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XPS 13 9343 Poor Battery
Is anyone else experiencing poor battery life on the new xps 13?
I have the QHD 256gb I7 model. The battery time estimate jumps all over the place, just doing simple internet browsing. It's bad to the point where I just ignore the time remaining, it has however, gone down from 99% to 80% in about 45 minutes.
I own a 9333 and L322X, haven't had this issue with any of them.
Furthermore, this may be of interest to some, I found out that the reason they're naming this model "Early 2015" is because they will be releasing a newer "Late 2015" model using the new and improved Skylake Processor. Apparently the Broadwell processor is barely any better (3-4%) than the Haswell on the 322x. Not to mention, ALL of the broadwell processors on the 9343 are dual core, something that I regret to have only just realized.
In any case, my fellow 9343 owners, have any of you had issues with the battery?
Responses (23)
Solutions (0)
dallascowboyswo
4 Apprentice
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2380 Posts
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Posted February 20th, 2015 07:00
Just a note: Batteries only have a 1 year warranty from the time of purchase.
Thank you for your comments.
I feel it important to note that the purpose for this post was to reach out to other 9343 owners with the hopes of gathering their feedback on the issue.
To clarify, my other XPS 13 models are all I7 models, quad cores compares to this dual core. The I7 on the 9343 is a dual core chip and far more energy efficient than the older models I have, with the exception of my 9333 which should be on par with the 9343.
That being said, the 9343 is less than a month old, I don't think we'd find anyone who's owned one for more than 2 months. I am familiar with dell's warranty policy but I'm also within the return window which leaves me with more options.
To summarize, I'm more concerned with knowing whether or not others are having the same or similar problems with the 9343 and battery life. I've only been able to find issues with the fan, however, I'm still very disappointed that both my 9333 and L322x are out-lasting my new 9343 in terms of battery life.
Pancho Duke
4 Posts
4794
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Posted March 12th, 2015 11:00
I am running a new XPS 13 i5 256G, touchscreen model, purchased from the Microsoft Store in March 2015.
The battery life has never gone above 9 hours and usually maximizes around 7-8 hours, but could be less depending what I am doing. Basically, I use the machine for email, internet searches and an occasional airplane movie and have been surprised how big of a discrepancy there is between the advertised 15 hour battery life and what I have been experiencing.
At the time of writing this I have Outlook and Internet Explorer open, a 48% charge and "1 hr 55 min remaining." Yes, battery life is all over the place but with a 48% charge I expect 6 to 7 hours remaining.
Battery life was a selling point on this unit and while the machine is otherwise great, I bought it expecting to charge it at night and not keep it plugged in throughout the day, which is not the case.
I am having *huge* battery issues. I get < 4 hrs of useful battery life, and with very light usage -- email, web browsing, Word and PowerPoint editing. Twice this week I have started the day with a fully charged battery, gone in and out of meetings (with machine on sometimes and asleep much of the time), to find the battery dead before noon. Completely unacceptable.
I find the battery drains unbelievably fast. Yesterday, it was at 70% after 30 minutes. If we were to accept the advertised stats for this machine (11 hrs) then that would mean that 30% of the battery should happen after ~3 hrs, not 30 minutes.
I have also had very mixed results in speaking with Dell support. Twice I've had Dell tech support tell me that 'a 4 cell battery really gets about that much performance,' which is striking since it's so far out of line with the way this machine has been promoted and described across multiple sites -- Dell's own, also Microsoft Store and elsewhere. I'm hoping for a more fundamental resolution in the next few days.
I'm glad I'm not alone in this. Dell Tech Support was not helpful and at times, very rude. At one point, the tech support agent made it seem that I was lying about the 11 hour battery life, I had to point him to the product site and wait for him to read it before he believed me. After weeks of trying to get the issue resolved, I ended up returning the laptop...HORRIBLE experience.
I purchased the top spec mac daddy i7, QHD, 8GB etc version.
I just received my new toy a few days ago and im extremely unimpressed!
The battery is completely *** im lucky if i get 4 hours use while surfing and replying to emails with the odd word doc thrown in. Screen res is down 2 settings and the brightness is set at 40%.
The performance is rubbish, i have the older L322X and its just as quick even with only 4GB of ram.
It will be getting sent back shortly!
Hi
I have the top spec unit too (all be it the 256gb version)... unboxed it yesterday, spent all evening resolving the fan issue....
Today I took it work with no charger (expecting to get 8 hours no problem out of a notebook advertised as having 15 hours in it)... got to lunch time and battery was flat!
All I did with it this morning was some email, Excel and Word work along with a bit of websurfing.
Totally unacceptable, I have raised a ticket with Dell and I have warned Amazon where it came from to expect it back unless I find a cure this evening (and looking at this thread I doubt that now).
Shame it is a lovely machine... let down by basic flaws.
I see a Macbook in my future (to be fair this XPS was to be a replacement for a 2010 Macbook Air that is on its last legs...)
How do these manufactures get away with such hopeless lies on their promo? Also what are all the media reviewers on... I honestly thought this thing was a Macbook rival at least (or killer if some reviews were to be believed)
Paul
London
Pancho Duke
4 Posts
1836
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Posted April 16th, 2015 15:00
Hi Paul,
I echo all of your points, especially that I was looking for a Macbook replacement with rival battery life.
Great machine, aesthetically and performance is good, but the battery goes from top to bottom in what seems to be a senseless pattern since it occurs when very little CPU usage is required.
I would also like to see Dell come out with a response or fix since we've all bought into their claim of 15 hours and there is absolutely no way to back it up.
Cheers,
Preston

laserman778
1 Rookie
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511 Posts
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Posted February 20th, 2015 07:00
You have a very power hungry machine with the i7 and 4K display. 99% to 80% in 45 min does seem like a quick drop, however the Windows battery meter can be inaccurate. I recommend timing the entire system from 100% until it dies. That will show if you have an abnormal battery.