13. MobileMark 2005 Battery Lifetimes And Performance Measurements

So doesn't the power consumption increase for these notebooks as described in the article Microsoft driver bug saps Core Duo power? Indeed, the answer is sadly yes since Microsoft and Intel have yet to patch this problem. The issues we encountered in mid-February remain valid. In other words, those who use a Core Duo notebook, including the one covered here, lose more than an hour of battery life as soon as a USB 2.0 device is connected to it. Asus bears no responsibility for this. We've repeatedly asked Microsoft and Intel to deliver an acceptable bug fix for this, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, our tests gauged the performances of the high-capacity batteries in each notebook with an energy rating of 56 Wh. As you can see, the Core Duo platform based on the 945GM chipset on otherwise identical systems delivers battery lifetimes that (depending on CPU loads) are up to one-and-a-half hours longer. In our tests, this translated into an increase in battery lifetime of up to 45%

These results also show that in normal office use a dual-core CPU doesn't really deliver measurable performance improvements. For the MobileMark benchmark scenarios and for the individual applications involved, the lack of multi-processor support means that a second CPU core provides no real performance advantages. The response time values only address how fast an individual task is completed, or how quickly a scripted sequence of actions is carried out. This is no measure of how quickly you can jump back and forth between applications or for the performance boost that might result if a background virus scanning task were to run at the same time a user was busy working on a text file. Alas, this benchmark really cannot reflect dual-core benefits because it doesn't address capabilities that clearly favor multiple concurrent processing. Those interested in learning more about which applications and usage scenarios are like to benefit from a dual-core CPU in a notebook should read our Microsoft driver bug saps Core Duo power.

Also, the new 3945ABG WLAN module is no more energy efficient than the previous 2200BG unit, as our wireless browsing tests cleary indicate.