Poor Battery Life is Not Windows 7's Fault, Says Microsoft
Ever since Windows 7 was in its early development phase, Microsoft reassured users that the operating system would run on all types of configurations, ranging from powerful desktop PCs to laptops and small notebooks (a.k.a netbooks). As a matter of fact, Microsoft made sure to say that small notebook PCs will be able to run any version of Windows 7. This was Microsoft’s way of giving its customers “complete flexibility to purchase a system which meets their needs” – at the time it was rumored that netbooks will only run Windows 7 Starter, the Windows 7 SKU that has the fewest features.
The catch is that if your laptop/notebook/netbook runs out of battery, you will not be able to run a thing. You’ll just be lugging this powerless device with you, mumbling in discontent. A number of Windows 7 users have been complaining about battery-expiration problems. Windows 7 would warn them there is a problem with the battery, when there was nothing wrong with it. Basically they would be asked to replace/recharge the battery quite a short time after having it recharged. So the users assumed Windows 7 is a battery hog that depletes their battery quite fast.
The Redmond-based software giant took these users’ complaints into consideration and launched an investigation. Initially Microsoft believed the firmware in some PC models was erroneously displaying the “consider replacing your battery” prompt. But once the investigation was complete, no problem with the firmware or Windows 7 was uncovered. Turns out that Windows 7 is not hogging the battery; there is an actual problem with the battery.
"Windows 7 is correctly warning batteries that are in fact failing and Windows 7 is neither incorrectly reporting on battery status nor in any way whatsoever causing batteries to reach this state. Essentially the battery was degrading but it was not evident to the customer until Windows 7 made this information available. We recognize that this has the appearance of Windows 7 “causing” the change in performance, but in reality all Windows 7 did was report what was already the case,” explained President of the Windows and Windows Live Division with Microsoft, Steven Sinofsky.
The catch is that if your laptop/notebook/netbook runs out of battery, you will not be able to run a thing. You’ll just be lugging this powerless device with you, mumbling in discontent. A number of Windows 7 users have been complaining about battery-expiration problems. Windows 7 would warn them there is a problem with the battery, when there was nothing wrong with it. Basically they would be asked to replace/recharge the battery quite a short time after having it recharged. So the users assumed Windows 7 is a battery hog that depletes their battery quite fast.
The Redmond-based software giant took these users’ complaints into consideration and launched an investigation. Initially Microsoft believed the firmware in some PC models was erroneously displaying the “consider replacing your battery” prompt. But once the investigation was complete, no problem with the firmware or Windows 7 was uncovered. Turns out that Windows 7 is not hogging the battery; there is an actual problem with the battery.
"Windows 7 is correctly warning batteries that are in fact failing and Windows 7 is neither incorrectly reporting on battery status nor in any way whatsoever causing batteries to reach this state. Essentially the battery was degrading but it was not evident to the customer until Windows 7 made this information available. We recognize that this has the appearance of Windows 7 “causing” the change in performance, but in reality all Windows 7 did was report what was already the case,” explained President of the Windows and Windows Live Division with Microsoft, Steven Sinofsky.
