

12 hour battery life in a high-end laptop? Asus says yes - sheldor
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/01/asus-laptop-makes-intel-nvidia-gpus-work-together.ars

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qjz
Laptops are becoming potentially useful as servers, especially considering
that they have what amounts to a built-in UPS that can run for up to 12 hours
(in this case), without the problems inherent in a conventional UPS (price,
single point of failure, etc.). ACPI even offers flexible event-driven power
management to protect your data. The only problem is that I haven't found a
laptop that offers server-oriented options in the BIOS. For example, I would
like to tell the laptop to hibernate when power is disconnected and battery is
dangerously low, then wake when AC power is restored. Extra points for
providing a sleep stage before hibernation, depending on battery levels. I'm
not a big fan of WOL for this purpose.

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JadeNB
> For example, I would like to tell the laptop to hibernate when power is
> disconnected and battery is dangerously low, then wake when AC power is
> restored. Extra points for providing a sleep stage before hibernation,
> depending on battery levels.

I'm confused. Unless I misunderstand you, this is exactly how my MacBook Pro
behaves—as the battery drains, it warns me with an icon in the menu bar when
the power is low (less than 1/4 charge, I think), then with a pop-up dialogue
at 10 minutes, then hibernates. If I plug it in, it wakes back up effectively
instantly. (It doesn't offer the sleep period by default, but I think it can
be configured to do so.) Is this what you're looking for, or is it something
more subtle?

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qjz
My MacBook Pro is in the red at this very moment. Let me test this out...

~~~
qjz
Well, the MacBook hibernated (and the Windows XP VM running in Fusion even
went into standby first), but reconnecting the power supply didn't bring it
out of hibernation, which is the behaviour I want. I had to hit a key to wake
it up. I had ruled out using a MacBook as a server, mainly because I want to
operate it with the lid closed most of the time, which might cause it to
overheat (an issue shared by some models of other brands). If I can find a way
to run Linux, keep the lid closed, and bring the laptop out of hibernation
when power is restored, I'll be happy.

~~~
JadeNB
Oh, sorry, you're right! Indeed I was missing the bit about having to hit the
power key. In Leopard, under Energy Saver, there's a selection "Wake for
Ethernet network administrator access"; will that provide what you want?

(Actually, I'm a little confused: If you're physically present to plug in the
machine, what's the problem with pressing the power button? Is it just that
you don't want to open it?)

By the way, according to this article ([http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-
notebooks/359432/how-get-your...](http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-
notebooks/359432/how-get-your-mb-p-run)), which links to this Apple KB article
(<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131>), it is perfectly OK to run the MacBook
Pro with the lid closed. Have you had trouble when you actually do so?

~~~
qjz
Plugging in the machine was merely to simulate power restoration (a more
accurate test would be to leave the DC connector attached to the laptop and
cut off power to the AC plug, which sometimes creates different behaviour). I
want a server to come back online unattended, so I can enjoy my vacations. :)

I've only read that MacBooks overheat with the lids closed (I definitely feel
the warm air being expelled near the hinge, and the area surrounding the track
pad can get pretty hot), but if that's not the case, I might reconsider using
them as servers.

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chime
I think laptop makers are going in the right direction with long battery life.
I have an Acer Aspire Timeline ( <http://www.acer.com/timeline/> ) and I
usually get 8.30 - 9hrs of life just browsing. I love the battery life and it
has completely changed how I work with a laptop.

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motters
Any company who can build a laptop whose batteries last all day is going to
make a lot of money, because it frees users from the constant worry that
they're going to run out of battery power soon, and would enable genuinely
mobile working. No longer would you always need to do your work somewhere in
the vicinity of a mains socket.

~~~
tsuraan
Agreed. My gf has the Nokia Booklet, and its 11 hour battery life really is
sweet. She charges it at night (some nights), and then can just use it all day
without any worries. The downside is that a 1280x720 display just doesn't show
all that much data. My Sony gets about 7 hours of battery life, which isn't
quite enough to get through the day, but its 1600x900 resolution is actually
enough to get some work done. I'm sure looking forward to the end of that
compromise.

~~~
JadeNB
> My Sony gets about 7 hours of battery life, which isn't quite enough to get
> through the day, but its 1600x900 resolution is actually enough to get some
> work done.

What model of Sony is this? A big factor in my current laptop shopping is
battery life, but I didn't know that we were beyond the 6–7 hour manufacturer
figures now.

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tsuraan
The vaio z series (mine is the z590, but I think the current one is z610 or
something) have an optional larger battery that gives a claimed 9 hours of
battery life. If I shut off all radios, dim the screen, and work in terminal
mode, it can even do that, but for honest usage with wifi enabled, it does get
about 7 hours.

The battery sticks out the bottom, but it's actually really nice because it
tilts the keyboard nicely, and it gives a nice thing to hold onto when
carrying the laptop :)

~~~
JadeNB
Thanks! I just went to their website and checked out the F Series (although I
couldn't find any way to customise it). I found it very funny that, in
addition to the standard choices like a mouse, keyboard, or spare battery, one
of the 'accessories' that it prompted me to buy was a netbook! (I know that
they're commodity items, but not _that_ much so.)

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jacquesm
The i7 is incorrectly reported to be a dual core in the article, it is
actually a quad core with hyperthreading, so it looks like it has 8 cores to
the os.

~~~
ntoshev
There are dual-core i7s with hyperthreading as well:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microproc...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microprocessors#Dual-
Core_Mobile_Processors)

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misterbwong
For the record, Asus already has a earlier version of this laptop (without an
i7) for $800 available on amazon (search for UL80VT). It has the same form
factor, battery life, and the video cards perform almost exactly the same.

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Towle_
Battery life is the most overrated of all laptop specs. How often are you
really without an electric outlet? Other than an airplane or the occasional
wifi-capable coffee shop (one without outlets, that is), I can't think of
anywhere I'd be likely to be using my laptop. It's really rarer that you might
assume.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
if the history of capitalism proves anything it's that people will pay far
more for convenience than anyone ever suspects.

~~~
Towle_
If we can change "convenience" to "what they perceive to be
convenience"...then sure, totally agreed.

~~~
cema
If it feels convenient it is convenient.

