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Netbook battery times worse-off using Windows 7

November 12, 2009 at 3:30 pm


XP versus 7The news is hardly a surprise, but Laptop Mag did a number of battery tests confirming that battery times using Windows 7 are not as good as when using XP. For their testing they looked at three netbooks (Toshiba NB205, Asus Eee PC 1008HA and the ION-powered HP Mini 311) and measured battery life whilst continuously web surfing over wireless.

On all three machines, the battery lasted longer on XP than it did for Windows 7. The Toshiba lasted an extra 33 minutes, the Asus lasted an extra 57 minutes and the HP lasted an extra 51 minutes. Getting nearly an hour extra, as is the case with the Eee PC 1008HA is certainly nothing to scoff at.

Battery times

Personally speaking, I don’t really see the need for Windows 7 on a netbook. Given that most come with Windows 7 Starter, I’d much rather have XP anyway given the lockdown on some W7 Starter features. However, for those drawn to the eye candy, hopefully future Windows 7 driver support will narrow the battery life gap somewhat.

Comments

247 Responses to “Netbook battery times worse-off using Windows 7”

  1. Bob said:
    November 12th, 2009 5:25 PM

    By averaging it out, one gets approx. 15% better battery life from an XP netbook. That’s not be overlooked. For Win7 SE, cats out of the bag 😉 A big stamp of approval to Win XP on a netbook … it’s official – am keeping it real with XP.

  2. Bob said:
    December 6th, 2009 1:48 PM

    This review will surprise you a little. Toshiba NB200 when tested very recently for battery life with Win 7 ‘SE’ (not Win7HP) actually fared better by more than an hour 😮 .. yep ! more than an hour … than when tested with XP. Here’s the link: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=3207931&pn=1

    Has driver support for battery in Win 7 already been released .. if so, then it’ll be interesting to test netbooks with this driver support in Win7HP cuz this is more real than SE. If it does surpass XP time, then this is a home run for Win7.

  3. Peter said:
    December 7th, 2009 10:35 AM

    Is it okay to remove my battery and run from ac power for long periods of time instead of overusing my battery?

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