Performance suffers when not plugged in... weird?

Weird problem that I can't seem to find any info on despite being resourceful with Google.

For awhile now, my PC wants to be plugged in. It will work on battery for browsing or light app work, but if I'm doing something CPU intensive it lets me know right away that just being on battery will not do, and performance breaks down to the point that sometimes it crashes my prog.

I've looked at my performance settings, and as far as I can tell I don't have anything selected that sacrifices power to save battery life. Any help is appreciated.

Also, it's an HP dv7 laptop, a 2010 model (4183cl, I think). i5 processor, 8gb ram... etc etc
 
Tbh mate I play league of legends on my brothers laptop and I see the same difference I belive its because the laptop is drawing more power then it was actually using I see the difference of 35-42 fps flucuating to a constant 60 fps because of v-sync when it is plugged in so I doubt it is rly any rly problem from your laptop just the power that it uses

To continue with that its the same thing as happens when u have a weak psu in a computer .The pc wont draw its full potential or wont work at all
 
AFAIK, most mobile CPUs (and some GPUs) are designed to lower clock rates when the laptop is on battery, to extend the amount of time the laptop can run while unplugged.

It's normal, I believe; I occasionally game on my 2-year-old Toshiba Satellite, and when the power's unplugged, games like L4D2 (which I get a fluid 60FPS on otherwise) start stuttering and hitching.

Someone else might have better/clearer input though.
 
Go to the Control Panel, find the Power Options

depending upon the System you have, there are POWER Plans {both Batter & Plugged-in}

open the Battery controls and set FULL SPEED

for my Dell, it's under Advanced Settings->Processor power ->max processor state
on battery = x% plugged in = y%
you choose X+Y
 
As JoBeard says, go to the power options and choose High Performance.. This will allow it to still run at its best, HOWEVER, it will die much faster..

The reason this happens is because generally when your running on battery you want it to last as long as it can, so it puts itself into a medium mode generally and lowers the power consumption of the CPU, HD(s), and other components so that the battery life is longer, you can even go into a Power Saver option, where the screen dims even more and it lasts longer..

But, if you want to keep the performance, change the setting. Another way to get to this option is to click the battery icon in the bottom Right and choose High Performance.
 
Back