Our Laptop Performance Tests

Battery

We run two different types of tests to score how well the battery performs: discharge tests (how long the battery lasts) with different types of workloads, and a charge test (how long it takes the laptop to reach a full charge). Some settings remain the same among all our tests, but others have to be changed depending on the workload type and operating system.

Testing Environment

We perform all our battery discharge and charge tests in a small, temperature-controlled room set to 22°C (71.6°F), with a tolerance of ±0.5°C. For all the battery discharge tests, regardless of the operating system, we set the display to its native resolution and highest available refresh rate, calibrate its brightness to 200cd/m², and set it to never sleep or dim. We turn off all keyboard and RGB backlighting, mute the speakers, and close all other background apps and processes except those necessary for the laptop to function.

The power mode and other optimizations differ depending on the OS:​

• Windows: "Better battery" power mode.
• macOS: Automatic graphics switching "On"; Put hard disks to sleep when possible "On"; Optimize video streaming while on battery power "Off".
• Chrome OS: No settings need to be changed.

Battery Discharge Workloads

We keep the laptop plugged in using its included power adapter and ensure it's at 100% battery before performing our tests. We only unplug it once we begin each discharge test. Depending on the workload being tested, we use different settings for each operating system:

How To Get The Best Results

When using your laptop on the go, you have to balance the performance you need with the battery life you want. For example, even though it technically might be possible to watch an entire season of a TV show on a single full charge, you'd need to dim the screen to its lowest setting and turn your speakers off, which would result in a less than ideal viewing experience. That said, there are still measures you can take in nearly all situations to help increase your battery life, regardless of the workloads you need to run.

Hardware

• Reduce your screen brightness to 50% or lower. As the brightness increases, the display needs to use more and more power to increase the perceived brightness by the same amount. Keeping it around 50% (or even lower for laptops with high maximum brightness displays) is a good balance between battery life and usability.
• Turn off backlighting effects. This includes RGB- or white-backlit keyboards, but can also apply to other decorative lighting.
• Use the built-in keyboard and touchpad. This may disappoint some typists and mice enthusiasts, but a wired keyboard or mouse still needs power delivered via USB to function. While this amount of power may appear small, it can have a noticeable impact on the battery over time, especially if you expect to use your laptop unplugged for many hours. If you do use a wired keyboard or mouse, turning off its lighting can yield a small but noticeable increase in battery life. Another alternative is to use a wireless keyboard or mouse, which is powered by its own battery. Even though actively using Bluetooth or 2.4GHz peripherals does still drain the battery, we expect the laptop to last longer compared to when using hard-wired ones.
• Use headphones or earphones. Additionally, built-in speakers use noticeably more battery than a pair of headphones or earphones because the speakers have to physically displace more air. Also, a pair of earphones will usually provide much better sound quality than most laptop speakers, letting you enjoy a better audio experience.

Note: Manually turning off your Bluetooth no longer significantly improves battery life as much as it did around the era of Bluetooth 2.0. Modern Bluetooth adapters are capable of intelligently managing their power consumption, so you shouldn't see any noticeable increases in battery even if you go out of your way to turn them off and on yourself. You'll still have good battery and usability as long as your Bluetooth peripherals stay nearby.

Software

• Use more power-efficient battery modes. Using these modes usually increases battery life by lowering the CPU's clock speeds or switching to integrated graphics. On Windows, there are the "Recommended" and "Battery Saver" modes, whereas there's "Low power mode" on macOS. There aren't any power profiles on Chrome OS. Note that using these battery-saving options impacts performance.
• Stop unnecessary background processes. These include preventing programs from autostarting upon boot, stopping background widgets, and putting other apps to sleep when you aren't using them. If you can spare the time to go through all your installed programs' background behavior settings and optimize them one by one, you can not only noticeably increase your battery life but make your computer feel faster and more responsive.
• Lower the resolution when playing back video. Streaming 4k video can use lots of CPU and GPU resources, so lowering the quality to 1080p or even 720p in some scenarios can noticeably lower battery drain.
• Use well-optimized applications. Some web browsers and apps are better optimized for some operating systems than others. For example, using Google Chrome for Chrome OS, Safari for macOS, and Microsoft Edge for Windows improves battery life according to online benchmarks.

Charging

When charging your battery, the easiest way to ensure that your battery charges as quickly as possible is to use the provided power adapter. These are typically rated at the highest wattage supported by the laptop. However, there are some exceptions, like some variants of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021), where you'll need to buy the higher-wattage charging brick separately to benefit from the fast charging feature.

If you need to charge your battery as quickly as possible, you can put your laptop to sleep or shut it down while it's charging. Doing this means it won't need to keep the screen turned on or use any system resources to run the OS.

Generally, charging after 70 or 90% is noticeably slower than when charging a laptop from zero. This is because most modern chargers ramp down charging speeds when close to full to preserve battery health in the long term. However, it's important to note that you shouldn't run your battery until it completely dies, nor should you keep your battery's charge full all the time since doing so can negatively affect the battery's health in the long run. Additionally, some manufacturers state that you should keep your battery between 40% and 90% charge to keep its health in good condition.

Extra Information

We only run each battery test once. Although we acknowledge this has the potential to skew results, we take into account the manufacturer-listed battery life and charge time, as well as our test results from laptops with similar specs, to help determine whether a test result is anomalous. Our results are best interpreted as standardized comparisons among models rather than being accurate estimates for every type of web browsing or gaming workload. Battery life varies greatly depending on your usage.

Conclusion

Depending on what you use your laptop for and how you use it, the battery life you get can vary greatly. Having a battery that not only lasts long but charges quickly as well is important for people who are constantly on the move or don't always have a reliable power source. You should get a model that scores well in this regard if that's important to you. That said, there are some easy tips and tricks you can take to increase battery life without sacrificing performance or usability, like lowering your screen brightness, turning off lighting effects, and optimizing the applications you use.