The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    would a laptop with i5 and HD 4000 graphics use less battery than i3 with hd 3000?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by mac336, Sep 25, 2012.

  1. mac336

    mac336 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I had been told that i5 processor is more energy efficient and uses less battery and that intel HD 4000 graphics also uses less energy. is this true?
     
  2. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

    Reputations:
    5,398
    Messages:
    12,692
    Likes Received:
    2,717
    Trophy Points:
    631
    Yes, it is (if we keep the workload low and equal between the two platforms - IB and SNB).

    See:
    ARK | Compare IntelĀ® Products


    Of course, the IB i5 can turbo up to 3.1GHz and will chew up your battery faster if your workload demands it (think extended RAW video editing sessions...)...

    But as long as your workload allows the cpu to drop back to idle (instead of being pegged at 100% load) then the IB will give you more performance/responsiveness while also giving you greater battery life at the same time.
     
  3. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    3,905
    Messages:
    6,116
    Likes Received:
    89
    Trophy Points:
    216
    Make sure to research the specific laptop models as well. notebookcheck.net's "Surfing with WLAN" result is the one that I would generally assume is reasonable to achieve when using a certain laptop on battery.
     
  4. nipsen

    nipsen Notebook Ditty

    Reputations:
    694
    Messages:
    1,686
    Likes Received:
    131
    Trophy Points:
    81
    With light loads.. like, compiz fusion for the desktop, some video playback, flash, normal surfing, and so on -- I saw one example where the sandy bridge setup lasted longer.. Not entirely sure why. Maybe it has something to do with the graphics module running at a frequency dependent on the bus-speed, or something like that.. So if the i3 system has a lower default bus-speed, lower clocked ram, etc., it could end up having a lower idle effect draw because of that.

    ..because it, well, it seems (very scientific, I know) to me that there's practically no difference whatsoever between the different 32nm and 22nm processors on similar clocks and "typical desktop/office" loads.