Dell XPS16 - Best customised spec for long battery life?

consultech

Hi All,

As above; I'm considering ordering the Dell XPS16 in the coming days.

However, with so many configurables I'm not quite sure what to do:

I'm going to need the battery life to be fairly lengthy. It seems to come with a 9-cell as standard (non-configurable). I will be mostly browsing, typing notes (over 3 hour battery-only periods), watching high def movie files, converting movies, tethered phone wifi browsing etc.

However, with so many performance options I'm looking for the best choice to maximise battery life. I want an i7 with 8GB ram, however I know that this is asking for a short battery life.

Also let's assume I do configure it somewhere between modestly and powerfully; What kind of life could I expect out of a 9 cell with powersaving/underclocked settings active?

Thanks to anyone who can help...

C

Voodu Child

With an i5 and 9-cell battery you'd probably get 4-5 hrs light useage (screen brightness not at max, web browsing etc). As with any laptop, you could easily half that if you stressed the machine with video converting or gaming etc.

The i7 would have lower battery life.

consultech

Voodu Child wrote: »

With an i5 and 9-cell battery you'd probably get 4-5 hrs light useage (screen brightness not at max, web browsing etc). As with any laptop, you could easily half that if you stressed the machine with video converting or gaming etc.

The i7 would have lower battery life.

That's pleasantly surprising if you're right...

I wouldn't be playing games or converting videos on the fly at all really. It would literally just be browsing and typing notes etc when not plugged in.

Does anyone know what the comparison between i5 and i7 would be in terms of power usage? i.e. Assuming modest usage, low power settings/screen brightness etc; If an i5 lasted 4 hours, what would an i7 likely last on average?

Thanks

Overheal

Honestly I wouldnt use an intel: go with an AMD/ATI build.

AMD has hybrid tech now, where other laptops fail (and why my laptop only gets 4 hours even on a 12 cell) because most laptops have a beefy mobile CPU and the gaming ones like mine have a dedicated GPU running the whole show.

AMD's Hybrid graphics solution, uses 2 chips, a very low power onboard GPU, and a discrete GPU like an HD4850, which only powers up when you run an intensive graphics application.

Its been a little while since I had heard about the tech but iirc it should start rolling into the next gen of laptops later this year.

consultech

Overheal wrote: »

Honestly I wouldnt use an intel: go with an AMD/ATI build.

AMD has hybrid tech now, where other laptops fail (and why my laptop only gets 4 hours even on a 12 cell) because most laptops have a beefy mobile CPU and the gaming ones like mine have a dedicated GPU running the whole show.

AMD's Hybrid graphics solution, uses 2 chips, a very low power onboard GPU, and a discrete GPU like an HD4850, which only powers up when you run an intensive graphics application.

Its been a little while since I had heard about the tech but iirc it should start rolling into the next gen of laptops later this year.

That might be awful timing for me as I need something new by August in preparation for college in Sep. Presumably AMD et al will be aiming to have a line out before Sep, or would they be aiming for chrimbo?

I'm not sure how applicable the power utilisation of the graphics components is to me as I wont be gaming, and only watching videos once or twice a week; or is this something that should be considered even with daily youtubing etc?

Is this a generally held opinion of new AMD's versus Intel chips? Are intel already gonna be made obelete by AMD so?

Voodu Child

Ah, its not so simple to say AMD/ATi will offer better battery life, you've also got Nvidia Optimus technology, which gives you a Nvidia discrete card and also Intel integrated graphics.

To be honest, if you don't need to buy a laptop until Aug/Sep, then you'd be better off waiting until then. New stuff comes out all the time, and for all you know the XPS 16 could be replaced with something better or cheaper.

Overheal

AMD wont make intel obsolete but the Hybrid (now called fusion - new press release today, speak of the divil) but the tech is definitely turning heads.

For encoding video though i still believe the CPU takes care of that. Not sure how Core i-series does on battery power though, if anyone knows what their Wattage is.

consultech

Meh, according to that article, the fusion chips are being touted as "a few months away"... Probably roughly translates as Q2-3 2011 and initally buggy for the first few months.

Don't think I can hold out that long personally.

Are there really gonna be any strides in quality/discount of releases in the next 2-3 months?

Voodu Child

consultech wrote: »

Are there really gonna be any strides in quality/discount of releases in the next 2-3 months?

At the end of the day, the best time to buy is when you need to. If that's right now, then for sure go ahead and buy one.

But if you don't literally need the laptop until September, then personally I would wait. Even the XPS 16 that you're looking at is due for an upgrade, its looking pretty dated with the ATI 4000 graphics. It should be upgraded to the HD5650 or HD5730 very shortly, the drivers have already been posted on Dells support site. What that means is higher overall performance and lower power consumption.