M1330 8400M vs X3100 battery life

I wonder... what will be the difference in battery life with dedicated 8400M vs integrated X3100 gfx card with 6 cell battery (i don't like 9 cell design). I would like to get the dedicated solution, but if that shortens the battery life more then 30 minutes or so, it just isn't worth it. I will be gaming rarely, and older games are ok for me.
btw: is there also HDMI with X3100 ?

 

The discussion following the NBR First Look at the M1330 reported a battery life of around 4 1/2hrs with the 9 cell battery and the 8400M GPU which would mean about 3 hours with the 6 cell battery (perhaps a bit more if you reduce the brightness, switch off the wireless ,etc).

The review of the Lenovo R61 which has the T7300 and the X3100 GPU reported 3 1/2hrs with a 4 cell battery. This suggest that that hardware combination should be good for up to around 5 hrs with a 6 cell battery.

Dell's (UK) website says "up to 7 hours" for the M1330's battery life. I would assume that time is for the big battery and the Intel GPU.

I have ordered the M1330 with the X3100 and LED backlit display (which should also reduce power consumption) to replace the Samsung Q70 which didn't meet my expectations on battery life. To be on the safe side, I added a second 6 cell battery to my M1330 order (they are cheap at the ordering stage).

John

 

I believe HDMI is standard on both the dedicated and the integrated card. Not sure what the battery life difference would be, but I would guess it's pretty close to that 30 min mark. You should take into account that an integrated graphics card will make your system age a lot faster than otherwise. Vista Aero interface already stretches the integrated graphics.

 

This question is really important to me as well...I don't have a big "need" for dedicated graphics but I like to have a dedicated graphics card so I can keep my laptop a lot longer than I could otherwise....but the battery life is also a huge concern.

Can someone with the x3100 and with the 8400 do similiar benchmarks so we can all see the difference?

And most importantly...why hasn't anyone followed in sony's track and created a hybrid graphics system as well? This would be the laptop to do it on.

 

To follow up on John's previous response concerning the Thinkpad: This is what IBM's official numbers say for the T61 with X3100 v. Quadro NVS 140M (which is a rebranded 8400M GS):

-------X3100-------NVIDIA
4cell: 3.6h...........2.5h
6cell: 5.7h...........3.8h
hi-cap: 7.2h.........5.3h
9cell: 8.6h...........6.0h
9hicap: 10.1h.......8.0h

hi-cap= 6cell + additional li-poly battery
9hicap = 9cell + additional hi-poly battery

Now, you obviously have to take the actual numbers with a big grain of salt, and also realize that different systems have different components (LCD screen, default power profiles, mostly) that affect battery life as well.

But apples-to-apples, it sounds like the discrete graphics is gonna cost you about almost 1/3 of your battery life (a 6-cell effectively becomes a 4-cell, a 9-cell effectively becomes a 6-cell).

Hope this helps.

 

I opted to get the M1330 with the X3100 instead of the 8400M because the First Look Review had me concerned about issues of reduced battery life and increased heat associated with the 8400M. I am not a gamer, and I'm just hoping that the integrated card doesn't cause any lags in Aero. Friom what I've heard the X3100 is a big improvement over previous generation integrated graphics gards, but it obviously doesn't compare with the 8400M in terms of performance.

It'll be interesting to see how much the 8400M reduces battery life and increases heat compared to the X3100 when these things actually ship. Anyone have any guesses?

 

I haven't seen any problems or noticeable slowdowns in Aero with X3100 laptops, so I imagine you'll be fine. Also, Intel is still heavily tweaking drivers (iirc they don't even have hardware T&L implemented in the current set), so there might be a small bump in performance later in a driver update.

 

I would get the 8400 . It's a no brainer when it comes to resell value

 

Thanks El Guano. I had been a little worried about my decision to go with the X3100, but the fact that the 8400M could potentially reduce battery life by 1/3 makes me glad I went with integrated graphics. It's also good to hear that you haven't had any problems with Aero and the X3100.

 

If you are that worried, you can actually clock down your 8400M GPU to save battery life. Treblin provided a utility that did that for NVidea GPU's....

 

Don't be so sure. For many people battery life is more important then the dedicated gfx card. I don't see a single reason for non-gamer to buy a dedicated card. Aero, photoshop etc all runs the same on both gfx cards. And in 2-3 years, when i'm gonna sell my xps, both cards will be crappy anyway.
When my dell guy told me the 8400 has heating issues and there will be a new revision around xmas, the decision was clear.

 

My plan for saving battery life.

1. Get 1.5Ghz C2D or lowest you can get.
2. Get LED backlight.
3. Get at least 3GB ram.(from fry's)
4. Stick with high capacity 5400rpm HDD. (from newegg)
5. Under volt and under clock C2D and 8400gs when not playing game.
6. Turn off Wifi and bluetooth.
7. I don't like 9 cell so I have to stick with 6 cell but you like 9 cell go for 9 cell.

 

I can give you 1 reason why I am buying the 8400. I am a storm chaser and I run weather programs that need the 8400 card.

Your Dell guy was wrong about the heating issues .

 

Why do you think the Dell guy was wrong about the heating issue?

It seems to me from the reviews of the M1330 that the palm rests that are above the 8400M get hotter than the rest of the machine, including the other palm rest.

 

Ok. If your 3D software needs more 3D power then what X3100 can offer, then for sure you're better with dedicated gfx card. But people ofter underestimate the power of integrated gfx cards.

 

I'd say even if that was the case, reviews seem to state that the heat is not uncomfortable, so I can't see it being problem.

I chose the 8400M because I did plan on playing some games (I'm not games nut though!) and so wanted to have the ability to.

On the topic of the card, I do think integrated graphics are much better for people who dont perform graphics intensive tasks.

It's like why put massive engine in a car when the person just wants to get from a to b. Why waste the extra fuel when they will never use that power?

Maybe that a bad analogy but it's just the general idea.

 

If the 7400 in the m1210 is a good sign of battery life for the 8600 in the 1330, you are all making problems up that dont' exists. I DO NOT lose 1/3 of my battery life, because in vista, all you have to do is underclock the PCI-E bus (happens when you click low power mode) you get the same battery life as the GMA 950. It is stupid not to get the 8600 cause Vista draws from it for its processing power. Otherwise the gma 3100 will be sucking your ram away.

 

This is fair enough, but you do pay more for the 8400M and if the user is really not going to be playing games or such like, is it worth the expense? Yes the integrated solution will draw from RAM but when you're not running anything graphics intesive, the amount it's using would not have much of an impact for the average user.

EDIT: Seems I lost the plot a bit, if the user would like a dedicated system then I think tsunamifury's solution is a good bet.

 

Could you explain a bit more to a newbie like me?
Can you provide any link which shows that the battery life with a 8400m gs +low power mode is equal to battery life x3100+low power mode.

On the same subject, anyone knows the efficiency of Powermizer?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_powermizer.html

How much battery-life would you gain with powermizer on a 9-cell battery?

 

well there won't be any direct links, because no one has an m1330 yet besides official reviewers. But all you do is click "low power mode" in vista, and don't think any more about it. Vista does a great job at making what once was difficult power management a very easy thing. Powermizer runs in the background, allowing this to go on.

There will probably be some difference between the gma3100 in favor of it in terms of battery life, but my experience shows that the dedicated can be clocked to be just as efficient.

 

Thanks! That was very helpful!
So what's the difference in battery life between high performance and low-power mode doing normal tasks with your M1210, 7400 card and vista?
With a 9-cell battery, it seems there is a 1h30 difference between the gma950 and the 7400...(6h>4h30)(?) Is it very similar?

 

However you cut it, discrete graphics = another processor to power and cool. The only way to get power consumption down to integrated levels is to cut power to the GPU. Some manufacturers have implemented a hybrid graphics setup in their notebooks (Sony SZ6, Asus U3) where you can physically switch between the 8400M and X3100, depending on your needs. I would think the difference in operating time between the two is substantial enough to warrant this type of setup.

Go for the X3100 if your primary concern is battery life - it'll get you closer to that magical 7hr battery life that Dell is claiming. Keep in mind, their creative marketing team probably got this number by using the 1.5GHz C2D, X3100, LED display, 9-cell battery, and 32GB SSD.

 

The M1330 doesn't have the toggle switch between 8400M and X3100?

 

No, you get one or the other - X3100 or 8400M GS.

 

The heat around the palmrest area is coming from the memory, not the video card. Heat really isn't that big an issue with this laptop. Go with the 8400. I was skeptical like you are, but there's no real advantage to go with the X3100 other than battery life.

 

i'm ordering an m1330 next week and i REALLY need to know what you guys have found out about the battery life situation.

is there a way to underclock it to get it pretty similar to x3100?

Assuming all things the same, what am i looking at? THANK YOU

 

I own an M1330 with the 8400GS card and the LED screen.I can get about 4 hours with 2/3 brightness with wifi on and bluetooth of with a 6 cell battery just web browsing. I use a ad block and the power save mode and disable aero when i am using battery. I also make sure that in task manager that i have stopped any processes that i don't need that may end up sucking the battery juice to much.
I probably could get better battery life just note taking.

Trusted Reviews reviewed a Sony SZ6 and an M1330 they ran a battery test with an SZ6 using the integrated GPU and an M1330 with the 8400GS card in the same conditions and they found the battery life difference in that test that they did to be slightly under 20 minutes difference.

I am interested if the new Penyrn processors do actually improve the battery life of these notebooks.

 

Reports have shown that they do improve battery life a little bit, but nothing substantial.

 

My Dell XPS M1330's palmrest area is very cold. It gradually gets lukewarm only due to my body heat (or is it palm heat?) although my video card is 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS.

 

thank you for those figures rachuk...has anyone here figured out how to underclock the card?

also, has there been a battery test done on the same sz with the integrated and dedicated cards? I think that would give the most concrete answer.

THANK YOU!!

 

If anyone has a similar configuration as me, please post battery life. 8400 GS with CCFL screen.

 

wow you went all out with that bad boy darksiege. That's sick. But i have to ask...why not plop down for the LED backlit screen?

 

I couldn't justify spending an extra $150 for it..I was already over my budget and didn't think the small difference in weight and thickness was worth it.

 

LED screen will increase your notebook's battery life ... i think it's worth the price.

 

Actually if you look at the past threads, the battery life gain is minimal. Maybe a few more minutes.

 

The main reason for the LED screen is the even backlight and great colour reproduction.

The increase in battery life is very small at best.

 

Even the screen quality difference is quite minimal IMO. Check out this comparison:

 

I think you really need to see them in person to really compare. If the 1530 had an LED option I would have done it. But nonetheless we all have to make compromises and I don't think you'll be disappointed with a good TFT panel in your 1330.

 

As long as I don't see an LED one, I'll be fine

 

hate to sound like a broken record but...Anyone underclocked their 8400M?

 

Great quality picture.

The TFT panel is a great bit of work, the LED is even better.