Why do laptops and gaming laptops have such low battery life during usage?

[Kevin]

In this day and age why have the batterys not changed for the better? Is technology on this behind or lacking? Or do they do this for monetary reasons?

Just looking for info since I am in the process of getting a gaming laptop

[_I_]

gaming laptops need more power
its a battel between battery life, performance and weight

[yberkurko]

Gaming laptops require so much power at full load that when gaming if battery life would be expected to be 4-5h that is about normal the battery would be really bulky and heavy... not to mention expensive. So manufacturers go for portability and more reasonable cost. In web browsing and such battery life is pretty good even battery won't last long under full load.