Battery life: Intel Core i3 2350 Vs AMD A6-3420M

[megamasha]

Hello.

I was considering battery performance with these two processors (Intel Core i3 2350 and AMD A6-3420M). I'm considering battery life when I'm doing general tasks, not gaming, as when I'm gaming, I'm usually plugged in. The graph in the article at http/www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a8-3500m-llano-apu,2959-22.html suggests that Core i processors tend to use a tiny bit less power compared to competing AMD APUs in general (non-gaming) tasks...

BUT:

They're comparing to a Core i5, which uses Turbo Core, and powers down cores to achieve the lower power usage displayed in the graph.
I'm looking at the i3 2350, however, which is stuck at 2.3Ghz, and thus won't benefit from powering down cores, so will probably use more power than the A6-3420M.

Does this seem like sound reasoning to anyone else? Anyone have any figures to support it?

Looking to buy asap, so quick responses are appreciated, even if they're just "Sounds right to me".

 

[megamasha]

Sorry, I mean switches to lower clock speed, not powers down cores, but the logic still follows.

 

[jaguarskx]

???

All modern Intel CPUs have SpeedStep which lowers the clock speed of the CPU when there is little to no usage. The i3-2350 is not always operating at 2.3GHz.

 

[WR2]

I'm considering battery life when I'm doing general tasks

jaguarskx is right; all modern CPUs can run in a low power state.

A couple things to consider: What capacity is the battery? It's not the same for all laptops. (it's one way MFGRs can save cost)
Usually written as 4400 mAH or 47 WHr. Higher capacity is better.

Power saving mode. You'll save more power by turning down screen brightness and turning off WiFi/Bluetooth radios when not in use than you'll ever save with CPU adjustments.

 

[megamasha]

Best answer selected by megamasha.