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    Does MediaDirect save battery?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Lochan, Mar 26, 2006.

  1. Lochan

    Lochan Notebook Enthusiast

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    There is a review on cnet.com about the HP DV1000 and their no-boot up program called quickplay does not save batteries. I experienced that myself with the DV1000.

    With Dell, the mediadirect doesn't seem to save batteries either.

    I tested the battery/mediadirect issue once and it was exactly the same with windows xp booted up or not.

    In other words, windows xp doesn't seem to consume a lot of energy.

    I might be wrong and I would be happy to get some other views posted here.
     
  2. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    From what I've read, it is suppose to save the battery, but I haven't see any direct evidence of that.

    It makes sense that it would save battery because you don't have wifi on and all of the extra apps running. At the same time, XP probably doesn't require much battery to run. I think it is all of the other programs that do.
     
  3. azntiger1000

    azntiger1000 Notebook Deity

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    At first I thought MediaDirect can load up completely without WinXP, but apparently I was wrong. I'm not sure to really think of it because it still runs all the programs to start Windows and then it opens MediaDirect. But MediaDirect does make all the words clear on the television screen, but I don't think it really saves battery.
     
  4. gridtalker

    gridtalker Notebook Virtuoso

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    It is suppose to
     
  5. xAMDvsIntelx

    xAMDvsIntelx Notebook Deity

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    It saves about 30 minutes of battery life on my E1705
     
  6. Garbuckle

    Garbuckle Notebook Consultant

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    It saves 10-15 mins on my i9400. That's running a DVD. But with the Sony DVDRW being so loud, I prefer to run media from the HD, and 'cause MediaDirect doesn't do Divx, I find it's better for me to run in windows, in which case I don't get any savings in battery when running DVD in MediaDirect vs Divx in XP.
     
  7. Jason

    Jason Overclocker NBR Reviewer

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    It should save more then 10-30mins... When MediaDirect is running and your playing a DVD... then the Hard Drive and the CPU are hardly running at all if even.
     
  8. Garbuckle

    Garbuckle Notebook Consultant

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    The HD is more power effecient than the optical drive. I get longer battery life in windows when I run from the hard drive as compared to the DVD. The CPU is a non-issue, as it will be in the same state regardless of whether you are in XP or MediaDirect.

    Reality says I save close to 'nuttin with the limited MediaDirect functionality (limited for my uses... YMMV).