3 ms·

Given the same volume, a tablet has more space for batteries than a laptop. A laptop has to use space for the hinge, keyboard, trackpad, peripheral ports, and d

Given the same volume, a tablet has more space for batteries than a laptop. A laptop has to use space for the hinge, keyboard, trackpad, peripheral ports, and display. Worse, you can't fit batteries behind a laptop display without ruining the balance. On the other hand, a tablet is practically a screen with a ton of batteries behind it. Here's some real-world data: The 3rd gen iPad has a 42 watt-hour battery. The 11" Air has a 35 watt-hour battery. The Air is 25% larger in one dimension and over 50% heavier, but it still can't fit the same amount of batteries as the iPad. And of course tablets typically have slower processors, less memory, and less flash than laptops. Their lower specs mean tablets draw less power. With so much going against them, I'm surprised that some laptops manage to come close to tablets in battery life.

ivany 14y ago
Intel chipsets and processors have gotten very, very good with power management. With reasonable screen brightness and Wifi enabled, my X220 idles at ~8.5W. With a 90Wh battery this gives me ~10 hours on a plane, which is more than I can handle in one go. A tablet TDP (iPad) is about 5W which is 2x better. This is 2X better for a device with smaller screen, no spinning drive, no keyboard, and a much weaker processor. Intel has been improving their power efficiency dramatically in the past few years. They have the most advanced fabs and arguably the best technology in the semiconductor industry. All the talk is about ARM and low-power computing but Intel is, watt for watt, a serious threat in the high-performance computing market.
- mtgx 14y ago
  That's a 6x larger battery, and it most likely scores only 3x faster in browser tests (this dual core A15 can score under 700 ms in Sunspider). And that's disregarding the much lower price and weight of this machine.
- rektide 14y ago
  Recap: X220 idling: 8.5W. iPad's max 5W. Agreed about one thing, Intel is finally starting to care about power efficiency. The CPUs have been solid since the Pentium M days, but the chipsets feel more neglected.
- tluyben2 14y ago
  X2xx seem to be nice laptops; i'm afraid to buy one though because I had quite bad experience with intel laptops including my 2009 and 2010 macbook pro's; they just conk out after 3 hours with new batteries. And I check often to see what is running and work almost only in the terminal (must say, since i replaced the native terminal of mac os x with iterm3 http://www.iterm2.com/ http://www.iterm2.com/ it is much better). The other intel laptops I had didn't even (ever) make that (even the ones with tiny screens). And I don't buy the cheapest stuff. On the other hand; my S2, iPad 1, Pandora and Zaurus easily make 10 hours. I don't spare them from hard work but they do much better. On the Pandora & Zaurus I can work normally mostly (despite the tiny screens), so I don't mind a 10 inch screen (but preferably with an insane high res like the Nexus 10) at all.

ivany 14y ago

Intel chipsets and processors have gotten very, very good with power management. With reasonable screen brightness and Wifi enabled, my X220 idles at ~8.5W. With a 90Wh battery this gives me ~10 hours on a plane, which is more than I can handle in one go. A tablet TDP (iPad) is about 5W which is 2x better. This is 2X better for a device with smaller screen, no spinning drive, no keyboard, and a much weaker processor. Intel has been improving their power efficiency dramatically in the past few years. They have the most advanced fabs and arguably the best technology in the semiconductor industry. All the talk is about ARM and low-power computing but Intel is, watt for watt, a serious threat in the high-performance computing market.

mtgx 14y ago
That's a 6x larger battery, and it most likely scores only 3x faster in browser tests (this dual core A15 can score under 700 ms in Sunspider). And that's disregarding the much lower price and weight of this machine.
rektide 14y ago
Recap: X220 idling: 8.5W. iPad's max 5W. Agreed about one thing, Intel is finally starting to care about power efficiency. The CPUs have been solid since the Pentium M days, but the chipsets feel more neglected.
tluyben2 14y ago
X2xx seem to be nice laptops; i'm afraid to buy one though because I had quite bad experience with intel laptops including my 2009 and 2010 macbook pro's; they just conk out after 3 hours with new batteries. And I check often to see what is running and work almost only in the terminal (must say, since i replaced the native terminal of mac os x with iterm3 http://www.iterm2.com/ http://www.iterm2.com/ it is much better). The other intel laptops I had didn't even (ever) make that (even the ones with tiny screens). And I don't buy the cheapest stuff. On the other hand; my S2, iPad 1, Pandora and Zaurus easily make 10 hours. I don't spare them from hard work but they do much better. On the Pandora & Zaurus I can work normally mostly (despite the tiny screens), so I don't mind a 10 inch screen (but preferably with an insane high res like the Nexus 10) at all.