NbC: Samsung N510 Review

« 1. Introduction2. Build & Design3. Upgradeability, Dimensions & Weight 4. Ports, Features & Connectivity5. Keyboard & Touchpad6. Display, Speakers, Heat & Noise 7. Performance & Benchmarks8. Battery Life9. Conclusion10. View All »

Battery Life

The Samsung N510 comes with a 6-cell lithium ion battery rated at 5900mAh. Samsung quotes 7 hours of battery life based on the BatteryMark test. We were quite keen to see just how well the N510 fared. We weren’t expecting miracles after all this is the first 11.6-inch netbook that we have formally tested. The extra screen real estate and higher resolution are all factors that will hit battery life, along with the Nvidia ION chipset.

If you are one of those people that run your netbook mostly through the power supply, then Samsung has the ‘Battery Life Extender Mode’. When enabled, this will only charge the battery up to 80 percent, the idea being that it will reduce the battery ageing process and prolong overall battery life.

The main app to manage the battery settings comes in the form of the ‘Battery Manager’. Through this utility you can select the brightness levels when used on battery or AC power. You can also select LCD dimming time modes as well as CPU speed.

Battery Manager is also used to determine when the monitor and hard disks should be turned off, along with determining system standby and hibernation sleep modes.

We have used a number of different scenario tests to determine what kind of battery life to expect from the Samsung N510. Battery life is one of the most critical considerations to make when choosing a netbook. As with our previous reviews, we avoid using synthetic battery tests to determine battery life. Apps, such as Battery Eater, are designed to determine the extreme points of battery performance and we just feel that they are not representative of what the netbook will be used for. We also feel that they are of limited use to our readers, who want real-world examples of what the netbook is capable of.

Airplane

We replicate an environment where one may want to watch video throughout an airplane journey. For this test we turned off both Wi-Fi and the webcam. Screen brightness was set to 60 percent (given the dark environment) and audio was set to 50 percent. We also plugged in a pair of headphones (noise cancelling Sennheiser PXC 250’s) to make the test as authentic as possible. We then looped an AVI video file continuously on full screen until the battery died.

Result: In this scenario, we found that the battery lasted for 283 minutes (4 hours and 43 minutes). Unsurprisingly, this puts it last in the list, but only 39 minutes off the time set by the Samsung N120.

Business

For this test, we simulated the likely setting one would use if using the netbook on the move for business. We had Wi-Fi and the webcam switched on. The screen was set to 50 percent brightness and audio at 50 percent. To make sure the Wi-Fi was being used, we also opened the Opera browser and set a couple of web pages to refresh every 30 seconds.

Result: Under this scenario, the battery lasted for 245 minutes (4 hours and 5 minutes). This is 92 minutes (1 hour 32 minutes) behind the Samsung N120.

Coffee Shop

Here we replicated an environment where you might surf the net or watch YouTube whilst having a coffee. For this test we turned on Wi-Fi (and left the webcam off). Screen brightness was 100 percent whilst audio was at 50 percent. We streamed a standard YouTube video on an endless loop until the battery died.

Result: Under this test, the battery lasted for 196 minutes (3 hours and 16 minutes), exactly 39 minutes behind the Samsung N120.

Jukebox

This particular test involved streaming music over a wireless network. Audio was set to 75 percent, whilst brightness was set to 25 percent. Wi-Fi was switched on, but the webcam was switched off. An album was looped until the battery died.

Result: The Samsung N510 lasted for 290 minutes (4 hours and 50 minutes), again 39 minutes lower than the Samsung N120.

Summary

It was unsurprising to see the Samsung N510 place last under all four testing scenarios. However, what was unusual (or perhaps a coincidence) was that in three of the four tests, the Samsung N510 lasted exactly 39 minutes shorter than the Samsung N120. Both netbooks use a 5900mAh 6-cell battery, so the delta is likely to be the additional drain due to the larger panel size.

None of these results were close to the 7 hours quoted by Samsung, although under real world use I imagine that you could around 5 hours of usage before the battery died. This is still a reasonable result considering the 11.6-inch display and inclusion of Nvidia ION. It is worth mentioning that if running Windows 7 on the N510 you are likely to see lower battery times than the ones presented.

« 1. Introduction2. Build & Design3. Upgradeability, Dimensions & Weight 4. Ports, Features & Connectivity5. Keyboard & Touchpad6. Display, Speakers, Heat & Noise 7. Performance & Benchmarks8. Battery Life9. Conclusion10. View All »