4 ms·
The paragraph following yours is quite important: "By increasing the laptop’s battery capacity, HP is able to push the machine’s battery life from the 9.5 hour
by slantyyz 10y ago
The paragraph following yours is quite important:
"By increasing the laptop’s battery capacity, HP is able to push the machine’s battery life from the 9.5 hours it estimated for the 4K version of its 2016 model to about 12 hours and 45 minutes for this model. So it is adding three hours of battery life, but in doing so, it’s merely matching the battery life of last year’s 1080p model."
It is still a net gain over the previous year's 4K model's battery life.
- mulmen 10y agoI believe Apple is already making the argument but how much battery life do you really need? 8 hours seems like an easy figure to throw out because its a "work day" although most people can just plug in their laptops. What use case needs 12+? That seems "good enough" to me for most applications. Is it building in more life so that as the battery degrades there is still acceptable battery life? Are there more applications than I think where the laptop is actually not plugged in all day? When does that happen? Manufacturing? Some kind of in-the-field work? I have no experience with it so honestly curious how people use laptops as more than a mobile terminal in an office setting.
- slantyyz 10y ago>> What use case needs 12+? Probably none, but knowing your laptop can go 12 on light use gives you a little more comfort when doing more CPU intensive work while on battery. I'd be surprised if I could get 12 hours on that HP Spectre with my bad habits (tens of Chrome tabs left open at the same time).
- kobeya 10y agoI routinely make 14-hour plane flights. Having long battery life for that is killer, at least until we finally see plug-in power ports in economy class. But even day to day, "12 hour battery" is assuming CPU- and GPU-light workloads. The actual work I do, requiring a lot of compilation and GPU crunching, cuts a battery life in half or by two-thirds depending on the model. A typical laptop then is reduced to about ~2hrs of battery life, and an extended "12 hour battery" is more like 4-6hrs.
- chadgeidel 10y agoGenerally speaking "12+ hours" means "basic browsing" or watching a movie which can be natively decoded with the built-in video processor. I don't think that includes any serious workload (tens of tabs open and any kind of developer/creative workflow). New Intel processors have greatly improved idle battery life, but "working" battery life still requires the watts. In Apple's case they are reducing watts and presuming lots of idle time. This may match a large number of their users - I only hear complaints from developers. EDIT: watt-hours? Sorry, my electrical knowledge is not awesome.
- lacampbell 10y agoA few use cases where I have wanted long battery life for include travelling, and spending the day at university studying. (IME there were quite corners of my campus, but they had no power outlets).
- yakult 10y agoWhat they don't tell you is that it's only 8 hours under ideal conditions, and when the battery is new. After a year or two of heavy use it might become 4 hours. That's when the 12+ hours really shine.
- r00fus 10y agoTraveler? Someone who migrates from conf room to conf room and doesn't want to carry the wall wart with them? I know that I move my laptop (MBP) from location to location in my house and don't have a dozen chargers. I like that I can get everything done on battery and just take it back to my regular "desk" when done if I want. Also 12h+ battery life today means 10+ next year and 7-8ish the year afterwards... future proofed in a way against both expected degradation and future software/bloat requirements.
- developer2 10y agoThe problem with Apple is that extra battery is thrown out the window for the sake of thinness above all else. Can you imagine how much battery life a MacBook Pro could have if they just added back 3mm of height to the mold? Throwing away 4-6+ hours of battery life in the supposedly professional models for the sake of shaving off a couple of millimetres... it's a joke. The latest MacBook "Pro" is no longer a professional machine... it's nothing more than the new generation of MacBook Air. There is no longer a Pro line, only upgrades for the least common denominator of consumer. Source: desperately not wanting to give up OS X (it's the only operating system I can stand), but I'm stuck in a position where I flat out refuse to shell out $4200 CAD on a new laptop, when 3 years ago the same level of upgrades cost $1000 less. Their pricing has reached unacceptable levels of greed. That, and no fucking escape key... on a "professional" machine. Give me a break.