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Battery life gets mentioned quite often with laptops, but is it still really that important? I run my business from an X1 Carbon, but it's more about portabili

Battery life gets mentioned quite often with laptops, but is it still really that important? I run my business from an X1 Carbon, but it's more about portability than battery life. Trains, planes, Starbucks all have power available so it's constantly plugged in and I can't remember the last time I used it on battery for more than an hour.

hoot 3y ago
I recently got my first macbook (coming from a thinkpad) and it’s honestly more about not having to give a shit about a charger. It charges incredibly fast when I plug it into its monitor, but otherwise I just throw it in a bag without even thinking about what my battery percentage is. I’ll leave the house with it and not even bring the charger.
- gtirloni 3y ago
  I think this is the biggest selling point for me. Fewer cables around.
flkiwi 3y ago
I've been using my X1C on battery for the last 4 hours on a transpacific flight (hello from the middle of nowhere) and am looking forward to about 4 more hours. The seat has a convenient power plug, but it's awfully nice to leave the charger tucked away in my bag to be one less thing to trip over when I have to wriggle free from my cattle class seat to run to the restroom. So, to address your question (which I would normally also ask), it is that important though this is also a somewhat narrow use case.
Casteil 3y ago
It's just one of many great aspects for such a capable device. They also run very cool and are effectively silent even when the fan DOES eventually turn on for a sustained max load. By comparison, every Windows/Intel laptop I've had over the last decade exhibited obvious fan noise every time there was some short-lived load on the CPU - that includes several nicer business/pro grade laptops including Dell XPS, Latitudes, and a Thinkpad. ...and NONE of those other laptops came remotely close to reliably lasting 10+ hours on battery like the MBPs can/do.
Sakos 3y ago
It's pretty much impossible to find an outlet in Germany in public. Certain types of trains have them, but many don't. Like, the only guaranteed outlets I can rely on are at home or at work, and even at work, I'm constantly moving between meetings and simply don't want to futz around with cables all day. I never have to worry about charging my laptop between meetings. That kind of convenience is hard to beat. Battery life matters. Maybe not to you, but it matters.
pjmlp 3y ago
In Europe, nope, only some trains have power available. Never saw it on planes, and I fly regularly. Even on trains, one must be lucky and even if lucky, it is usually one socket per pair of seats.

hoot 3y ago

I recently got my first macbook (coming from a thinkpad) and it’s honestly more about not having to give a shit about a charger. It charges incredibly fast when I plug it into its monitor, but otherwise I just throw it in a bag without even thinking about what my battery percentage is. I’ll leave the house with it and not even bring the charger.

gtirloni 3y ago
I think this is the biggest selling point for me. Fewer cables around.

flkiwi 3y ago

I've been using my X1C on battery for the last 4 hours on a transpacific flight (hello from the middle of nowhere) and am looking forward to about 4 more hours. The seat has a convenient power plug, but it's awfully nice to leave the charger tucked away in my bag to be one less thing to trip over when I have to wriggle free from my cattle class seat to run to the restroom. So, to address your question (which I would normally also ask), it is that important though this is also a somewhat narrow use case.

Casteil 3y ago

It's just one of many great aspects for such a capable device. They also run very cool and are effectively silent even when the fan DOES eventually turn on for a sustained max load. By comparison, every Windows/Intel laptop I've had over the last decade exhibited obvious fan noise every time there was some short-lived load on the CPU - that includes several nicer business/pro grade laptops including Dell XPS, Latitudes, and a Thinkpad. ...and NONE of those other laptops came remotely close to reliably lasting 10+ hours on battery like the MBPs can/do.

Sakos 3y ago

It's pretty much impossible to find an outlet in Germany in public. Certain types of trains have them, but many don't. Like, the only guaranteed outlets I can rely on are at home or at work, and even at work, I'm constantly moving between meetings and simply don't want to futz around with cables all day. I never have to worry about charging my laptop between meetings. That kind of convenience is hard to beat. Battery life matters. Maybe not to you, but it matters.

pjmlp 3y ago

In Europe, nope, only some trains have power available. Never saw it on planes, and I fly regularly. Even on trains, one must be lucky and even if lucky, it is usually one socket per pair of seats.