Low Power Laptops

[mutters]

A topic started over here got me looking around for laptops that are low on power usage. My search led me to this website which has tested the laptops' power usage. I pulled together a quick spreadsheet of the laptops that are under £1000 with their power usage (there are different worksheets showing them sorted by price, power etc)

 

The MacBooks are coming out on top - but as is being mentioned over on the other thread make sure you get a good battery life with it and also there are a number of things you can change on your computer settings to help conserve power also and get the most out of your laptop.

 

I thought it might be useful for some who are researching getting a laptop (do double check my figures cos I may have typos in there!) and thought I'd pop it in the equipment forum too.

 

Hope this helps someone

[grahoom]

ah - i had my suspicions tha the macbook might be pretty good for power.

 

as i have an ibook g4 at the moment, i think if i were to upgrade i'd go the macbook route , i like OS X as an environment for web development. (i'll take the anorak off now.)

[DHutch]

Where did you get the figures for that from then.

- Last time i looked most manufators where very cage'y about letting informantion out.

- I did some rough calcs based on battery capacity (Ah) and voltage (V) agasint battery life (hours) to get power (W)

 

 

Daniel

[mutters]

Where did you get the figures for that from then.

- Last time i looked most manufators where very cage'y about letting informantion out.

- I did some rough calcs based on battery capacity (Ah) and voltage (V) agasint battery life (hours) to get power (W)

Daniel

 

I was chatting on a laptop forum and a guy gave me a link to laskys (http://www.laskys.com/pcs_and_laptops/laptops_and_pdas/laptops/), that website shows power based on Comet Tech lab results. I get what you're saying, and they are very cagey - but it's the best info I've been able to find. My goal was being able to try and see what laptops are less power hungry without having to actually buy the thing first and then look at the power supply label!

[Lady Muck]

I lost my rag in Comet the other day because they wouldn't let me look at the power pack to find out the voltage and plug type before buying.

 

I spent my vouchers on a camera instead, I'll get a laptop from somewhere with service.

[chris w]

Where did you get the figures for that from then.

- Last time i looked most manufators where very cage'y about letting informantion out.

- I did some rough calcs based on battery capacity (Ah) and voltage (V) agasint battery life (hours) to get power (W)

 

 

Daniel

 

It's not really possible to do any meaningful calculations on battery life unless you know the hourly rate at which the battery AH figure is given (eg: 20 hour rate, 5 hour rate?). A different quoted hour rate will yield wildly different figures due to that old chestnut the "Peukert Effect".

 

Chris

[mutters]

I lost my rag in Comet the other day because they wouldn't let me look at the power pack to find out the voltage and plug type before buying.

 

Guess that blows my idea of going round the shops with one of these to see what they use! But I doubt they'd let me start plugging stuff in unless I find a super-nice salesperson..... but they usually are pretty unhelpful!

[chris w]

Guess that blows my idea of going round the shops with one of these to see what they use! But I doubt they'd let me start plugging stuff in unless I find a super-nice salesperson..... but they usually are pretty unhelpful!

 

 

You can get the same thing from Maplins for £14.99

see http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criter...AQ&DOY=14m9

 

Chris

[Lady Muck]

You can get the same thing from Maplins for £14.99

see http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criter...AQ&DOY=14m9

 

Chris

 

But make sure you take your laptop with you, so the store assistant can check it is compatible my Vaio wouldn't work with the cheaper type - I can't remember the reason why though. <scratches head>

 

I'm going down Tottenham Court Road today, usually they are a bit more helpful than the chainstores, take cash, haggle, go from store to store and you can often get a better deal than on the internet.

 

If you are buying online, I reccommend ebuyer and dabs and also technoworld.

[anhar]

But make sure you take your laptop with you, so the store assistant can check it is compatible my Vaio wouldn't work with the cheaper type - I can't remember the reason why though. <scratches head>

 

I'm going down Tottenham Court Road today, usually they are a bit more helpful than the chainstores, take cash, haggle, go from store to store and you can often get a better deal than on the internet.

 

If you are buying online, I reccommend ebuyer and dabs and also technoworld.

I had a Vaio. My experience may well be unique but it was junk. However I am not arguing from my specific case that they all are lousy, as people with poor experiences of products often do.

 

I bought one about three or four years ago from a Tottenham Court Road shop. It was a second machine and came in for only extremely light use. No more than a few hours a week, tops. About thirteen months after I bought it, the keyboard started giving trouble. Certain keys would stick and it became impossible to use. I contacted Sony whom I thought, reputable company, I have had it only a short time and hardly used it, they'll see me alright. I expected them to fix it for free or only a small charge. Wrong.

 

They didn't want to know and quoted some ridiculous figure to fix it. £200 or something. Disgusted with Sony, I approached an independent repair firm but even they quoted something like £125. The reason given was that they needed to replace the keyboard but the only one that would fit was a genuine Sony and they charged vast prices for the parts.

 

Never again will I buy a Sony computer.

 

What really pissed me off the most was not that the fact that the machine failed in that short time with hardly any use, even the best can give problems sometimes, it was Sony's attitude to fixing it which in my view under the circumstances should have been for nothing or a nominal sum.

 

I binned the damn thing in the end, it wasn't worth spending that much money on it. Given the prices of laptops it made more sense to put that cost towards a new machine.

 

regards

Steve

Edited September 14, 2007 by anhar

[grahoom]

found this site while looking into low power laptops....

 

http://www.earth.org.uk/low-power-laptop.html

 

all a bit geeky, but some (possibly) interesting stuff...

[mutters]

found this site while looking into low power laptops.... http://www.earth.org.uk/low-power-laptop.htmlall a bit geeky, but some (possibly) interesting stuff...

i found that the other day during my search and bookmarked it cos it was well interesting! Guess that makes me a total geek then!

 

 

You can get the same thing from Maplins for £14.99 see http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criter...AQ&DOY=14m9Chris

oh wicked - nice one! Edited September 14, 2007 by mutters

[grahoom]

i found that the other day during my search and bookmarked it cos it was well interesting! Guess that makes me a total geek then!

 

hahaha, i won't hold that against you!

 

i booked marked it too...

[DHutch]

It's not really possible to do any meaningful calculations on battery life unless you know the hourly rate at which the battery AH figure is given (eg: 20 hour rate, 5 hour rate?). A different quoted hour rate will yield wildly different figures due to that old chestnut the "Peukert Effect"

Well, yes and know.

- As i said "rough" calcs, and that they where. but if one had a battery twice the size (both physicaly, and electricaly), that lasts half as long on a full charge, you can fairly well say it draws more power. No?

 

Guess that blows my idea of going round the shops with one of these to see what they use! But I doubt they'd let me start plugging stuff in unless I find a super-nice salesperson..... but they usually are pretty unhelpful!

Yeah, i have one of thoese, very interesting if nothing else.

- Find things out like my frewview box draws 25watts on standby, and only 32 when runing.

- And even with the unpluged, my two moniters, pc, speakers, printer, etc racks up 15watts when "off"

- Hence i lamp it out at the wall everynight i go to bed. That and the speakers tranformer keeps me up! MMMMmmm 50hz!!

 

 

Daniel

[Lady Muck]

I had a Vaio. My experience may well be unique but it was junk. However I am not arguing from my specific case that they all are lousy, as people with poor experiences of products often do.

 

I bought one about three or four years ago from a Tottenham Court Road shop. It was a second machine and came in for only extremely light use. No more than a few hours a week, tops. About thirteen months after I bought it, the keyboard started giving trouble. Certain keys would stick and it became impossible to use. I contacted Sony whom I thought, reputable company, I have had it only a short time and hardly used it, they'll see me alright. I expected them to fix it for free or only a small charge. Wrong.

 

They didn't want to know and quoted some ridiculous figure to fix it. £200 or something. Disgusted with Sony, I approached an independent repair firm but even they quoted something like £125. The reason given was that they needed to replace the keyboard but the only one that would fit was a genuine Sony and they charged vast prices for the parts.

 

Never again will I buy a Sony computer.

 

What really pissed me off the most was not that the fact that the machine failed in that short time with hardly any use, even the best can give problems sometimes, it was Sony's attitude to fixing it which in my view under the circumstances should have been for nothing or a nominal sum.

 

I binned the damn thing in the end, it wasn't worth spending that much money on it. Given the prices of laptops it made more sense to put that cost towards a new machine.

 

regards

Steve

 

You can sometimes get the parts from ebay for pennies. You can often find that some geek somewhere has posted up how to fix the thing on a bulltetin board. Anyway, I'm back from Tottenham Court Road with my new bargain laptop. Service was great everywhere I went, I took the power consumption spreadsheet tht was kindly posted on 'ere, took my Maplin 12v adaptor plugs and they were all very happy to let me investigate whether the plugs fitted and what the voltage was.

 

I'm chuffed. I got widescreen laptop, 120gb hrd drive 1.8 processor,intel dual core,1024mb ram, for 425 quid. Could not avoid Vista (did not want it!), but we downloaded the patch for the usb internet gizmo so here I am posting from my new laptop. <smug>

 

I don't think it's fantastic build quality, TBH but what do you expect for the price? When we get paid we'll get a second one, more transportable and suitable for business travel.

[mutters]

I'm chuffed. I got widescreen laptop, 120gb hrd drive 1.8 processor,intel dual core,1024mb ram, for 425 quid. Could not avoid Vista (did not want it!), but we downloaded the patch for the usb internet gizmo so here I am posting from my new laptop. <smug>

 

I don't think it's fantastic build quality, TBH but what do you expect for the price? When we get paid we'll get a second one, more transportable and suitable for business travel.

 

Yay! Glad it was a help. Have fun with the new laptop!