Samsung Series 7 Slate - Battery Life And Power Supply

Gear: BatteryBar Pro, Series 7 Slate Power Supply.

Battery life is one of the biggest things that a "mobile" person needs to know when buying a system. Many of the modern slate tablets (iOS, Android, Blackberry) have brought an increase in battery life runtimes, up to the point where they are called "all day" systems. These light operating systems and applications will yield good numbers. The Series 7 Slate offers Windows 7 which the components seem to need more power and that shortens the possible lifespan.


The advertised battery life of the Series 7 will be different on each store. Some say 6.1 hours, others say 7 hours. This of course is advertised numbers and may not reflect the real hours that you can achieve.

Advertised Battery Details:
  • 4 Cell /Li-Po
  • 5520mAh, 40Wh
  • 6 to 7 hours (varies from source)

With a Windows tablet it will be close to impossible for everyone to get the same numbers because of the amount of variables. These variables include: screen brightness level, power plan, wifi usage, bluetooth usage, the software running, audio levels, and so on. So... getting an estimate that is relevant to your specific needs is not simple.

My test includes running a program called BatteryBar. This software accumulates data over time and will give us an average of all of those run times. I have ran the system in low brightness, high brightness, intense usage, low usage, and so on.

During the first week I was very conservative on my usage and therefore lowered the screen brightness and had power saving mode. Once I did manage to get 6 hours of battery life, but most of the time I would get about 5 hours 30 minutes at max.

During the second week I let the screen be at full brightness, had multiple programs running, and enjoyed streaming video with volume at around 75%. The results were sometimes at about 4 hours. If you are playing 3D games and have the system on High Perfrmance you can expect battery lifespan of about 3 hours.

With all of these difference scenarios combined BatteryBar has estimated an average lifespan of 4 hours and 45 minutes. If you have the screen brightness dimmed down to about 40% to 50% you should get a bit over 5 hours.

Overall not bad. If you plan on using this as your main mobile computer then you may want to carry the power adapter.

To charge the Series 7 Slate from 3% to 100% it can take about 3 hours when the system is on. I wish the charging was shorter.



In case people are seeking information about the power supply here are the details.

Power Adapter:
  • 40W
  • Input: 100-240V, 50-60Hz 1.0A
  • Output: 19Vdc 2.1A

Links:


Images







Published: Dec 11, 2011

No comments:

Post a Comment

Sign up for the JBA Newsletter. A few times per year I may sell or give away gadgets and other electronics By signing up you ensure getting notified in a timely manner. I do NOT send you emails that will waste your time. Thank you.

Home

Hi. My name is Jesse, and I'm a technology enthusiast. I play with technology and share what I find on this blog. If you have any questions then please use the contact form below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.


Contact

Name

Email *

Message *