Laptop battery life being greatly exaggerated by companies, tests reveal

Like we did not know.

John.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-exaggerated-by-companies-tests-a7665101.html

http://news.google.co.uk/news/url?s...031582506709&sid=en_uk:tc&ssid=tc&st=1&at=dt0

http://news.google.co.uk/news/url?s...338439388321&sid=en_uk:tc&ssid=tc&st=1&at=dt0

John.

Well it`s helpful to know which manufactures are the most honest.

John.

 

"it’s similar to how different people driving the same car will get different gas mileage depending on how they drive."

It's funny because auto manufacturers used to pull the same crap half the time. Your car will get its estimated mileage if you never exceed 55mph, the weather is always 60F with no wind, the car is empty of all passengers and cargo, the driver weighs less than 150lb and there are no stop lights.

 

Lets add a few more "ifs": No spare tyre, only enough fuel to get through the test, tyres pumped up extra hard, engine already warm when the test is started. Also, a higher temperature is better because the air is less viscous which reduces the drag.

Back to notebooks: I always assume that the manufacturer's test will be doing something such as displaying a page of simple text at minimum brightness with all wireless devices turned off, no keyboard backlight, etc. Under this situation and with Intel graphics the battery time basically depends on three factors: The battery capacity, the display size and the minimum display brightness - a screen which can go as dark as 100 nits will use less power than 150 nits, not that I would want to look at a very dim display for very long unless in a darkened room.

John

 

Correct, you'll notice on some third party reviews of a system they will run multiple tests, where one is lowest consumption possible, one is light web browsing, and one is heavy use. Those are pretty good with managing expectations on systems.

 

Well i think browsing the internet via wifi with 50% brightness and cpu set to balanced, "no add blocker" (kills my cpu) on some websites trying to scroll down the screen is an nightmare.

John.

 

What's the CPU in that machine?

 

IMO That wouldn't be so bad if all manufacturers were held to the same exact standard, at least that way we can compare apples to apples

Edit: Corrected typo so it now says "wouldn't"

 

They'd just find a way to creatively interpret the data I'm sure.

 

True

 

Or just straight up sabotage the results https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal

 

**% brightness is no good strategy because both the actual brightness of the screen and the way brightness level is reported by hardware/firmware/driver vary among different machines. You need some physical measurement. (A phone camera will do.) For OLED screens the brightness distribution of the image displayed matters as well.

 

Same with other power saving measures, since each system's hardware is different.

 

Do a clean install with only basic drivers, no oem power saver crap then see how long the battery lasts.

John.

 

I have an 20" tablet see SIG, it has an "Intel Core i3 4010U" not the latest by any means, but i love the 20" IPS display and the Beats Audio sound with a beefy woofer.

John.

 

I only trust notebookcheck reviews on the account of battery life. Manufacturer estimates are just marketing gibberish.

 

They have about the most consistent testing I've seen.

 

Its called a marketing ploy for a reason, Its what companies do to sell their product.

Most of us here wont get fooled by manufacturers when they exaggerate battery life. Besides notebookreview.com people like Dave Lee and many others do laptop reviews on youtube where they also test the battery life.

 

Just like with cars, enough consumers are willing to overlook fudged efficiency numbers but not fudged performance numbers.

 

I never trusted an estimation.
Since inception of Core I-series (up until around haswell which is the last laptop system I bought, never touched ultraportables) a mainstream full powered i5-i7 by itself with screen at minimum and no wifi draws around 10-13mw/hr in microsoft office use (15-21 if discreet graphics only depending on model).
Add 1-2 mw as you increase screen brightness
4-5 for wifi usage
add more for video like youtube and music
add it up and divide into the battery mw/hr capacity and that equals real world usage productivity. (I love my 97mw battery)

Anything above that and one probably needs a plug anyway.


As far as cars, in the USA, the EPA estimates were update in 2008 and again in 2017 for at least some manufacturers. Because of penalties and average MPG requirements there are more audits now.
My friend and I both get above the EPA estimates, but I drive diesel and he drives like grandmother
Definitely huge difference depending on how you drive

 

Never could drive that way, I think I've hit my rated MPG once.

 

I believe you mean 10-13W? It's definitely not mW/hr and at 13mW your battery will last for thousands of hours.

Beside the CPU itself and the screen, power management of other onboard devices play a big role as well.

 

13 mW would be a flash in a pan, 13 MW is a small nuclear reactor.

 

The closest estimates I have heard that also fit the bill and beyond, are the Chromebooks, they are fairly straightforward and tend to be absurd battery machines.