I finally got tired of debating over budget laptops and purchased this one . I didn't require a powerful machine, my desktop handles that role, just something portable to take to campus for basic usage, and this one had good features for the money. I have been pretty happy with it for the most part, but the battery life seems pretty poor. Here's what I have done so far: uninstall extra bloatware from the factory, updated BIOS to newest version for better Vista compatibility, I turn backlight down to a very low level when on battery, and turn off wireless network when not using it. The battery that came with is only 4400mAh, so have a 8800mAh battery ordered and will keep the factory one to stash away as a backup.
My question is this: will I be able to get better battery life with XP or Linux (Suse or Ubuntu would be my picks), and would these improvements be worth the hassle of making my machine multiboot? I spend long sessions reading ebooks and studying notes and textbook outlines in pdf and word doc formats, not much multimedia and no gaming on the laptop.
My question is this: will I be able to get better battery life with XP or Linux (Suse or Ubuntu would be my picks), and would these improvements be worth the hassle of making my machine multiboot? I spend long sessions reading ebooks and studying notes and textbook outlines in pdf and word doc formats, not much multimedia and no gaming on the laptop.