Vaio SZ7 Premium T9300 - under 1 Hour battery life?? Fact or myth?

I've been searching for the best laptop for me (a good combination of battery life, portability, and power), and so far the SZ7 looks perfect - the SZ6 had excellent battery life / performance from what I've read, and I assumed the SZ7 would be faster and longer lasting, until I found this "review":

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/02/review-sony-vai.html

Now obviously, the article is biased against PCs and towards the MacBook, but the fact that they report the battery life being under 1 hour is disturbing. I'd greatly appreciate it if someone who owns an SZ7 could either prove or disprove this. If the Vaio SZ doesn't work out for me (and 1-3 hours is unacceptable battery life), then I'll have to settle for the new Penryn MacBook, which would be less than optimal due to it's weight.

 

Well I'm not sure if the battery is as awful as it says, but it should be better than the SZ6.
The 700 series use penryn processors, which although not alot, conserve more battery power than the normal Core 2 Duo's. Alongside with the fact that if it were a 750+ model, it would feature LED backlighting, which would also save more battery life, which should only make the battery life slightly longer than the 650+ series.
But I don't have either one yet, so I can't say for sure.

 

Yeah that's pretty much what I've figured, which is what makes the review so confusing.

 

I have the sz6 premium, if I use the the intel graphics and set the power plan to "VAIO maximum battery" I get 5 hours plus no problem.

If, however, I use the nvidia graphics and have the power plan to max performance, the battery gets chewed down in "under 3 hours".

Perhaps the person reviewing the laptop was a tad daft and didn't realise that you have to restart to switch GPU...

Either way, I can say for sure that I get at least and hour more than my colleague who sits next to me and takes his MacBook along whenever I take my SZ.

 

I have the SZ79GN for about a week now, i use it mostly with the ac power, but in the few times that i have it unplug with nvidia graphics, i can use for a little bit over 3hrs, mostly msn, outlook, web surfing, and itune.

hope this help

 

Yeah I "can" burn down my sz6 battery in under and hour, but that is doing tasks that the macbook cant even spell so I think I'm good...

EDIT: Oh yeah btw. When taking notes I'm always surrounded by macbooks. The weird thing is I can sit in the middle of the lecture room all by myself when we have over 4h lectures. Weird enough all the mac users flock around the power outlets like they were some kind of "safe haven or oasis". Figure that one out....

 

I agree, the SZ comes with a nVidia graphics card which is twice as powerful as the integrated intel GMA X3100 on the mac books. This does allow the SZ to do "what the macbook cant even spell" However, if you argue that the integrated graphic card will save battery life, the SZ can simply switch to the integrated graphic card in the flick of a switch.

hmm, also keep in mind that the mac book DOES NOT have the LED bl screen and it runs somewhat warmer than the SZ (i.e. wasting more energy ). All factors considered, the SZ will definitely out perform the mac book in a battery drain test.

My suite-mate recently bought a mac book with similar specs compared to my SZ650. When we play warcraft3, his mac book gets really warm and the fan becomes very loud (not because of a fan problem, it is simply spinning at max rate trying to dispel all the heat in the notebook).

 

I haven't read that review but things like brightness levels and the power plan you use can impact on battery life. Don't expect to get the best battery life if you are using full brightness or you are using max performance or balanced.

The SZ6 got about 3 hours 15 minutes with the dedicated graphics switched of under full brightness using the balanced profile when Trusted Reviews tested it.

It is interesting though that Apple reported battery life for the MB has gone down for this Penryn version. They advertise the battery life as 4 hours 50 minutes whereas before it was advertised at either 5 hours or 6. There could be other reasons for that. For one they may not wish it to usurp the MBA or two they could have been plain exaggerating before. It also a possibility though that the battery life could be worse than the SR model which logic should not suggest that it should.

This is interesting for me as well because there is a possibility that i maybe switching to the Penryn processor but now i don't know if it is a worthwhile thing to do.

 

I have owned my SZ780 Premium t9300 for about 3 weeks now and I use it mostly on battery and it lasts me between 3-4hrs depending on what I'm doing with settings at Vaio Optimized and at 80% brightness without turning on the stamina switch.

 

People publishing those reviews as in Wired should be fired.

I mean those are just plain LIES. I own an SZ680 (with the T7700 - 2,4Ghz processor) and manage to get 4-5 hours easily in Stamina mode with medium brightness and Vaio Max. Battery.

In High Performance mode this is up to around 3hours.

 

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that the review is incorrect, as I suspected. It really seemed strange because the SZ7, with all the best battery saving technology (LED, Penryn, switchable graphics) should last much longer than any other laptop in it's class.

I plan on buying the SZ780 T9300 from PortableOne here:
http://laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=VGNSZ780N6&Category_Code=SSZ

My only worries were that the T9300 might draw way more power than the T8300. Obviously it's faster so it will, but under a power saving mode I assumed that it could be just as efficient. I could easily use a T8300 though, so if there's any increase in battery life with it maybe it would be better for me. I was hoping that since the T9300 mainly had the larger cache then maybe it would be faster without using much more battery.

Basically my requirements are a laptop that is portable enough, and has a battery life greater than 5 hours if possible. I know this is somewhat demanding, but I'm willing to pay for the best, so I'm somewhat picky with my research before I buy.

You're right - they changed their battery life measurement after the MacBook Air came out:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ils_battery_life_claims_enviro_push_more.html

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/03/03/penryn-macbook-pros-performance-comparable-battery-life-greater/

Wow.. the MBP gets 5 hours? Is that almost as good as the SZ or am I imagining things?

 

I bought my SZ780NW T8300, 2.4GZ, 160GB 7200RPM from P1 and am very happy with it. After tweaking Vista from reading Flamenko's notes and fixing IE7 to run with more connections, everything is a OK. Adding 2GB chip helped out. Satisfied with machine and P1.

 

Another thing I'm unsure about is the 7200 RPM hard drives P1 offer. I'd choose it obviously if there were no disadvantages, but wouldn't it reduce battery life quite a bit? I heard from some places that it doesn't reduce battery life much, but usually in association with large laptops with 9-cell batteries and 3 hour battery lives, in which case it probably wouldn't make a difference.

 

I just found this:

Watt Power Consumption (of Penryn processors):


Benchmark (of Penryn processors):
http://www.notebookcheck.net/typo3temp/pics/f714253282.jpg

Reference:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-Core-2-Duo-Penryn-CPUs.7876.0.html


According to this, the T9300 doesn't take any more power than the T8300 in this test at least, except for OpenGL which makes sense because the higher frame rates given by the T9300 will draw more power from the video card.

So I guess my only remaining question is the matter of P1's 7200 RPM hard drives (above).

Thanks for the help.

 

IMO, I should never compare a MacBook with Sony SZ since SZ should be somewhere between MacBook and MacBook pro performance wise. The article is completely Mac BS.

 

The article was supposed to be reviewing the Sony SZ, so it didn't really compare it to the MacBook directly - it just mentioned how horrible the SZ was and how wonderful the MacBook is (typical fanboy-ism I guess).

The < 1 hr claimed battery life was what worried me, but I'm fairly well convinced now that it's incorrect.

 

Hmm correct me if I'm wrong but those both processors got speedstep--> they will both be doing as little as possible (same as the other one aslong it isnt over its limits)--> same batt consumption

 

Hunningolla: True, but if you put a Merom processor with speedstep against a Penryn processor with speedstep, the Penryn will last longer simply due to the architecture. I was concerned that the T9300 vs T8300 would eat more power even with speedstep, but fortunately I was wrong.

 

same i own the sz791...though my batt is not really 4 hours, i definitely get well over 2hrs with graphics

 

Ok, so it's not as bad as < 1 hour as the review said. Do you know how much you can get in stamina mode?

 

in stamina, i get around three hrs. give or take, though i keep my screen bright and wifi on always.
i think around 3 sounds right to me on stamina, but i also have a 7200rpm hdd in it...
thanks

 

Ok. Also, is that with "Vaio Optimized" or "Vaio Max Battery" mode (or something else)?

 

actually its more than 3 hours, as i am still using it, i am on stamina, with mid brightness, but the machine has been idle for much of the time, very very light use.
i am in vaio optiomized mode, but i changed the settings such that it is always running for max performance in the control panel..so no difference.
if you idle the new sz with wifi on, on stamina, with screen saver...i get 4 hrs, give or take., with light use i would say 3:30 or so. with standard battery.
hope this helped

 

Hehe, I commented on that Wired blog yesterday, with a similar comment as on here, except for the lies as to not making the attack too personal, and I added some more info about my own specs which should drain battery life more (7200rpm and top specs SZ680), and even with that I can sometimes get 5hours, so with the Penryn chips and a slower HD this should definitely be do-able... The "reviewer" has deleted the comment...clearly very biased if he can't take constructive criticism notifying of his flawed measurements.

 

Wow... that's pretty bad.

Anyway, now I think I have a pretty good idea of the SZ battery life and what effects it, so my original question is definitely answered. I'll probably go for a 5200 RPM drive, because I don't really need the extra speed the 7200 offers and I know the battery life will benefit. Thanks for the help

 

One hour?! That's definitely wrong. I have a new SZ780N5 (i.e. with T9300); I always keep forgetting to check for you (plus I read that it isn't optimum to run your battery all the way down and charge it all the way up), but right now I'm about 2-2.5 hours into a session of Ubuntu (which I suspect is sucking up more power than XP, at least until I tune/correct it), on Speed mode (because Ubuntu isn't booting on the Stamina mode for me right now), but with wireless off. I'm not sure of the brightness level because that's another thing I still have to fix with Ubuntu. (It won't surprise you that I'm an Ubuntu newbie.) I started at battery charged to 95%, and now it is currently at 20% -- well over two hours of use so far.

 

haha... it just seems like the reviewer is somewhat jealous of the fact that there is a better 13.3 inch laptop than the Macbook. He closed/deleted comments because he has been getting too much criticism for being biased. Anyways, bottom line, that was a RIDICULOUS review (probably the worst one I've seen so far). :S

 

Well that's strange. Most people with an SZ7 seem to consistently report 3-4 hours of battery life, while people with an SZ6 report 5-6 hours. I wonder why? Technically, the SZ7 should have greater battery life, but for some reason that doesn't seem to be true. Maybe I should get an SZ6 . Now I'm starting to have second thoughts again

Strange - I read exactly the opposite - that it's good to do this

P.S. The SZ780N5 is the model I'm considering buying. Maybe the T9300 uses too much power? Is there a way to tell Vista to underclock the cpu when on battery?

 

Euh no it's not good to let it drain all the juice... I mean less than 5-6% it becomes bad for the battery...
Also Yes, there is a way to do so, trought power plan, you can set that up...
My Vaio (SZ650) is MUCH MUCH more slower on battery, unless I put it on some optimized profile but then, battery life falls to a couple hours or so...

 

Oh yeah, that's right. I was reading somewhere that it's good to drain your battery all the way every few months, but that's just to calibrate the meter.

It's still strange that most people with a SZ7 aren't getting more than 3-4 hours on average while most SZ6 users get 5-6 hours easily. Maybe it's just a settings / configuration difference? I'd really like to solve this before I buy.

 

Here's something to add on a less-biased scale:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2274523,00.asp
Same laptop, different results.
I also have recently picked up a SZ750 with the T8100, and let you know how that goes

 

Bump, I might be buying a brand-new SZ but the battery life concern over the SZ7 compared to the SZ6 is currently bothering me as hell... Any new comments?

 

5 hours 7 mins with bluetooth and WWAN disabled but with Wifi on and doing web browsing on quite intensive web sites for at least 95% of the time. A lot of the sites i was on had a lot of flash ads. I used IE and i was not running a flash blocker or no script. This was in stamina mode using power saver with Aero turned of and brightness at 2/3. This done on a SZ7 premium with the 2.5 processor and 5400 HD.

 

Over 5 hours. Very good and should be good for 6 hours with no wireless + reduced brightness.

John

 

wow!
great battery life, i can't arrive to 4 hours in my sz3

 

I have never ever got more than 1.5 hours!

 

SZ7 Premium - Stamina mode, Viao Max battery, WWAN and Bluetooth enabled, 4 - 4.5 hours. Usage is MS Word, web surfing and email - nothing pounding the hard drive. Even when it first boots up and is doing its thing, I get reports of 2 - 3 hours. Once it stablizes, I routinely get 4+ hours. I can turn off the WWLAN and Bluetooth and get even more.

Hope this helps.

Jim

 

MYTH.
i get 3 hours in power mode.
not 5 hrs though.