<p>Hi~~</p>
<p>I just bought my laptop and got it today...The battery runs for about 3.5 hours fully charged. Is that enough? I'm planning on being a math major or an econ major</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>Does it actually run for 3.5 hours…or is that what it states? When doing that, did you have the brightness up or down, and was the wifi on?</p>
<p>My battery can last a good 6 hours with brightness down and typical use…but I usually run it with brightness maxed, gives me closer to 3.5 hours. Never has been an issue as it gets me through every class (I could go 6+ hours on lower brightness if I had to).</p>
<p>Depends how much you use it for class…and whether or not outlets are available. I doubt you’ll be using it more than 3.5 hours without an outlet. I never plug mine in during class.</p>
<p>But also be aware battery life will diminish over time. Yours sounds pretty typical though.</p>
<p>I turned the brightness low and the battery lasted for 3.5 hours before reaching 10% and wifi was on half the time</p>
<p>What I would like to know is if there are classes that run more than 3 hours or if one spends more than three hours in a day in classrooms (that’s when battery life matters…if I was in a dorm I can plug it in)</p>
<p>^I’ve had that happen, and I was able to either sit by an outlet in the class room, or charge the battery between classes. You might be able to swing something like that, but for the most part, I don’t think you’ll run into this problem.</p>
<p>That means you’ll get less time with the brightness up…but if you don’t mind keeping it down, that’s fine.</p>
<p>You’ll probably never have a class over 2 hours. I had more than 3.5 hours of class in a day before - but didn’t use the computer in every one.</p>
<p>For example, for a lot of math and science classes, they’re not that useful. Trying to type out math problems can be a pain.</p>
<p>I’m doing math with concentration in econ…so i might need my laptop for those classes</p>
<p>I have to take 5 required history/arts classes…and also outside of classroom, longer battery is better</p>
<p>True, as stated above, for math type courses a pen and paper is your best bet. A laptop would only slow you down and make it harder for you to retain the information that is being explained (briefly) to you. However, for note driven courses like history a laptop is a great tool and helped me greatly. Of course, the battery life may be a problem but if you keep experimenting with a good balance of brightness and wifi you should be able to get through a 3-4 hour block of classes just fine. Remember, when taking notes your not using internet so you obviously don’t need wifi. Also, if applicable, turn off bluetooth or any other programs you have running. Every little bit helps.</p>
<p>Yes - turn off wifi not only to save battery life but to keep you from getting distracted. Facebook is probably the number one distraction during class.</p>
<p>And I recommend a pencil, not a pen, for math courses. Erasing is very beneficial!</p>
<p>I did find my laptop was the most useful for note taking in history courses.</p>
<p>You need to run your battery completely down and then fully charge it back up when you first get it to have it working optimally. About once a month run it completely down again and then charge it back up to keep it’s memory of a full charge.</p>
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<p>That’s a very common misconception when it comes to modern Lithium-Ion batteries. While this is true for old Nickle-Cadmium batteries which suffer from the memory effect, the same does not happen with Nickle Metal-Hydride and Lithium-Ion. Draining the battery will just cause it to go through more cycles and shorten their life. For newer computers, you should keep them plugged in when possible for maximum battery life.</p>
<p>NiMH actually does have a memory effect, it’s just a lot less than NiCd. Li-ion is memory free.</p>
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<p>And also far more time consuming and messy than crossing out.</p>
<p>Crossing out can be a lot messier and confusing than erasing. For writing, it’s fine…but for any mathematical work it can be very messy.</p>
<p>I am a math and econ major[I never take notes in econ courses- since if you are good at math econ will be seem very very basic and easy]. I never need to use my laptop in class, unless you are not paying attention to lecture. Math courses is best to use pencil and paper. Then you might as well not go to class.</p>