Laptop with best battery life - single and only criteria?

[Touch The Universe]

Greetings, I am lookings exclusively for a laptop with best battery life and will take any and all corners towards this singular goal.

If a worse cpu adds to increase battery life, okay.
If worse graphics card, larger screen for increased heat evaporation, etc, okay
If worse ram, memory, HD only screen etc.

You get the gist I think. I want to type a lot off grid, like on a beach or something, not make music, videos or anything more cpu intensive than a word processor.

I'm looking at the Acer Aspire 3 A315-24P-R7VH Slim Laptopn going for $250 ish and has 9-10 hours of battery life.

Can anyone think or know of any better ones for similar price range. I know some macs have like 19-20 hours of battery life but I don't want to drop 2 K on that. I'm wondering if there are used ones I can find that have similar battery life. What was the oldest year that had good battery life like that so I browse used ones, but, old batteries tend to loose efficiency. I migth be better off grabing two ACERS at 250 etc.

[jackoo]

If you get a PC, disable turbo boost for the CPU. This way, the fans will be silent.

PS: If you simply write stuff, and don't need fancy software, I'd recommend also a lite version of linux. If you don't mind the outdated graphics, it moves snappier at lower cpu frequencies than Windows.

[lfm]

#1. Get a laptop with replaceable battery
This way you can always have an extra or two to swap that are fully charged.

Then just focus on other aspects that are important to you.

I bought Asus Vivobook which does not allow changing battery in a second.
- not plugin type
So will not do that mistake again.

#2. size of display and cpu as you mentioned are important factors.
I got 2009 an Asus UL30A with 13" screen and 1.3 GHz cpu.
It was said to last 10+ hours, but more like 8-9 when it was new.

But was pretty much alone with those specs at the time.
Still working fine actually.

#3. My Asus Vivobook turns off network card completely so not using battery
This adds extra 10-15% battery time as I discovered.

One thing to think about too.

It even said so in manual, this tip,to turn it into Airplane/Flight mode, saves battery.
- so look in manuals for tips on prolong battery time

#4. Are there other battery types than NiMh nowadays?
I would look if anything improved with so much on battery these days.

My best experience has been LiPo(litium polymer) and Li-Ion but have not checked on laptops at all, but would if looking for next laptop.

Just a couple of thoughts....

[BertKoor]

Perhaps not what you want to hear: MacBookPro.

When doing non-taxing things then a charged battery may serve you several days. No moving parts (not even for cooling) means it's very energy efficient.

I'm currently doing my job on one. Worked for two hours this morning and the battery is currently at 93%.

[eLawnMust]

We live out in the boondocks, have for 20 years now... Not off grid but ready for it mostly. Best setup for longevity is to get one of those stanley battery booster packs with a built-in power inverter of 750 watts or more... Then there's no worry of battery life you just turn it on & charge when your laptop battery is getting low, turn it off again when topped off...

We have some 'lean-to' solar panels that provide 12v & can recharge the stanley pack if power is out...

I have an Acer Aspire One D250 netbook that has extended battery will last a good 10-12 hours but sound system not the best...

You can also get direct from 12v chargers that put out various laptop voltages I have a couple that will charge a few of my laptops directly from 12v without the loss of inverting to 120, hooking to charger to bring it back down to 19v or whatever your pack does...

I also don't own a laptop that can't have the battery easily removed thus have spares that can be clipped in just in case bad weather ensues I can 'pre-charge' 3-4 laptop batteries... If you are living out like that the weather will be telling you what to do day by day or week by week...

Find an old woodstove, we have a pellet stove & a woodstove most the time we use pellet stove but when power is off... Our power company don't keep up with cutting trees under lines very well it's been 7 years now so when ice freezes on all those limbs already touchuing... So we got 2x 1,800 watt generators, 1x 5,000 watt generator which at 64 years old takes my arm off pulling it, 2x 3,000 watt power inverters to use auto as a generator plus all kinda booster packs & the solar cells... Have backups to backups...

[whyterabbyt]

Perhaps not what you want to hear: MacBookPro.

later models of which can be charged from USB-C, thus capable of using a standard USB external battery pack... more weight, obviously, but more lifespan.

PC laptops with similar USB-C power are getting relatively common now, it seems, and it appears that some that have an old-school AC power supply are actually capable of USB-C charge as well.

https://uk.pcmag.com/laptop-accessories ... s-answered

[dellboy]

Wait two weeks (September 24th) for intel Luna Lake laptops to be widely available. If the hype is real, then they are supposed to be the new battery endurance kings. They will probably start at around $1000 - out of your budget, I know, but they may bring down the cost of laptops already on the market.

https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/lap ... nching-now

[PAK]

I know some macs have like 19-20 hours of battery life but I don't want to drop 2 K on that.

You’re quoting US dollars. If you’re in the USA Walmart sells the base M1 Macbook Air new for $649 and will knock $50 off during sales (maybe more this Black Friday). If you can live with a refurb then it's $470.

[Touch The Universe]

I know some macs have like 19-20 hours of battery life but I don't want to drop 2 K on that.

You’re quoting US dollars. If you’re in the USA Walmart sells the base M1 Macbook Air new for $649 and will knock $50 off during sales (maybe more this Black Friday). If you can live with a refurb then it's $470.

You might be on to something, im finding even 300 price ranges refurbished on the M1 that came out 4 years ago. Are there even older models by chance?

[whyterabbyt]

WRT refurbs... we've still to see how it pans out on the M-processor Mac laptops, but we're having to replace a lot of Mac laptops at 4-5 years old because of battery life/recharge issues(*) (Our normal policy is replace after 6, so its not economic for us to replace the battery for 12 more months or whatever) So ensure the refurb included the battery and ensure you've got a decent guarantee, if you go down that route.
(* for comparison, we'd had much older Mac laptops regularly last 3+ years more than that)

[PAK]

You might be on to something, im finding even 300 price ranges refurbished on the M1 that came out 4 years ago. Are there even older models by chance?

Prior to M1 it's Intel x86 based. Apple is likely to drop OS support, for x86, in the next 1-2 years. They are not competitive - in terms of battery life Vs M-series Apple Silicon.

The M1 Macbook Air is rated for “up to” 18 hours use, though how long you’ll actually get depends a lot on screen brightness, what you’re doing, and battery health. Regarding lifespan, they rate the batteries to retain 80% capacity at 1000 cycles (full charges), after which they recommend replacement. It’s much the same policy for all Apple’s batteries lately, whether phone or laptop, and 80% sounds better than it actually is - the battery will be garbage by that point.

If buying used you ideally want an “open box return” rather than something someone’s hammered on for a few years. You can check a machines battery life via “About / System Report / Power”, which shows the cycle count. EG if an M-series Air shows 200 cycles it’s used (roughly) 20% of its useable battery life. If you spot a deal, and feel you can handle some very fiddly screws, the batteries cost $130 to replace.

[PAK]

WRT refurbs... we've still to see how it pans out on the M-processor Mac laptops

They’ve standardised around 1000 cycles lately, but some older Macs had much lower cycle counts (https://support.apple.com/en-us/102888 ).

Charging to 100% a lot, or letting it sit below 20% for long periods, will generally shorten lifespan. If someone wants to extend their laptop battery lifespan then it’s probably wise to use an app which stops it charging past 80% unless you tell it to. If someone's charging to 100%, most work days, 4-5 years does sound about when you'd expect to see issues.

Battery replacement is more of an option for regular end users (It's not that difficult for anyone technically minded, more annoying than anything - especially if the glue strips snap on removal). Apple have apparently made battery replacement easier on the M4 iPad. Time will tell if they’ve done the same for the M4 laptops, though it’s a direction they’re slowly heading in (likely to avoid legislation against them. )

[Touch The Universe]

Put an offer in here at 350 on M1 with 180 battery cycle count.

[PAK]

Put an offer in here at 350 on M1 with 180 battery cycle count.

Careful. Description says Space Grey. Photos are of the Gold version. This + zero feedback = avoid.

[Touch The Universe]

Put an offer in here at 350 on M1 with 180 battery cycle count.

Careful. Description says Space Grey. Photos are of the Gold version. This + zero feedback = avoid.

Good catch, retracted offer

How about this one, brand new M1 $379.