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Question

Which Laptop should I get

by Jul 15, 2015 2:25PM PDT

I am giving my 2014 Macbook Air to a younger sibling, and I was wondering what laptop I should get next. I do not prefer PC or Mac, but I would like a laptop with a battery life of 10 hours or higher, and at max be $1500. Any suggestions?

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5 Posts
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Answer
10 hours of doing what?
by Forum moderator Jul 15, 2015 2:44PM PDT

If you look at laptop battery time you can see 10 hour laptops plummet to under 2 hours when under load such as gaming. This means you have to reveal what the 10 hours of use entails. If it's gaming we would be looking for a laptop with about a 50 hour battery rating.

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10 hours of websurfing
by Yihai Liu Jul 15, 2015 5:24PM PDT

I understand that asking any laptop to withstand 10 hours of gaming is unreasonable. I would want a laptop that could handle 10 hours of web surfing, like doing online assignments, watching videos, and listening to music.

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So a 20 hour battery.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 15, 2015 5:34PM PDT

Because the battery degrades in just 300 cycles, that means on daily use we want a 20 hour battery new. That way in a year you'll still be getting 10 hours. The maker's spec is that the battery is still good at one year if the remaining capacity is 50% or more.

The thing is, I can't find such a laptop anymore. There were a few models in 2013 but now we have to settle for 15 hour batteries and hope you'll be OK with replacing it every 18 or so months.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T450s and ThinkPad X250 were the only 2 that broke the 15 hour mark this year.

I can't know why folk ask for such long battery times. It's expensive and really narrows the list.
Bob

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Options
by Yihai Liu Jul 15, 2015 8:48PM PDT

Thank you, I was debating between a ThinkPad T450 or X250 and a Macbook Pro. Any other suggestions you might have for a good laptop?

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None.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 16, 2015 8:11AM PDT

The battery hours and the issues of battery wear reduced my list to 2 models.

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