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Battery Life
To test battery life, we ran a series of tests to simulate real life web surfing
and movie watching. The critical and low battery actions were disabled, so the
system would simply shut down once the battery was exhausted as far as Windows
7 would allow (1%). WiFi was enabled obviously for the web browsing test.
For the web browsing test we loaded three websites into Firefox
on separate tabs: Google News, Yahoo News, and CNN International. Using the
ReloadEvery
add-on, we set each tab to do a staggered reload every minute. This is essentially
one page reload every 20 seconds.
For video playback we used an XVID encoded AVI (1324kbps video, 448kbps AC3
audio) played with VLC Player and a x264 encoded MKV (720p, 7mbps video, 640kbps
AC3 audio) played with Media Player Classic Home Cinema (DXVA enabled) in a
loop.
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Test Results: Battery Life
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Activity
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Gateway EC1803h*
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ThinkPad Edge 13
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Asus UL80Vt†
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Asus UL30A
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Web Browsing
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6:09
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6:22
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9:11
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9:44
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Xvid Playback
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4:24
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5:50
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7:19
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6:52
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x264 Playback
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3:31
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4:35
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5:24
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5:52
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*EC1803h running Vista 32, other systems running
Windows 7 64.
†UL80Vt running on integrated graphics (switchable).
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The Edge 13 can run untethered longer than most mainstream notebooks, lasting
more than six hours when web browsing, just under six hours playing Xvid, and
four and half hours playing high definition x264. With a lower idle power draw
and a bigger battery than the Edge 13, the UL30A delivers the most impressive
battery life we've seen in a laptop. The UL30A lasted 15 minutes shy of 10 hours
web browsing, 8 minutes short of 7 hours playing Xvid and almost 6 hours rendering
x264.
The UL series combines high efficiency with high capacity batteries so that
they can last an entire work day of internet use. The occasional Flash video
may cut into that time, but it could be made up by enabling power saving features
like having the screen dim/turn off after a certain amount of idle time or going
to sleep completely, etc.
Thermals & Acoustics
Internal temperature were recorded using SpeedFan while external temperatures
were taken with an IR thermometer on the hottest point on both the topside and
underside of each laptop. On both machines, the hottest point was located near
the center of the left side.
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Asus UL30A
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Activity
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System Temperatures
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SPL @0.6m
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CPU
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HDD
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Topside
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Underside
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Idle
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33°C
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29°C
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28°C
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34°C
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21 dBA
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x264 Playback
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43°C
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30°C
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30°C
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37°C
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21~22 dBA
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CPU Load
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47°C
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29°C
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30°C
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37°C
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24 dBA
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CPU + GPU Load
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49°C
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29°C
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31°C
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39°C
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24 dBA
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Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13
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Idle
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41°C
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32°C
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30°C
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33°C
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18~19 dBA
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x264 Playback
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44°C
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30°C
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31°C
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35°C
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19 dBA
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CPU Load
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58°C
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30°C
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31°C
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38°C
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28 dBA
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CPU + GPU Load
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60°C
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31°C
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33°C
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39°C
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28 dBA
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Ambient temperature: 20°C.
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The Edge 13 had a slightly warmer exterior during testing, but both machines
ran fairly cool by modern standards. The Lenovo had noticeably higher CPU temperatures,
even on load when its fan was more aggressive. The UL30A operates with a core
voltage 0.50V lower than the ThinkPad which explains why the fan spins so much
faster on the ThinkPad.
Both notebooks were very quiet when idling, producing just a soft whooshing
sound that was rather inconspicuous though the Edge 13 measured 2~3 dBA lower.
On x264 playback, the noise level increased just slightly as neither machine
really required much in the way of extra cooling. On full load, the UL30A was
probably the best-sounding laptop we've ever used, beating the ThinkPad by 4
dBA while retaining a smooth, benign character. The Edge 13's fan was much louder
and more whiny when the CPU was pressed into heavy action.
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UL30A idling at 0.6m.
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Edge 13 idling at 0.6m.
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