays accurate information about battery life.

Just download and unzip Battery Eater Pro to your hard drive. A great thing about the software is that it does not need installation, so no tampering with your system at all. Once you started Battery Eater Pro it will wait until the battery is fully loaded. Once this is done you can start the test by pressing SHIFT + F3. (disconnect the power plug before you do that)

The test will run until the notebook runs out of power and powers off. Connect the notebook to a power source and Battery Eater Pro will load automatically at startup and display test results. The test results will show accurate information which might differ from the figures of the manufacturer.

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