Netbook Battery Life Comparison
When purchasing a netbook, its battery life should be a prime concern. There are a variety of netbook batteries (3-cell, 4-cell, 6-cell, 9-cell, etc.) and since netbooks can come with different batteries, this fact may make you reconsider the netbook you were originally going to purchase.
Obviously, higher-celled batteries pack more power and can allow a netbook to run for longer periods of time, and the same-celled battery used in different netbooks may last for different lengths of time (a Toshiba NB100 running on a 6-cell battery will no doubt last for a different period of time than an Acer Aspire One running on a 6-cell battery).
Here is a quick comparison of the battery life of some netbooks. They are ranked in decreasing magnitude of battery life.
|
Battery Capacity |
Battery Life (hh:mm) |
|
|
11.1V / 5100mAh |
06:56 |
|
|
Asus EeePC 1000HD |
7.4V / 6600mAh |
04:12 |
|
Asus EeePC 901 |
7.4V / 6600mAh |
03:59 |
|
11.1V / 4400mAh |
03:40 |
|
|
Asus EeePC 1000H |
7.4V / 6600mAh |
03:33 |
|
Asus N10J |
11.1V / 4800mAh |
03:05 |
|
11.1V / 2142mAh |
03:05 |
|
|
7.4V / 4900mAh |
02:41 |
|
|
Acer Aspire One AOA110 |
11.1V / 2200mAh |
02:19 |
|
HP Mini 1001TU |
11.1V / 2522mAh |
02:05 |
|
11.1V / 2522mAh |
01:55 |
|
|
14.4V / 2200mAh |
01:47 |
The test conducted on these batteries includes playing a Windows Media Video (WMV) clip until the battery dies. The power management status was set to “always on,” which is in the middle of the power management spectrum between “max battery” and “home/office desk.” This is to allow for an average estimate between the minimum and maximum life of the netbook battery.
The conclusion of this test is that 6-celled netbook batteries last for well over three hours while 3-celled batteries last for little over two at max. The number of cells in a battery is roughly proportional to its battery life (i.e., a 6-celled battery lasts roughly twice as long as a 3-celled one).
Via NetBookReview.
New Dell Vostro A90 Netbook Released
The Dell Vostro A90 netbook has recently been released. It has many of the same technical specifications as the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and the only noticeable difference is that the speakers of the Vostro A90 are located just below the screen of the netbook.
In general, the Vostro netbook also boasts a higher price tag, with the basic model (512 MB of RAM, wi-fi, Bluetooth 2.1, 0.3 megapixel webcam, 4-cell battery) price starting at $349 and the higher-end models selling at $424.
Via Fudzilla.
Dell Addresses Battery Controversy
Last week there were some reports that Dell was hoodwinking everyone – its Inspiron Mini 9 netbook had a battery that performed like a three-cell rather than the four-cell they advertised. Everyone was angry, but Dell has stood by its claim.
Jay Pinkert of Dell blames third-party software used to test the batteries, and suggests that Dell is in agreement with him.
He summed it up as follows:
“The Inspiron Mini 9 is configured with, and has never shipped with anything but, 32WH batteries. A third-party test software program being used in the field doesn’t properly program every vendor’s battery to report power (versus current) capabilities, and so the utility is not properly reporting the actual battery capacity. We have confirmed this and all packs are 4-cell 32Whr, and will deliver more than 4 hours of battery life in typical usage.”
So, is it possible that the test software is to blame? As far as we know nobody’s opened up their battery and counted the cells in there, so there’s really no way just yet to test the claim.
We’ll be closely following Dell for now until we get some more info. And if you have a Mini 9 yourself, let us know – how has it been performing? What specs are you using? Hopefully this matter will be resolved soon.
Via SlashGear.
