battery life has reduced after installing Windows 8

Hi

I have upgraded my Acer Ultra M3 from Windows 7 to Windows 8, but the battery management if Win8 seems very, very bad. Using the app BatteryBar, it is constantly discharging hovering at 13,000-17,000 mWh, with battery saver power plan on idle with no program running, while in win7, it only hovering around 7000-10,000 mWh, while running much, much more program on it. I can even play games on windows 7 (Civilization V) and kick on Nvidia Optimus (GT 640M) with background apps running like antivirus and web browser, and the battery still hover around 15,000 mWh.

I am suspecting its the modern UI that is pulling the battery apart, even though running on the background. I have read through many others that have problem like mine, and "solutions" given like driver not ready pre-launch, update bios, antivirus etc are all practically kind of **** (Not even hve antivirus in my Win8). 

It is already March now in 2013 and it seems like there is still no solution to this problem.

I dont really have problem with Win8 really, even though i rarely use the new Modern UI, but I like it overall. It is just the battery management that is really suck. Cutting my laptop usage from 7+ hours to 2-3 hours is not fun at all. Until my question is solved for me, and for other fellow users also, I beg for Microsoft to listen. probably how to to turn off Modern UI might help for now if that is possible.

Thanks. Hoping hard for an answer.
 

Question Info

Last updated March 24, 2018 Views 1,855 Applies to:

Hi,

 

Thank you for choosing windows 8 and giving us an opportunity to help you.

 

From the description, I understand that the battery life has reduced in your Windows 8 computer.

 

I can imagine the inconvenience you have experienced. I will definitely help you in fixing the issue.

 

I suggest you to refer to the articles mentioned below and check if it helps.

 

Tips to save battery power


http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/tips-save-battery-power

 

Battery: Frequently asked questions


http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/battery-meter-frequently-asked-questions

 

Performance & maintenance


http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/performance-maintenance-help#performance-maintenance-help=windows-8&v2h=win7tab1&v3h=winvistatab1

 

I also suggest you to install the following update to improve the performance and reliability

 

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 cumulative update: November 2012

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2770917

 

Please get back to us with the results.

If you have any further questions with regards to Windows operating systems, write to us. We are glad to help.

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Nope.

None of the "solutions" work. and these kind of answers are what i called <Removed>answers.

Tips to save battery power? Why don't u put there do not turn on your laptop at all! My laptop on Windows 7 64bit with LOADS and TONS of programs running can lasts 3-4 hours LONGER then Windows 8 64bit with NO applications running in the background. 

I have installed all available updates, not sure why I might miss the November 2012 one. Also all latest drivers, BIOS etc. even make sure that it running on integrated gpu with the most battery saver options turned on.

anyhow I truly expect this thread will die after this answer, like other similar threads... ; or more <Removed>"advice" will be given of how to not use your computer. Please, solution please.


 Thank you for choosing windows 8 and giving us an opportunity to help you.

 

From the description, I understand that the battery life has reduced in your Windows 8 computer.

 

I can imagine the inconvenience you have experienced. I will definitely help you in fixing the issue.

 

I suggest you to refer to the articles mentioned below and check if it helps.

 

Tips to save battery power


http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/tips-save-battery-power

 

Battery: Frequently asked questions


http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/battery-meter-frequently-asked-questions

 

Performance & maintenance


http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/performance-maintenance-help#performance-maintenance-help=windows-8&v2h=win7tab1&v3h=winvistatab1

 

I also suggest you to install the following update to improve the performance and reliability

 

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 cumulative update: November 2012

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2770917

 

Please get back to us with the results.

If you have any further questions with regards to Windows operating systems, write to us. We are glad to help.


Did this solve your problem?

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Reply In reply to deleted message
<Removed>

So how is your reply helping? No I don't have problem with my battery, as when I reverted to Win 7 the battery life is simply more then doubled.

I am just conveying messages across the board that didn't received any solutions to their problem.
All their get was the "answers" as given above, which is totally scripted and is not helpful at all.

A simple google will prove to you how widespread the problem is;

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-hardware/reduced-battery-life-after-upgrading-to-win-8/9761c229-3116-4697-9023-1fb3c5a28654
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/after-upgrading-from-win7-to-win-8-battery-life/17bd539b-3e2c-4aa3-b97d-8bb06c48ce2b
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/does-windows-8-comsumes-more-battery-of-laptop/964a760f-c0bd-4f08-af34-32e209405efd
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/battery-life-changed-drastically-after-upgrading/8b28765c-e39e-41ad-a5f2-60c2d5697d28
http://www.overclock.net/t/1321275/windows-8-poor-battery-life
http://blog.laptopmag.com/short-battery-life-sinks-first-windows-8-notebooks
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Edge-S-series/Thinkpad-E530-short-battery-life-after-Windows-8-upgrade/td-p/952601
http://superuser.com/questions/497473/poor-battery-life-windows-8
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/702115-horrible-battery-life-windows-8-zenbook-ux32vd.html

Yes. From all kind of manufacturers, and all the links are just the top search result from Google. With NO SOLUTIONS provided.

so yes I apologize for swearing but I am a customer and I have the right to complain about my purchase until I got a proper solution for this. as I said, I don't have problem with Windows 8, but this is very frustrating.

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I have an HP Pavilion with an extended battery any went from 6+ hrs to 2 hrs when I upgraded to Windows 8. I agree fully with your comments.

The normal BS from MS. Maybe windows 8.1 or 15.5 will fix this problem

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I have an HP Pavilion with an extended battery any went from 6+ hrs to 2 hrs when I upgraded to Windows 8. I agree fully with your comments.

The normal BS from MS. Maybe windows 8.1 or 15.5 will fix this problem
Well the only 'solution' is to revert back to Win 7. Win 8 is optimized only for the newer machines that comes with it pre installed i guess. Now I have 2 useless Win 8 license that I wont touch probably in 1-2 years.

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Win 8 is optimized only for the newer machines that comes with it pre installed i guess. Now I have 2 useless Win 8 license that I wont touch probably in 1-2 years.
This doesn't appear to be correct. I am, for instance, on a Lenovo ThinkPad X201i preinstalled with Windows 7 and updated to Windows 8 Pro. The battery time is awful, but Lenovo claims this particular computer model is fully compatible with Windows 8, and they have released drivers and an updated BIOS (with a recent additional update) for it. 

So while Windows 8, as far as I know, does use (requires?) newer technology, I'm having problems even though I have that very technology (unless Lenovo is lying, but they don't have a reason to). 

It is sad that we cannot get a response from Microsoft other than "check your power plan options." There seem to be plenty of people with this problem. 

In my case, something's gone wrong with the little LEDs indicating what's turned on or not. My bluetooth LED is always on (no matter what) after upgrading to Windows 8. So I'm thinking something may be wrong with the setup. But I've reinstalled/refreshed Windows 8 completely TWICE and this doesn't solve the problem. Anybody else have this LED problem?

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