Battery performance increase but size decrease

[Chintan Gohel]

I've been looking at the 17 inch laptop models for the past 7 years and this has been my observation.

Even though nowadays you can get 10 inch devices with 1920 by 1080 res it's a hit or miss with getting a 17 inch laptop with that same resolution. It should be by default for 17 inch devices

The bigger issue is that the battery size has been getting smaller and smaller. My old 17 inch pavilion pc has an 8 cell battery which could have given me 3 hours.

As processors became better from 3rd ge to 4th gen to the latest 6th gen, the battery size has dropped from 9cell to 6 cell to now 4 cell. So effectively, as the processor is becoming more efficient, you should get more battery life but they trade that for a smaller battery.

I mean, how can you have a 17 inch laptop with the same battery size as a 12 inch laptop? That just doesn't make sense.

So with the latest 6th gen processor a 17 inch laptop with 4 cell battery can go 5-6 hours. If they had a 9 cell put in, you could possibly get 12-13 hours battery life. That's a full days work right there.

Anyone have an idea on this?

 

[gpobernardo]

Normally we look at the total capacity of the battery in mAh rather than the number of cells. A 1-cell 20,000 mAh battery will last longer than a 20-cell 10,000 mAh battery pack.

 

[Harrie-S]

I think 17 inch is a "borderline" laptop because to the size it's a "transportable" and not a portable device. In other words, more for people who do not want a desktop and get a 17 inch laptop (less cables etc) and use it for less demanding tasks. So if you "only" use it at home battery live is not so important. And putting more battery's (more mAh) "only" makes it more expensive. And for the resolution it is about the same, higher resolutions make them more expensive furthermore compared with a 10 inch the ppi still will be considerably lower.

Or in short, the market for high spec 17 inch laptops is much smaller then the "low" spec desktop replacement market.