Most efficient Laptop / processor

[whitecrook]

Hi all

This christmas I hope to be getting a laptop and as much as I would like an X61 Thinkpad, I think it's a little out my budget, so I'm looking for laptops probably around the £400 or less mark.

The goal is portability, I want to use my laptop, on the sofa, on the bog, in my car, on the train, in bed, everywhere really.

So this means it needs to be as light as possible, (<2KG) and most importantly, have a decent battery life. Battery life of 4 hours of less is no good, must be more, ideally 8+ (i.e a whole day away somewhere) I don't mind buying an extra long life battery either.

So which is the most power efficient processor, is it the Intel Core2Duo? OR are AMD chips decent enough? I'm not lookin for POWAH!, just longevity.

90% of the time I will be near beefy desktop PCs, that I can remote desktop on. Mostly on the laptop will be webbrowsing, programming, media playback.

Are there any chips coming out soon that I should check out?

Does anyone know what the current longest battery powered laptop is?

I have read that the newer laptops with solid state drives have around double battery life than the same system with mech hard drives?


I have seen some good deals on the Core Duo (not 2, i.e. the 32 bit chip) are these thirsty and would I be better going for a Core2 or something different?


Any advice from anyone here would be great, thanks.

 

[GuruJockStrap]

From what you've described, you're after an ultra portable laptop. These normally have screens around the 12" mark, are sub 2KG and compact.

There is no way on this earth you'll be able to buy something like that with an extremely long battery life for £400. Not going to happen I'm afraid.

The current battery king is the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN.

It has a 11.1-inch display and comes with a Core 2 Duo U7600 Processor. This runs at 1.2GHz, so much slower than standard Core 2 Duo's. The lower clock speed means the operating voltage is considerably lower. The result? 11.5 hours with the standard battery.

If you're after battery life over power, then those type of Intel CPU's are ideal.

Most laptops with Core 2 Duo by comparison should result in battery times of around 3-4 hours.

£700 would get you a decent 12" screen laptop with respectable battery life.

I think you either need to lower your budget and expectations or save more money to be honest.

 

[whitecrook]

OK


Trouble is when you get to 700 squid, then Macbooks become very tempting.... How does a macbook compare portability / battery life wise?

So I should be looking at the U series of Core 2 Chips, hadn't noticed them before.

12 screen +- 2 inch is absoluty fine.

Hmmm with only 3-4 hours batt life Core2Duo seems a bit much. Don't people get really annoyed having to plug in all the time?



Well I have till xmas, so there's time to save etc. Buy now pay in 6 months type things as well.

 

[GuruJockStrap]

I personally think a 14" laptop would be a decent compromise between portability and price. The smaller screen size over 15" means less power draw on the battery.

I had a Dell 630m Inspiron before my Vostro and that had a Pentium M 1.73GHz and 14.1". Could squeeze 4.5 Hours from it with the standard battery. The 9 cell would've seen around 6 hours.

Either checkout 14.1" laptops (around £500) or save up for a decent ultra portable.

Looking specifically for U series of Core 2 Duo's will mean an expensive purchase. Those CPU's aren't fitted in budget laptops. They're fitted into expensive, ultra sleek and compact ultra portables.

 

[Energize]

I have read that the newer laptops with solid state drives have around double battery life than the same system with mech hard drives?

Good lord no. The backlight, cpu and the gpu are what use all the power. A hdd uses relatively little power.

For 8 hours battery life your looking at over 1K for an ultra portable sony laptop. You can buy huge batteries for laptops, but they add loads of weight and bulk.

Hmmm with only 3-4 hours batt life Core2Duo seems a bit much. Don't people get really annoyed having to plug in all the time?

Most people don't sit at their laptops for 8 hours a day I'd imagine.