AMD vs. Intel Laptops, a Platform Analysis

Battery Life – AMD vs. Intel

We will start with a recap of our battery life testing. We are using a different format for the graphing than we used previously, so you can look at the other article if you prefer our “normal” graphs. For this chart, equal performance is denoted by the 50% mark in the middle of the chart. A larger bar means better performance, and the numerical results (in minutes) are available for those that prefer raw numbers.

We’ve already discussed this, but simply put Intel walks away with the battery life crown. On average, the Intel system offers 28% more battery life than AMD, with the closest result in DVD playback (20%).

We have heard several potential “solutions” for the poor AMD battery life – use one of the Turion X2 Ultra CPUs that have split power planes, for example, which should indeed help matters. However, we are comparing relatively similar offerings; after all, Intel also offers many CPUs that should provide better battery life than the T6500. The P8400 is one example, offering a lower 25W TDP, 50% more L2 cache, and a higher clock speed and FSB.

Undervolting is another suggestion, and one that definitely can improve idle battery life. If you consider the equation:

P = C * F * V²
(Power = Capacitance * Frequency * Voltage Squared)

…reducing the voltage of a chip can greatly improve power requirements. Like overclocking, however, undervolting is not guaranteed, requires the use of additional utilities, and you have to compare undervolted chips to each other. Undervolting an AMD chip might help to match a stock voltage Intel chip, but it’s very likely both will be able to achieve lower voltages than what Intel specifies. (We will try to take a closer look at undervolting in the future.) The net result is that we truly don’t see AMD closing the gap with Intel until they come out with a built-from-the-ground-up mobile architecture.

Okay, we already knew that the battery life comparison would favor Intel. We’ll have a closer look at why this is in a moment when we look at power consumption. First, let’s look at the rest of the performance spectrum.