This is the 5th of our 9 part series on how to choose your perfect computing device! This time, we look at one important aspect of the computing device that is commonly overlooked, other than the horsepower of the device. And that is the Battery life of your computer

Lets face it: Battery life is one important aspect of a notebook/tablet. Why? Because there are some cases in poly where you have no choice but to use a battery, such as when there are not enough power plugs available, or just plain laziness to bring the adapter as it is bulky.

Also, to most of us, having a very short battery life is a burden when we want to use the device on the go. It dosen’t really make sense if you have the most fastest laptop but the battery life is only 45 minutes (I’m serious, there are such laptops in the market! It’s like having the fastest car in the world (E.g. A Petronas-Mercedes F1 2015 Race car), but fitted with a 1 litre fuel tank. Nope,That won’t be fun to drive. You need a bigger fuel tank!

So how do you choose a notebook with good battery life?

1) Ask your seller: Most sellers would know how long the notebook would last with its preinstalled battery. The notebook/tablet at minimum, should be able to last 3-4 hours. Anything shorter would not be advisable (e.g 1-2 hours), and anything longer would be great

2) Check the specs: i-series processors with a “u” at the end of the model number (e.g. core i5-3317u) tend to have better battery life than a normal i-series processor which has an “M” at the end. (e.g. Core i7-3520M).  Having an additional graphics card from AMD or Nvida would not impact battery life significantly as computers these days can choose which graphics processor to use in order to save power.

3) Extended batteries: Some notebooks may have an option to extend battery life by purchasing an extended battery. While that is possible, do note that your computer may be thicker and heavier also. Check with your seller for more information as not all notebooks support this

Conclusion: Choose a notebook/tablet with a good battery life of more than 3 hours at least so you won’t have to scramble for power sources regularly.

We will cover how to extend battery life on a later date.

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