Laptops - Battery life

Following Essruu's comments here about the MacBook's battery life of "up to 6 hours", I'm sorely tempted to look into getting a MacBook purely so I've got pretty much guaranteed battery life for my daily commute to and from London.

However, here is anybody's opportunity to find me a "normal" laptop (i.e. not a Mac) that is cheaper than a MacBook - current cheapest find is £600 - and has somewhere approaching the same sort of battery life.

I've discovered that all the software I would need are freely available on all platforms (XP, Ubuntu, OS X), and I really couldn't give a **** about style - although I would prefer something fairly light and don't need a 17" widescreen or anything ridiculous like that. What I'm interested in is a laptop that a) has a longer-lasting battery than the 2-hour piece of crap I've currently got, and b) is cost-effective (I'm yet to be convinced that £600 fits into that bracket).

http://ask.metafilter.com/31284/What-laptop-computer-has-the-longest-battery-life

So it looks like a macbook, or a Dell with upgraded 9 cell battery....

Can you not just buy another battery and swap when the first runs low? That way you get 4 hours life for circa £60.

Either that or travel on a Virgin train and use the supplied power sockets

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=PSYAW7YZBE&nbs_search=C%3D102%26S%3D1015%26lang%3Den-gb%26K%3D%26M%3D%26400004v%3D1%26203112v%3D1%26SB%3Dplh

Possibly?!?!?

With Mac books you have to be careful of Apples ploy of:

Underclocking the fan to get a longer 'official' battery life

Act surprised when said notebooks overheat

Release firmware to 'fix' problem by getting the fan to run more

Don't rerun the battery life test with the new firmware

My girlfriend uses my old HP Compaq which has an additional eight cell travel battery pack attached to the bottom in the shape of a wedge and runs concurrently with the standard six cell.

We get about five or six hours of actual use out of it rather than the frigged manufacturer's figures (halving clock speeds and hard drives spinning down after a minute of inactivity).

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=PSYAW7YZBE&nbs_search=C%3D102%26S%3D1015%26lang%3Den-gb%26K%3D%26M%3D%26400004v%3D1%26203112v%3D1%26SB%3Dplh

 

Possibly?!?!?

I like the look of that, but at the moment the cost is prohibitive (even the MacBook is cheaper! )

Ever thought about a second hand MacBook?

I'd love to get a new one or a MacBook Pro, but really can't justify it when my current one works as perfectly as the day it came out of the box! Unlike when I used to use Siemens / Toshiba / Dell Windows laptops, my MacBook Pro doesn't need replacing after 2-3 years of everyday use and none of the keyboard letters have been rubbed off nor show any signs if use lolz!!

Out of interest Steve, how long have you had your laptop for? Is it within the 2-3 yrs period the same as I used to always have to replace my Windows laptops? False economy buying the inferior cheaper lumps?

The cheapest I can find the macbook for in the UK is £657 for the 2.1Ghz version.

Same spec Dell with the 9 cell battery is £549.

Ahh, the old 'same spec' argument... I like this one ...

The 'same spec' Dell (or any other laptop running Windows) will not run the operating system or most programs as fast as the 'same spec' MacBook because the Dell (etc) takes more of that processing power and RAM to run the Windows Bloat. If you're going to compare 'same power to run your OS and Applications' then go add some Mhz and RAM to your Dell specs, maybe throw in the cost of some anti-virus and firewall software and take onto account Apple's iLife software that comes preloaded etc. Then come back with your 'comparable' costings!!

Ahhh - never mentioned Windows! As Steve has stated he can use Linux - which would actually make the price of the dell cheaper. I actually wasn't making a statement for or against either platform - just posting prices.

I have not used a Mac for many years - I work for IBM and today XP is the standard although we can also use Vista and both Redhat and Ubuntu on an unofficial basis. If I were a US employee then IBM would pay me to buy a Mac!

Ever thought about a second hand MacBook?

 

I'd love to get a new one or a MacBook Pro, but really can't justify it when my current one works as perfectly as the day it came out of the box! Unlike when I used to use Siemens / Toshiba / Dell Windows laptops, my MacBook Pro doesn't need replacing after 2-3 years of everyday use and none of the keyboard letters have been rubbed off nor show any signs if use lolz!!

 

Out of interest Steve, how long have you had your laptop for? Is it within the 2-3 yrs period the same as I used to always have to replace my Windows laptops? False economy buying the inferior cheaper lumps?

Rather pathetically, I've only had it a year. I've got no complaints about the actual running speed of it, the only two issues I've got are a) the battery life (which I knew about when I bought it, but I didn't know I was going to be getting a job in London a year later and wanting to use it away from a mains supply for more than 2 hours a day) and b) the loose connection on the screen.

I suspect that if I'd spent a bit more on it originally, I might have had a bit more luck on both those issues, regardless of whether that money was spent on a MacBook or a "normal" laptop.

If a second-hand MacBook is going to make financial sense then I'd be interested in knowing where I could get one from, but I do quite like the safety net of the year's manufacturer warranty with a fairly expensive purchase such as this.

Steve, could you get work to chip in, or even supply/pay for one for you - assuming that you are using it for work when you're commuting, of course?

Might make the MacBook option a bit more affordable, if that's really what you're after...

I know its a dell, etc, etc but the Latitude E6400 is 579 quid and claims to have a battery life time of up to 19 hours.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop_latitude_e6400?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd

My battery lasts for less than 10 minutes these days. I really should get a new one, but quite frankly can't be arsed because I'm always near enough to a plug socket!

My battery lasts for less than 10 minutes these days. I really should get a new one, but quite frankly can't be arsed because I'm always near enough to a plug socket!

mine too, only lasts about 45 minutes. my philisophy is if im not near a plug socket then i shouldnt be doing any work anyway:smt048

How about the Samsung X360, lighter than the Apple Air and 6-10 hrs battery life!

link:http://www.samsung.com/global/experience/ifa2008/ifapress/html/popup_notepc01.html