long battery life laptops...

[slugg]

I honestly don't even know where to begin to look. I remember there once was a day where all "centrino" laptops had 4+ hours of battery life. It seems to me that most laptops yield about 2 hours of battery and this just wont cut it for me. There are so many models out there that finding a laptop that's right for me on my own will be like finding osama bin laden.

There's two things I care about in a laptop. First and most important is battery life. Second, but not as important, is portability (small and light). Everything else I need is pretty much standard on almost ALL laptops, but more specifically I need wifi and some USB ports. I won't be doing any gaming on this laptop, just "normal" stuff (school, music, web, etc). A dual battery laptop is also a possibility.

I don't care about brands as long as I've heard of them. I don't want some no-name company with no track record. I don't really care what it looks like either (color, etc). All I really want is, you guessed it, battery life!

In terms of a budget, assume I need to buy 3 - a cheap one, a mid-ranged priced one, and an expensive one. This way, I think I'd have some decent options.

In a nutshell: #1 priority = battery life. #2 priority = small and light. Everything else, don't care!

Thanks in advance

edit: forgot to mention... I don't care about wether or not its a PC or a Mac. The only problems I have with macs right now is that they're in the middle of a refresh. The MacBook Pro just came out - meaning the powerbooks and ibooks are going to be refreshed soon, so buying one would be wasting money (practically). The other problem is their hardware is generally overpriced. Generally, a $2000 PC will obliterate a $2000 apple, unless things change. Apple is still an option though.

By the way, I'll be buying a laptop anywhere between now and 4 months from now, depending on whats available.

 

[simms]

T60. 4.3lbs, goes up to 9-11 hours depending on 9-cell battery and ultrabay battery. T60 is the first Core Duo by IBM.

If you have the cash, X60 is also very good..

 

[simms]

T60. 4.3lbs, goes up to 9-11 hours depending on 9-cell battery and ultrabay battery. T60 is the first Core Duo by IBM.

If you have the cash, X60 is also very good..

 

[Deleted member 139972]

.

 

[Marmion]

How about HP business notebooks, 12.1" - 15.4" all can accomadate an 8 cell travel battery which greatly increases battery life. eg my nx8220 (NZ model) 15.4" can last up to 4.5hrs on its own 8 cell battery, and up to 8hrs + with the travel battery. Weighs in at around 2.6kg w/o optical drive (2.7kg with optical drive). Only 2.5cm 3cm height w/o travel battery so its quite a thin 15.4" model. The nc8230 is basically the same but with a serial port.
Of course, I personally would wait for Core Duo laptops to come down in price and to become more common - ie wait as long as you can

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: Deleted member 139972
Dell 700m. 4-5 Hours with extend battery and 4.5 lbs isn't that bad Plus if you look for a little bit, you can get a deal for about $1,000 shipped (I got mine for the same price with a Gig of RAM). Sure beats the hell out of a T60 which can run you as much as $2,000

If you're looking for a desktop, I'd definitly go for a 6000 series laptop from Dell. It's the number one in nearly every review I've found.

Comparing apples to oranges. 700m is old technology now that Core Duos are out. If you want to compare, go check out used T40 and T41's on eBay that go for around 800 that will still rock the 700m. I have medium sized hands and I tested out a 700m - too cramped.

And the 6000, while somewhat powerful, is not light, and does not meet his battery life requirements. Try again. And notice COST is not really an option for him.


I would wait for the Core Duos to drop in price, and suggest IBM. HP business notebooks aren't bad either, take one for a spin.

 

[slugg]

How do dual core laptops do with battery life?

 

[Marmion]

Just as good, if not better in some areas. Check out AnandTech's article: here
Of course, individual results may vary. Turning down the screen brightness will always extend battery life, as will setting Windows power scheme to "Max Battery" locking the CPU into its lowest multiplier. Other features also effect battery life, such as the graphics card, wireless, bluetooth etc.

 

[slugg]

alright well it seems like the dual core laptops are scarcely available (if even available?) right now. Who else is offering or will offer good dual core solutions? I'll keep IBM/Lenovo in mind, but I'd like some options.

 

[razor2025]

If you're aiming for Dual-Core laptops, you're going to be spending a hefty sum. It'll probably be in late part of 2006 for good ~$1000 laptops to incorporate the dual-core. I suggest looking at Pentium-M solution. Dual-core sounds great on paper and benchmarks, but their performance isn't neccesary for use by laptops. The battery savings on dual-core isn't really much in practical side (the power consumption difference between P-M and dual-cores are only significant when both are @ its peak speed, which rarely happens on notebooks anyway). As an example, I just bought a IBM T42 (2379-RHU) for ~$1200 after EPP discount, I bought a 9-cell extended battery for $70. So for sub-$1300, I have a laptop that lasts 6+ hours and does everything I'll need for years. It'll be sometime before there's any $1300 Core-Duo laptops that will match my laptop's run-time.

 

[slugg]

ahh i see... good to know! I've been taking a look at IBM/Lenovo laptops lately but I'm torn between the X and T series...

 

[Busithoth]

Originally posted by: slugg
ahh i see... good to know! I've been taking a look at IBM/Lenovo laptops lately but I'm torn between the X and T series...

Based on your requirements, I'd say go with X series and an extended 9-cell battery.

A T4X model with an extended battery should do you fine too, and they can take an ultrabay battery to push the batt life into the absurd realm.

 

[slugg]

what do the extended batteries look like? i cant seem to find any pictures... the reason i ask is because I've seen some GROSSLY huge extended batteries that defeat the purpose of a laptop being portable.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: slugg
what do the extended batteries look like? i cant seem to find any pictures... the reason i ask is because I've seen some GROSSLY huge extended batteries that defeat the purpose of a laptop being portable.

They add some weight to the machine, and they stick out about one inch behind the system. But they push your battery life to insane limits - a T-series with a 9-cell can reach around 7 hours. T-series with a 9-cell+ultrabay battery goes into 9-10 hours even, unheard of on other systems.

X-series have a smaller screen, but have no optical drive - so keep that in mind. But they are light, around 2lbs (1.x kg or so).

 

[imported_haris]

I'd wait on more news about Core Duo reviews, it looks like THG may have turn up a bug that causes you to lose about 80 mins of battery life if you plug in a USB2 device.

 

[kimagurealex]

i use my Dell D600 (old model) with media bay battery. I can get up to 8 hours under normal web browsering, one note, word processing, quickbook and peachtree.

Alex

 

[cheesehead]

IBM!
I dislike dell.