This particular ThinkPad was a bit of a power hog throughout most of our tests. On the AC-power side, the notebook demands the larger 135w power supply when turned on or it locks the system into a low-power mode which drastically reduces performance. When running off of a ThinkPad X61 battery, the system draws between 16 to 17 watts of power, which didn’t help its battery test results. With the screen brightness turned to 70%, wireless active, and Windows 7 set to a balanced profile, the ThinkPad W510 stayed on for four hours and 30 minutes before turning off. This time could be attributed to the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition processor and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M graphics card.
“Some computer makers are using single-core processors, instead of dual-core, to save money. But if you buy one of these so-called bargains, you might end up with a slower computer,” Gallea said.For example, a 15-inch Acer(Acer Aspire One Battery) Aspire seems like a steal at $330. It’s fine for basic needs, including e-mail and word processing, but not for creating videos or playing demanding games.
“We’re creating a full SMB program, starting with products like the ThinkPad Edge 14 and 15 inch laptops,” said Jerry Paradise, director, Worldwide ThinkPad Product Marketing, Lenovo(ThinkPad X60 Battery). “We have seen strong demand already for the ThinkPad Edge 13 inch, and we’ll continue to expand the ThinkPad Edge lineup going forward, extending the same leadership in innovation, quality and reliability in SMB that we’re known for with large enterprise customers.”
To test each battery life, I set the system up on my Wi-Fi network, tuned in an Internet radio station and adjusted the volume to three quarters. With PassMark’s BatteryMon software running, I unplugged the system and let it run down with the audio content streaming.
The VAIO VPCEC1S1E is the 17-inch Sony(VGP-BPS2C Battery) VAIO E notebook and runs on the Intel Core i5-430M 2.26GHz CPU. This model has the same storage and memory capabilities as its sibling (though it can reach up to 6GB RAM), but its graphics capabilities are provided by an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 with 1GB VRAM. The LED screen itself is also of higher quality, with a maximum resolution of 1,920×1080p. The rest of the specifications are identical, except for the fact that the 17-inch model has a Blu-ray drive instead of a DVD.
The MSI(MSI Wind U100 Battery) Wind U160 comes with several apps, including a 60-day trial version of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, complete with a compatibility pack, activation assistant, and PowerPoint 2007 viewer. Other software includes a trial of Norton Internet Security, Windows Live Essentials, and all the different components of the ArcSoft webcam software.
Mushkin doesn’t make the headlines too often, but the high-end memory maker this week announced one more addition to its Blackline series, the Blackline 4GB DDR3-2000 kit.The new dual-channel kit sports Mushkin’s now-familiar Blackline Frostbyte heatspreaders, but it’s what’s under the aluminum that counts. Mushkin rates its memory modules at 2000MHz with fairly tight 7-10-8-27 latencies at 1.65V.
The battery life is also important. It’s not worth buying a low cost laptop which looses battery power more than it’s used. If you’re used to travelling a lot and don’t have an available power pug, a laptop with a long BATCL50L battery life will serve you better. Also the purpose of the laptop is to be considered. If the laptop will be used for internet and web browsing, you won’t probably need one that has a high processor. On the other hand, if your laptop is mainly for playing video games then the processor needs to be speedy in downloading.
MSI(MSI BTY-S12 Battery) is pretty stoked about the latest entry to its gaming notebook line, the 17-inch GE700. The new notebook couples an Intel Core i5 processor with ATI Radeon HD 5730 graphics (with 1GB GDDR3 memory), along with a few other noteworthy goodies.