Macintosh Laptops

Laptop Battery Battle: Apple Macbook Pro Vs Acer, Dell, Toshiba And Others

The once-cavernous gulf between laptops and desktop PCs has never been narrower. Laptops now offer the sort of power that was a mere pipe dream a couple of years ago, and they're beginning to rival desktops in their versatility as well.

One of the key buying criteria is battery life, which is a topic subject to some controversy over the way battery life is advertised.

In the latest issue of PC Authority (September 2009) we've bench tested 10 of the world's biggest and best laptops, including a battery benchmark test. This includes Apple's famed MacBook Pro, Dell's Studio XPS 16, Acer's Aspire 8930G, and a Toshiba Qosmio G50-127.

So how did they stack up?

How we tested

We run two battery life tests. For our light-use test, we run a simple timer application until the battery runs out, and for the intensive test we push the processor to its limit with our multitasking benchmark. This gives us a minimum and maximum battery life. We use the battery settings most suited to longevity and performance. For simplicity, where laptops have dual graphics, we've only graphed the "stamina" times for light use and "speed" times for heavy use.

Lenovo's X301 was a clear performer in both battery benchmarks. Also interesting were the results achieved on the MacBook Pro under Mac OS X with higher powered nVidia graphics enabled.

To see the rest of the reviews, including how the laptops stacked up in terms of features, performance, and value for money, see the September 2009 issue of PC Authority magazine, which is on sale now.

Dell GK479 battery, Dell Latitude D630 battery, Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop battery

About the Author

Battery company is an operated online retailer of high-quality electronics accessories, specialising in laptop batteries and laptop adapter, battery chargers, camera batteries, camcorder batteries, power tool batteries and mobile phone batteries. Battery company has quickly grown to one of the top online Australian retailers of electronics accessories, offering generic product brands that provide the same quality as the big brand names but at half the price. Now at www.battery-company.com.au, we offer customers a wide selection of products at unbeatable prices, together with personalised customer service and fast shipping for our customers.

macbook pro for sale on ebay

Sale $49.99 Dale Kennington Sale - Giclee Print

The Sale $34.99 Auguste Serrure The Sale - Giclee Print

For Sale $12.99 Vincent Gachaga For Sale - Art Print

CHECKERB KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK $22.99 CHECKERB KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK

PORTUGUESE KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK $22.99 PORTUGUESE KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK

SWISS KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK $22.99 SWISS KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK

FRENCH KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK $22.99 FRENCH KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK

LARGE TYPE KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK $22.99 LARGE TYPE KBCOVER FOR MACBOOK

Bake Sale $11.45 Bake Sale

BODYGUARDZ MACBOOK PRO 13 $57.99 BODYGUARDZ MACBOOK PRO 13"

BODYGUARDZ FOR MACBOOK 13 UNI $57.99 BODYGUARDZ FOR MACBOOK 13" UNI

BODYGUARDZ 13 MACBOOK AIR $57.99 BODYGUARDZ 13" MACBOOK AIR

BODYGUARDZ 11 MACBOOK AIR $57.99 BODYGUARDZ 11" MACBOOK AIR

BODYGUARDZ FOR MACBOOK PRO 15 $57.99 BODYGUARDZ FOR MACBOOK PRO 15"

13 MACBOOK SATIN PEACOCK $42.99 13" MACBOOK SATIN PEACOCK

13 MACBOOK SATIN AUBERGINE $42.99 13" MACBOOK SATIN AUBERGINE

13 MACBOOK SATIN BLACK $42.99 13" MACBOOK SATIN BLACK

1GB PC2-5300 Module for MacBook MacBook Pro iMac + Installation $74.98 1GB PC2-5300 Module for MacBook MacBook Pro iMac + Installation

MOSH 7269PMBA PALMGUARD FOR MACBOOK UNI $34.99 MOSH 7269PMBA PALMGUARD FOR MACBOOK UNI

OB MACBOOK PRO INTERNAL SUPERDRIVE $102.63 OB MACBOOK PRO INTERNAL SUPERDRIVE

Aramon NXT 13 Macbook Sleeve - notebook sleeve $19.99 MACBOOK 13IN SLEEVE BLACK