Does Windows 7 suck the life out of laptop batteries?
February 9, 2010 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: Gadgets, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, adoption, mobile technology, operating systems
For everyone who’s gotten excited by the Microsoft upgrade that is Windows 7, beware. Not all appears well in Win 7 land.
Word is that many notebooks loaded with the new OS are suffering serious battery problems.
Users began grumbling about battery issues — among them, premature warnings that the power is exhausted, along with other, more serious warnings to replace the battery completely — since last summer. That was long before the Windows 7 release this fall.
The complaints don’t seem to be restricted to one particular model of hardware. And the battery damage doesn’t appear to be fixed by reverting to an older OS.
Microsoft says it’s investigating.
You can read the list of complaints and pleas for help in an extensive thread at Microsoft’s support site here.
But hey, fans of Windows 7, it’s still not Vista. At least you’ve got that going for you.
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February 9th, 2010 at 10:30 am
“And the battery damage doesn’t appear to be fixed by reverting to an older OS.”
So you are suggesting that the software is damaging the batteries permanently? And you’ve not tested this by removing Windows 7 and putting on XP or another OS to verifiy it’s not the hardware?
So, you’re not really helping…OH, you’re just reporting an unverified issue with something…kinda like a rumor…
Got it…never mind.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
My Vista laptop just gave me a battery message like this. Does this mean it’s a false alarm??
February 9th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Has anyone contacted the manufacturers to see if they have a driver/utility that works with their particular power supplies and batteries?
Would be a better place to start…
February 9th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
It’s the battery that came with my computer. Wouldn’t it have come with the driver/utility as well?
February 9th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
A quick click brings me to one of Microsoft’s TechNet blogs, where a poster clearly describes the steps he took to test the message and replicate the results, and the response from a Microsoft employee who stated there is an identified issue and that it will be addressed. So Ms. Hembreck’s report was substantiated with a verified reference in the story, which is what Journalism 101 teaches.
February 11th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
We have rolled windows 7 out to over 40 laptops and have not experienced any problems with batteries. In fact with the new power options battery life has been extended.
February 11th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
This is sensationalism at its best. I have over a dozen machines of various types with preloaded and upgraded Win 7 installations. I have seen nothing but improvements in battery life especially when it comes to upgrades. Same hardware installations have improved battery life by at least 20%. I have received no false positive messages at all.
February 11th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I don’t know but my laptop (hpDV4) runs lots longer since I went to Win 7. It uses much less power and run’s cooler under load. The performance number under computer properties went up from 3.8 to 4.1 so I really wonder about this new “issue”.
February 11th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Interesting, but my experience has been the opposite: Moving from Vista to 7 roughly doubled battery life in my Lenovo.
The complaint I do have is chronic, 60-second “not responding” periods, especially in MSIE.
February 11th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Most if not all laptops manage charging of the batteries in hardware. I manage may users with laptops and the most common cause of premature battery failure is leaving the battery in the laptop for long periods of time while plugged in. You know the not so mobile user who leave their laptop in the dock 24 7 for weeks at a time. My advice to them is to remove the battery and it does help with the problem.
Oh and by the way Windows 7 seems to last much longer on battery than Vista ever did.
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:34 am
Nice information. Well, my friend just got a laptop for free online.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:14 am
Free Dell Laptops? Right.
**spam spam spam spam** =)
March 7th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Blogs RSS feed not work in my browser (google chrome) how can I fix it?
March 11th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Woooow, pretty nice idea, thank you! I found your site via
July 12th, 2010 at 10:19 am
I do believe diferrent because my friends and family use another brand name .It’s secure and save prices.But next laptop battery I can consider this to be this laptop battery that you present.Thank!!!