Walt Mossberg: New laptops last all day

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the longevity of new laptops, particularly in relation to their battery life and power consumption. Participants explore various design strategies and technologies that contribute to extended usage times, referencing articles and personal experiences.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants reference an article discussing the potential for new laptops to last all day due to advancements in Intel's 4th generation core processors.
  • One participant suggests several design tricks to reduce power consumption, including limiting disk drive access, using SSDs, controlling display brightness, turning off unused adapters, and adjusting CPU performance based on demand.
  • Another participant shares their personal experience of achieving over 10 hours of battery life on a laptop purchased in 2009, indicating that selecting a model designed for longevity can yield expected results.
  • Several participants express interest in understanding how different components affect battery power consumption, with references to external resources that provide graphical overviews of these effects.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying perspectives on the effectiveness of different strategies for extending battery life, and while some share personal experiences, there is no consensus on the best approach or the overall effectiveness of the new technologies discussed.

Contextual Notes

Some claims about battery life and power-saving techniques depend on specific hardware configurations and usage scenarios, which may not be universally applicable.

Computer science news on Phys.org
Limit disk drive access by all programs via caching to memory.

Eliminate the disk drive completely and use SSD memory.

Control LCD display brightness to minimum acceptable.

Turn off adapters like wifi if not in use.

Reduce CPU Hertz to acceptable minimum, increase as needed for higher computational requirement (ie graphics)

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3597&article=wireless+and+battery+power

http://www.itworld.com/hardware/358683/how-can-intel-cut-notebook-power-consumption-half
 
I was getting over 10 hours out of my 2-core, 4 GB laptop when I bought it new in 2009, so I am hardly surprised. Yes, I selected one that was expected to last long, but it also had a normal 500 GB HDD, as it was to be used for copying pictures from my camera in the woods. And it definitely worked as expected.
 
That link,

http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...+battery+power

Laptop Battery Life: How Wireless Affects Power Consumption

is interesting...

I don't use a laptop, but I have wondered how various component functions consume battery power...the graphs there give a nice quick overview...
 
That link,

http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...+battery+power

Laptop Battery Life: How Wireless Affects Power Consumption

is interesting...

I don't use a laptop, but I have wondered how various component functions consume battery power...the graphs there give a nice overview...
 

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