Do wireless printers effect battery consumption on Netbook using WiFi

Wetdogeared · 10-22-2010, 11:33 AM

My PC is in the shop so I am using a netbook connected via wifi to our home network router.

The netbook has a six cell battery, and until a few days ago was getting up to 10 hours of operation on a full charge, now it gets less than 5 hours.

The only difference in our home network is that a few days ago we installed a wireless printer. The previous network printer was attached to my PC, which was usually shut down when the netbook was in wifi mode, thus making it unavailable for use.

My question then: Would having a wireless printer available while a netbook is in wifi mode drain the battery at twice the normal rate? This doesn't sound reasonable to me.

Any suggestions?

dsvick · 10-22-2010, 12:24 PM

The only thing I can think of is that, since they are both wireless and on the same network, they are trying to talk to each other or connect in some way. Maybe the printer is off now and the netbook is trying to find it? Even if this is the case though I can't see it affecting battery life that drastically.

Have you looked at the event log to see if there is anything in there? How about watching your network traffic for a few minutes to see what it is doing? Does it (network traffic) change if the printer is on or off?

10-22-2010, 11:33 AM	#1
Wetdogeared Storm Surge'n Posts: 5,776 Karma: 8213195 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lobster Capital Device: S0ny PRS-300/350/505/700/T1	Do wireless printers effect battery consumption on Netbook using WiFi My PC is in the shop so I am using a netbook connected via wifi to our home network router. The netbook has a six cell battery, and until a few days ago was getting up to 10 hours of operation on a full charge, now it gets less than 5 hours. The only difference in our home network is that a few days ago we installed a wireless printer. The previous network printer was attached to my PC, which was usually shut down when the netbook was in wifi mode, thus making it unavailable for use. My question then: Would having a wireless printer available while a netbook is in wifi mode drain the battery at twice the normal rate? This doesn't sound reasonable to me. Any suggestions? Last edited by Wetdogeared; 10-22-2010 at 11:41 AM.

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10-22-2010, 12:24 PM	#2
dsvick Wizard Posts: 2,737 Karma: 635747 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Northeast Ohio, USA Device: PRS-900	The only thing I can think of is that, since they are both wireless and on the same network, they are trying to talk to each other or connect in some way. Maybe the printer is off now and the netbook is trying to find it? Even if this is the case though I can't see it affecting battery life that drastically. Have you looked at the event log to see if there is anything in there? How about watching your network traffic for a few minutes to see what it is doing? Does it (network traffic) change if the printer is on or off?

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