Question Regarding Battery Life

[Mazeura]

Which laptop on this site has the best battery life?
I'm wondering because I plan on buying a new laptop sometime soon (3-6 months) and I'm trying to find something reasonably cheap that has excellent battery life. The laptop doesn't even need to be great, just usable for small things, since it will be my "anti" NP9262 (I need something that I can take with me. The NP9262 will still be my powerhouse.)

[Anewbus]

Well, the longest rated one would be the Asus R1E rated at 3+ hours, but its $1783 and has a 13 inch screen.
The following all average 2 to 3 hours:
Force 3637
Force 3660
Force 3551
Force 3310
Force 3298V2
Sager NP 2096
Sager NP 6790
Prices range from $777.94 to $1240.63

However, battery hours also depend largely on usage and some of the components you choose. Bigger procs, faster HDs and such can have effect on battery hours and life. Usually not dramatic with the lappies XoticPC offers, they are built for it. However, one also can't deny the laws of physics so there is still effect.

2 to 3 hours on average is about the best you will find in any laptop anywhere.

[robamb2002]

I think the Sager machines would come out on top of the Asus for max battery life due to the fact you can throw a SSD in them

Here is what I am coming up with for your "anti-NP9262" :)

Sager NP7220 (Biult on Clevo M722T)
- 12.1" WXGA "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1280x800)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- ~Intel® P8400 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.26GHz w/3MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt
- Intel® GMA X4500HD Shared up to 256MB DX10
- ~ 4,096MB DDR2 800 (2 SODIMMS) Dual Channel Memory (Requires Vista 64-Bit to recognize Full 4GB)
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 128GB OCZ Core Series SSD (Serial-ATA II) ETA 7/25/2008
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Built-in Wireless 802.11a/b/g
- Spare Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
- 1 Year Parts & Labor, Lifetime Sager Toll Free Tech Support

~$1,580.00

with a few tweaks (turning off the fingerprint reader etc) this would last a good long time on battery power only.

the processor is a low wattage and speed > longer battery life
the GPU is not a power hungry monster > longer battery life
Solid State Drive hard drive > longer battery life
8-cell spare battery (instead of 4 cell default) > longer battery life
smaller low res screen > longer battery life

all in all, I think this would give you the longest battery life IMO

the lack of a mega GPU, the 25watt processor and the solid state drive will really increase the battery life for this "anti-NP9262"

[Mazeura]

Ironically enough, before I decided to let computer specs falter if it meant better battery life, I was looking at the NP 7220 and the NP 7660. >.>"

The other laptop that I've been looking at is a T61 from Leovo. I was talking to a guy form their customer service and he told me that with the 9cell a 15.4" T61 with intergrated graphics has a battery life of ~8.9 hours. But then I asked him when they were getting the Merom-2M processors and he said: "I can not comment on that." Thanks random dude from customer service, thanks a lot. >.>;

[Mazeura]

*grumble* I hate double posting, but I feel that this is worth it. *grumble*
I've been looking around and found this regarding ssd's:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-hdd-battery,1955.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-hard-drive,1968.html
Apparently the only SSD that truely provides any kind of benefit is the OCZ Core series (which is the SSD that XoticPc and Sager have available), but at the same time it is only a watt savings of 1-2W, which wouldn't affect battery life very much. Maybe a few extra minutes, but nothing major.
So it would appear that it isn't worth getting a SSD for the purposes of lowering battery life, but the SSD's still outperform traditional hard drives when you compare their Bandwidth/ Watt ratio.

[Drummer101]

http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?t=875
read this thread about the NP7220 and follow the links.

3.5 hours out of a 4 cell with an option for an 8 cell

[Anewbus]

Ironically enough, before I decided to let computer specs falter if it meant better battery life, I was looking at the NP 7220 and the NP 7660. >.>"

The other laptop that I've been looking at is a T61 from Leovo. I was talking to a guy form their customer service and he told me that with the 9cell a 15.4" T61 with intergrated graphics has a battery life of ~8.9 hours. But then I asked him when they were getting the Merom-2M processors and he said: "I can not comment on that." Thanks random dude from customer service, thanks a lot. >.>;

It so happens I work for an IBM partner and could get a Lenovo notebook myself at a discount. However, in talking to them myself they could not match the configuration of the laptops at XoticPC (nor the price). The Lenovo's are ok for business applications and well made for that, but of your planning on doing any gaming or entertainment type things such as streaming video and such, Lenovo can not even configure a system for that. I called the customization department and found that out. (They just don't offer dedicated GPUs which are required for such things).
The reason the batteries "might" last that long on the Lenovo (I'm having a hard time believing the batt would last that long), is due to low grade and low power components such as weal intergrated GPUs. That's fine if that's all you need.
So as for battery life, I think that has been pretty well answered here. Sure the components such as intergrated GPUs will give you longer battery life, but at a performance cost if your doing more than basic things.

In comparison, the Sager NP2096 at the standard configuration will give you at least 4 times the power and the ability to do much more than a Lenovo can do. You also get excellent and free support from XoticPC. Lenovo does not have free support.
So straight away you are getting a far better machine and deal here at XoticPC. :)
The NP 2096 is a fine choice! Very nice.

[Mazeura]

No, Lenovo does offer dedicated GPU's, they offer from the Quadro series. But I think that they are the 130's IIRC.
And they are using the T#### CPU's as well.
You should ask what they use for the screen, because I remember hearing somewhere that they use LED's for their screens (instead of LCD's).
I was alrady considering the NP7220, but if I decide that I can't use the laptop (I'm a big guy, 6ft. 2in, ~220lbs. so I don't know what it will feel like typing on the thing), I'll go with the NP 2096.

[Anewbus]

No, Lenovo does offer dedicated GPU's, they offer from the Quadro series. But I think that they are the 130's IIRC.
And they are using the T#### CPU's as well.
You should ask what they use for the screen, because I remember hearing somewhere that they use LED's for their screens (instead of LCD's).
I was alrady considering the NP7220, but if I decide that I can't use the laptop (I'm a big guy, 6ft. 2in, ~220lbs. so I don't know what it will feel like typing on the thing), I'll go with the NP 2096.

Hmm, I wonder why they told me different? I've experienced them changing their story on other things not related to this on occasion. I think it's a matter of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. I submitted my requirements to them and they got back to me telling me they could build one like that. (XoticPC can over and over).
I'm not sure if they do use LED for their screens, I see them everywhere in the office, but I have not asked. I might, it would be interesting to know. I don't know the downside to the LED vs LCD exactly, but I'm thinking LCD is more stable from a physics point of view.
There is nothing wrong with the T#### CPUs. That's what is on my Force 3298V2. (T8100) Basically the same as the NP2096 except for the name of the CPU and the new model of the GPU. It's almost the same as the new CPUs with the new name. It's just that some of the new ones run at a little less power consumption. Other than that it's only a name change.

Either one one of those is a fine lappy. Typing on any lappy is a challenge for some of us, (including me). I've only touched a laptop once in my life for a few minutes years ago. I know I can't type on them. That's why I'm getting a USB regular keyboard and regular mouse to use with mine.

[Mazeura]

Regarding LCD vs LED, this is what I found:
It's not the screen that changes, it's the backllighting. It is between CCFL and LED.
The new generation of high-bright LEDs (HBLEDs) provides higher brightness, as well as higher reliability, higher efficiency (lumens/watt), better dimming, longer life, and operation over a wider temperature range than do CCFLs.
Instant changes to the brightness of the screen, brighter or darker, which is perfect for those who use their laptop on batteries often and thus have a relatively short “sleep display” time. For example if you don’t do anything on your laptop for 1 minute, the screen will go black due to the lamp inside the screen turning off to save battery power. Inside old school LCD screens is a fluorescent tube which performs the lighting of the LCD transistors which are creating colored pixels. The problems or drawbacks with fluorescent backlit LCD screens is that the tubes need time to warm up before reaching their full stable luminosity or brightness. Thus, each time the lamp turns off and cools, and then is relit, there will be a period of time where the brightness of the screen is constantly growing as the tube reaches full temperature. LED’s, Light Emitting Diodes, don’t suffer from this problem and reach maximum stable brightness, instantaneously.

So it doesn't affect the screen's quality really, and you can get stuck pixels with either choice. It's just that the LED's will go to full brightness instantly and use less power.
Personally I'm waiting for OLED's to come out for laptops.
(Hmm... I wonder if I could get a co-op with a company that is working on those...)

The reason why I mentioned the T#### series is because they use more power than the P#### series does. And I'm wanting battery life.

[Anewbus]

Regarding LCD vs LED, this is what I found:
It's not the screen that changes, it's the backllighting. It is between CCFL and LED.



So it doesn't affect the screen's quality really, and you can get stuck pixels with either choice. It's just that the LED's will go to full brightness instantly and use less power.
Personally I'm waiting for OLED's to come out for laptops.
(Hmm... I wonder if I could get a co-op with a company that is working on those...)

The reason why I mentioned the T#### series is because they use more power than the P#### series does. And I'm wanting battery life.

I'm not sure of the power use difference between LEDs and LCDs. I haven't found the specs. I wonder if it's so small it can hardly be measured or if it's so significant that it gives 2 more hours of use on a battery or something?

Yes, I thought I did mention the T#### series uses a little more power than the P series. I don't know how significant the difference is though, like whether or not it could add an hour to use time or something. If it does, then I would definately go for the P series!

[Mazeura]

It's 35 Watts vs 25 Watts, and being how the CPU is one (if not the most) power hungry component, it really can make a difference.

LED's barely take any power to run. I think that it's a 1-3 or even more watt difference between the two types. I don't remember what it said, but it is enough to make an impact.