HP Elitebook 8730w battery life numbers

Based on my extensive usage and testing of the HP Elitebook 8730w (2.53 GHz dual core, 4 GB RAM, 17 inch DreamColor screen, Windows Vista Business, Nvidia Quadro FX3700M 1GB workstation graphics) since November, I’ve come up with a list of battery life numbers that can be achieved using this Mobile Workstation notebook PC. Using the included primary battery:

• Gaming – 1 hour (Display at the brightest setting, high performance mode)
• Graphics rendering – 1 hour 30 minutes
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 continuous use – 1 hour 40 minutes
• High-definition movie playback – 1 hour 40 minutes (Display at the brightest setting)
• Documents, excel and casual web surfing – 2 hours 30 minutes
• Combined usage (Some documents and typing, music through headphones and Photoshop CS4) – 2 hours (Display at medium brightness, balanced power mode)

These numbers were recorded when the battery ran down to 3% and Windows went into sleep mode. The battery life numbers have also been rounded down to the nearest 10 minutes.

So there you have it; now you know what to expect from the HP Elitebook 8730w when performing specific tasks. Adding on a secondary battery, that is HP’s Extended Battery option, will effectively double those numbers listed above.