New HP won't stay charged

also depends what your doing with the laptop.... what kind of battery you have... what energy settings you have ...

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/9090/learning-windows-7-manage-power-settings/


give you some things to look at.
 
Lets, backup. What model and configuration of laptop do you have? What activities are you doing for 2 1/2 hours ? What power profile do you have set ?
 
MERGED QUESTION
Question from LaVerneNY : "Keeps charge briefly"



If this is a new laptop, and you are already having problems, contact the place of purchase or the manufacturer about a repair or a replacement.