Laptops with great battery life
December 2, 2005

Submitted by: bdhufnagel, via CNET forums
Here's a big question for the editors: What notebooks would they purchase if they had to spend a lot of working hours away from the wall outlet?

Justin Jaffe, senior editor
Big question, simple answer. The average battery life of a typical laptop is right around three hours (180 minutes). Of the dozens of laptops we reviewed this year, a small handful delivered far beyond that. We present to you the top five laptops (plus a tablet, for good measure), in terms of battery life, for 2005.

The $1,799 Sharp PC-M4000: 319 minutes

The $1,899 ThinkPad X41: 325 minutes

The $2,040 Dell XPS M140: 354 minutes

The $924 HP Compaq Presario V2300: 355 minutes

The $2,300 Sony VAIO VGN TX-670P: 396 minutes

The $1,470 Gateway M460S (a.k.a. the Gateway NX550): 418 minutes

Note that these prices reflect the configuration that CNET tested at the time the review was published. Different configurations may yield significantly different results.

Of course, battery life isn't everything. And if you don't actually use your laptop while you're on the go, battery life doesn't really mean much at all. For more tips on picking out the right laptop for you, check out CNET's laptop buying guide. And for more information on how we determine battery life, read more about how we test laptops.

• Down the line: laptop and desktop PCs
• Should you buy a cheap laptop?

• CNET editors' top laptops
• CNET editors' laptop buying guide

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