The battery life in a laptop is a very important aspect because it determines its operating autonomy, i.e. how long you can stay away from the electrical outlet before recharging.
In the laboratory: here is the evidence
To check the actual hours of battery life versus manufacturers’ claims, we took four laptop models from last year to the lab. To make the comparison, we hypothesized different usage scenarios and measured how long it took each of the four to go from a charge of 100% to 20%; the 20% threshold was chosen because below laptops go into power saving mode, greatly reducing their performance and thus distorting the test results.
Five consumption hypotheses
We used five scenarios: navigation with low, high and maximum screen brightness; video playback with maximum brightness and use of the device with maximum performance, which means running programs that take full advantage of the computing power of the processor and graphics system. We have left the default power settings, as we believe the manufacturer knows how to manage the battery consumption of their devices. With some models the battery lasts about two hours shorter if you use the laptop with the screen in maximum brightness compared to low. On the other hand, the battery lasts longer if you use the laptop to watch a video. In any case, no model reaches the duration promised by the manufacturers. In conclusion, our tests have highlighted that the hours of battery life promised by the manufacturers are higher than what we measured and that there is a cause and effect relationship linked to both the brightness of the screen and the type. of use: for example, surfing with a browser also involves the use of the computer’s wifi and this drains the battery faster than watching a movie in airplane mode, or with wifi off.
How to choose greater autonomy
The characteristics to consider when buying a laptop: processor, screen resolution and amount of Ram. Let’s start with the processor: for the same model, if we choose, for example, a computer with an Intel i9 series processor (more powerful) than an Intel i5 series, it is reasonable to expect a shorter battery life. The screen resolution is another factor that affects: the higher it is, the more it consumes the battery; this is because the computer has to do more work to control more pixels on the screen. The same goes for RAM: more memory speeds up operations but, at the same time, it means having more electronic components to power. Ultimately, the more powerful a PC, the shorter the battery life.
A longer life
• When using the laptop, never go below 20%, the threshold below which lithium batteries accelerate their aging.
• Avoid using the computer while sitting on the bed or on a sofa with the laptop resting on the sheets or on a pillow: the soft surface can easily cover the fan holes: this way the computer overheats, the fans start spinning to dissolve the heat and, in addition to unnecessarily wasting energy, you risk overheating the device.
• The more tabs, apps, and folders you keep open while you work, the more battery it consumes.
• Reduce the brightness of the screen.