2010-08-24, 02:57 PM
Do NOT go with a netbook. They can't render 3d as effectively as necessary. As for your poor battery life, 4 hour battery life is the advertised battery life when your notebook's screen is dimmed and you're doing basic computer work; gaming is not included. If you're doing basic stuff, the battery should last between 2 and 4 hours under ideal user conditions. This means: No virus scans, no defrag, no DVD watching, no gaming, and light wireless usage for internet.
The circumstances you're putting your laptop under are not IDEAL conditions, your battery is doing the best it can for the situation you've put it in. If you want to extend, do deep cycling of your battery by discharging it as far as it will get (til your laptop shuts off) then charge it completely... Do this 3-4 times and your battery life should improve. Also, don't straight-charge the battery (charge without use) when it's not less than 15% battery life remaining, as this will shorten the overall lifespan of your laptop battery.
Your laptop has a dedicated graphics card in it, there's another reason your battery life is poor. It's also an AMD/ATi, they've been known to hog more power than nVidia. Lastly, you have a 320 GB rotational harddive; want more battery power? Drop $300 on a solid state drive.
The circumstances you're putting your laptop under are not IDEAL conditions, your battery is doing the best it can for the situation you've put it in. If you want to extend, do deep cycling of your battery by discharging it as far as it will get (til your laptop shuts off) then charge it completely... Do this 3-4 times and your battery life should improve. Also, don't straight-charge the battery (charge without use) when it's not less than 15% battery life remaining, as this will shorten the overall lifespan of your laptop battery.
Your laptop has a dedicated graphics card in it, there's another reason your battery life is poor. It's also an AMD/ATi, they've been known to hog more power than nVidia. Lastly, you have a 320 GB rotational harddive; want more battery power? Drop $300 on a solid state drive.