M11x processor question

Hello all,

I have a question regarding processor efficiency in terms of electricity use. I currently have the M11x with the "Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300" and I was wondering if this processor is more power effective than the Intel Core i5 520UM and Intel Core i7 640UM. My uses for this laptop is primarily for general use and such, but battery life is what I'm looking for. so among there processor, which will give me the most battery life with general use.

secondarily, what does TDP translate into in terms of "real life" performance.

Thanks in advance.

 

The SU7300 processor alone is more energy efficient than the core i-series ... BUT that is because the core i-series integrate some other things onto the processors. The processor + motherboard combination of the SU7300 is less energy efficient than the processor+motherboard combination of the core i-series. Because of this you can expect at least 30 more minutes of power when using a core i-series processor as opposed to an SU7300.

 

Why does the ULV Core I's in the r2 require a 90w adapter? This will mean more heat, more fan usage which could result in lower battery life? Please advise.

 

Because it has a higher draw at max performance - you may drain battery a little faster if encoding video or playing crysis, maybe, but normal usage should see same or better.

 

In real world performance it is about the same, there are reviews of a few i5 ULV laptops out and compared with the same laptop with an SU7300 the i5 will get like 4 minutes more battery life than the older version. However, in processor heavy tasks it could go in favor of the SU7300. In the end it is pretty much a wash.

 

Has no one seen these benchmarks or something?

Intel Core i5-520UM benchmarked on Asus UL30JT

That hints that the i5-520UM is twice the speed of the SU7300..

 

So the Turbo Boost is only available on AC Power? I think the Alienware site had 8.5 hours before for the R1 now it says 7 hours?

 

The 90W adapter doesn't necessarily mean it draws more power and generate more heat at all times. The extra wattage is there if say your battery is way low and your CPU is in constant boost. Having the bigger charger mean your battery won't take forever to charge.

I had an R1 for a little while and I used my 90W adapter from my XPS13 on it.

 

Just talked to an Alienware rep and they claim that the R2 will give you ~20mins less battery life during similar usage

 

Well at least for non cpu intense games the performance will be about the same...

Look:
Notebookcheck: Review Asus N82JV Notebook

That laptop has the entry quad core i7 and the same graphics card like the m11x and is very funny/interesting to see that the m11x with the "weak" SU7300 scores about the same in 3dmark06...

I know 3dmar06 is not very accurate but it can be used to compare gaming performance...

 

Those seem a little suspect to me, why are the SU7300 and SU9400 scoring exactly the same on all those tests? We know for sure that the speed bump is a good 10%+ increase, so why are they all the same on his tests.

Plus, that is all synthetic stuff, which means nothing.

 

Correct! Also note that we can OC the SU7300 a nice 33%.

My 3dmark06 cpu score is 1487 a mere 14% cpu performance increase with the i5?