The XPS 13 performs valiantly, pushing just over nine hours of playback before dying. Unfortunately, the XPS 15 easily bests it with just over 14 hours of 4K video playback.How is it possible for a higher-performance (and theoretically power-hungrier) laptop to win this fight? The most obvious reason is the battery size: the XPS 15 has nearly twice the battery capacity, at 96Wh vs. the 51Wh fuel tank in the XPS 13. Even though the XPS 15 has demanding CPU, RAM, and graphics components to feed, video is usually handled by the integrated graphics cores in the CPU. For the most part, the high-performance parts are kicking back and playing dominoes.
Certainly playing a game or a video encode, or anything that works the GPU or CPU cores hard will drain the battery faster, but video playback is actually among the easiest chores a laptop can do today.You know why there are nine Supreme Court justices? To avoid splits like this. Even though we didn't intend for this to end in a tie, it's exactly what we have. In the end, your personal needs will guide you. If you're looking for dominant performance and bang for the buck, the XPS 15 is the one to get. If you value portability and can "settle" for good performance, the XPS 13 is the go-to unit.GARY — Police released surveillance photos Monday of several people suspected of breaking into Gary Middle College on Sept. 4 and stealing 20 laptop computers.The men broke out a glass window on a rear door at the school, 4030 W. Fifth Ave., the evening of Sept. 4, police said.
School staff boarded up the window and hole, but the suspects returned and removed 20 laptops using a cart from the school.A camera captured images of two of the four suspects, police said. One of the men might have worn a jacket with a logo from Clark High School in Hammond. FOR THOSE DIGGING the convertible notebook concept, solid choices abound. HP’s Spectre x360 has been at the top of the heap for a while, neck and neck with the Microsoft Surface Book. As it goes with these things, HP has updated the x360 to keep with the times and the competition. While it hasn’t reinvented the converti-wheel with this 2018 release, it has re-solidified its position at the top of the pack.
If you’re familiar with recent vintages of the x360, this version will look awfully familiar. It carries the same 360-degree convertible hinge to allow for use as a laptop, a slate tablet, and everything in between, plus a similar, all-business color scheme of slate gray and coppery metallics. (That’s "dark ash silver" for those in the know; two other colors are also available.) While the design has been lightly tweaked here and there, it’s a very close sibling to the 2017 model.While specs have been updated for 2018 components, my review unit was on the lower end of HP's configuration spectrum. That means a relatively slow 1.6GHz Core i5 processor. Also onboard were 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and screen with the resolution capped at 1920 x 1080 pixels. Those are largely entry-level specs today, but the new Spectre x360 still performed roughly on par with the beefed-up 2017 model on most of my benchmark tests—and bested it by a healthy margin on a few of the more up-to-the-moment graphics tests. Connectivity includes two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports (one is used for charging), a full size USB 3.1 port, and a microSD card reader. A tiny fingerprint scanner is built into the right side panel as well.
The HP Pen (included with this model, but $51 if it goes missing) is an impressive active stylus with a significant weight to it. Designed to work with the Windows Ink ecosystem, it’s responsive and intuitive, though trying to write directly on the open screen in laptop mode results in the LCD bouncing a bit, which makes the stylus stutter across the display. Tablet mode works better when significant pen work is required.While the keyboard and touchpad are well designed and work without complaint, I did notice some springiness in the chassis beneath the center of the keyboard. This caused more bouncing when typing. If you’re heavy-handed with your keystrokes, this could be a nuisance, though I wouldn’t classify it as a huge problem.
If there’s one area where the x360 shined brightest, it’s in battery life. I complained about its limitations in this department last year. For 2018, HP has dramatically boosted life from a little over five hours to well over eight hours. That may be in part due to the device carrying a considerably dimmer screen than last year’s model, as well as the lower-end (and less power-hungry) specs, but either way it’s a welcome upgrade that puts HP at the top of the heap when it comes to unplugged longevity.All in all, HP hasn’t really rocked the boat here, turning in a 2.8-pound, 13-inch convertible that takes baby steps toward correcting its predecessor’s flaws while introducing only a couple of minor ones of its own. If you have a recent-model convertible, there’s not really a compelling need to upgrade today, but those moving up from a machine that’s more than two years old—or entering this category for the first time—should be quite satisfied with the x360 13.
Let's face it, battery technology isn't experiencing any miracles in advancement. For years the PC industry has focused on gradually improving time away from the wall by cleverly stuffing larger batteries into our laptops, doubling down on power management tools and focusing on CPU and GPU efficiency. It's fair to say Intel has worked diligently to gradually improve CPU efficiency, so now its tackling enemy #1 of battery drain: the display.During a keynote at Computex in Taipei, Intel SVP Gregory Bryant announced Intel Low Power Display Technology, a potentially radical new approach to laptop displays that was co-developed with Sharp and Innolux. How radical? It's a one-watt LCD panel that could add up to 8 hours of battery life to an ultrabook or 2-in-1 laptop.
To prove its point, Intel brought my new favorite laptop -- a Dell XPS 13 -- onstage that was outfitted with the new display tech and showed that it could loop video for 25 hours. The existing XPS 13 is capable of "only" 15 hours of video playback under the very best circumstances using Intel's Core-i7 8550U and a 60 wH battery.
That's looping video. It's technically possible that under lighter workloads (browsing, email, etc) the time away from the wall could exceed 25 hours.Note that it's unclear whether Intel retrofitted an existing XPS 13 with the 1W panel, or if this is a prototype. At any rate, users obviously won't be able to magically add this battery life-boosting technology to their existing systems. Laptop vendors will need to incorporate it into future designs, and of course the components inside will need to feature an Intel processor.
Crucially, Intel claims that users won't be able to distinguish any differences in brightness or resolution using Low Power Displays. Obviously claims like these and the 25-hour battery life demonstration will need to be put under a microscope using real-world scenarios, but there's no denying that a 1W display could do wonders for laptops, especially those already boasting efficient components and slimmer designs.As is the case at events like these, details were sparse. We'll have to wait and see what announcements follow, and if Intel's new display tech will have any impact on the price of future laptops. In any case, I'm excited about it.Stop me if this sounds familiar: you’re about to sit down with your laptop, but as soon as you open the lid, you’re instructed to plug in for power, as you only have about 5% battery left.Now you need to get the AC plug, find an outlet, and plan on being tethered to the wall for a while.Energy management has plagued portable computing since its inception, but thanks to more powerful batteries, newer processors, and smarter software, it's getting better all the time.