18. BatteryMark

We took this chance to use the new BWS BatteryMark 1.0 to see what kind of simulated battery performance we could expect in each of the three PowerMizer settings. BWS BatteryMark replaces the older BatteryMark 4.0, which was no longer supported as of August of last year. The new BWS BatteryMark uses Business Winstone in its testing script in an attempt to obtain a more realistic projection of expected battery life.

Due to a compatibility problem with Windows XP and the new BWS BatteryMark 1.0 that we were unable to pinpoint, we had to run the BWS BatteryMark 1.0 tests under Windows 2000 Service Pack 2. We reloaded the system with Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 and applied all of the current updates. Of course, as with all BatteryMark scores, these should only be taken as a best-case guideline for battery performance, your results may vary.

As we see here, the performance of BWS BatteryMark 1.0 across all three PowerMizer settings was the same. Although from our testing it was clear that the GeForce4 Go was drawing less current, it was also clear that PowerMizer does not have much of an impact on the BatteryMark test. This is due in part to the way that the BatteryMark test is designed. PowerMizer can only improve battery life, but we have to question how noticable this will be to the consumer.