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General discussion

Does Sonoma increase or decrease battery life

Feb 18, 2005 3:23PM PST

PCe eats away at battery life, DDR2 should help. I'm loooking at some of the newer sonoma models that have been released and most have lower battery life.

For someone who values battery life, is Sonoma a good thing?

Discussion is locked

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A funny thing.
Feb 18, 2005 8:16PM PST

What happens is if you double the battery life, to reduce costs they will halve the battery size. The net result is that I see all laptops to fall into two groups of hours. The portables tend to group around 4 hours of battery time. The desktop replacements average lower towards 2 hours.

You can push the battery time up by opting for more cells in the battery and asking how many Ah (AmpHours) you can get.

Bob

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Sonoma worth it?
Feb 18, 2005 9:50PM PST

So that means Sonoma is a negative for the notebook world?

My purpose for my notebook is for portability. So if Sonoma means I need to spend more money on an extra battery doesn't that take away from one of the most important features of a notebook, the ability to work anywhere?

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How would that be a negative?
Feb 18, 2005 9:55PM PST

If you've been watching, the prices have been staying fairly constant but you get more in the laptop and about the same time on battery power. I'll answer "yes" to worth it... and "no" to your new question.

Bob

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Sonoma for you?
Feb 19, 2005 12:52AM PST

To be or not to be? That is the question. As notebook buyers and owners we all want it all, but as everything in life nothing is perfect. So my take on it goes like this. If battery life is more important than speed, graphics, DVD burner, etc. then find the screen size and weight you want that has the longest battery life and buy it. However, if you will ever find the need for more power, then the Sonoma processor might be for you. This is the newest technology from Intel and they are very proud of it. ?When you go to integrated graphics with the 915GM chip set, you have the same power requirements and battery life, but double the performance," This quote is from Karen Regis, marketing programs manager of the mobile platforms group at Intel Corp and eWEEK.com's Mobile & Wireless Center. The reason it seems that battery life is less in some applications is more demand on it. This processor package seems to attract more options to go with it?s faster speed causing a reduction in battery life. Some companies are also opting for different graphics which may reduce battery life. So there you have it. Is it to be or not to be.