Battery life of a loaded E1705?

I originally got interested in the Inspiron line based on this review that says the E1405 has an 8 hour battery life, which is important to me as a student. I'd like a screen that's easier to look at and some capacity for gaming, though.

Would someone with an Inspiron 1705 with a Core 2 Duo and Geforce 7900 GS mind sharing your average battery life, assuming that you are limiting your activities to word processing and web browsing when using it unplugged?

Does anyone know of a price-comparable alternative that balances battery life with graphical power? (With Dell's current 30% coupon you can get the aforementioned notebook for USD$1400.)

Thank you in advance.

Edit: I just found this thread that sort of answers my question, but I can't seem to delete this post. To clarify since some of the posters in that thread appear to have pre-Core2Duo E1705's, will the Core2Duo version consume more, less or roughly the same power as an equivalently clocked CoreDuo?

 

I get around 8-9 hours on a single charge on my (extended battery) e1405, with word processing, mp3 playing and mild wifi. Can't speak for the 1705 but since it has a GPU cooling fan and more screen, I would assume battery life would be like 1/3 as much as my own. The e1705 i worked on recently gave good performance (with quite a bit of use, albeit no games or DVDs were played) and lasted around 2 hours on a single charge, on the stock battery.

I'd bet with the extended battery and some miserly power saving (no discs, low brightness, WiFi off when not in use) you could crank that up to 4.

But the 1705 is a big machine! It's just... bulky. Nice design but not a laptop, more like something you'd bring to use in the library or the office on a full desk.

 

I don't think you'll get four hours..I got that on my e1505 with the extended battery, screen dimmed+no drive usage and minimal wifi.

3-3 1/2 would be more likely-with the most miserly usage. As a student, you will probably want a more portable notebook. I can't imagine lugging a 17-inch t class in back. I sold my 15.4 inch e1505 for 14.1 t60 because the dell was too big/heavy to move around all the time.

The e1505 might strike a better balance.

 

90 minutes if I'm lucky I have the six cell, the 9 cell should extend it to 120 minutes? The 7900GS is a 20 watt part but will throttle down on battery.

If battery life is important, you don't want a 17 inch anything as your back light becomes a factor as well. Stick with a 14" with integrated intel GPU.

 

Mine gets 3:30 on a full charge with no wifi, and lowest screen.
E1705 - 2 gig 667 - 7900gs(OC'd) - 100gb 7200 rpm.

 

On my e1505 (x1400, core 2 duo, 9 cell battery), the battery lasts about 5 hours, more or less.

I think a core duo and core 2 duo are roughly equal in power consumption... though I recall hearing the C2D uses 10% more power?

 

e1705 w/7900GS 100GB 7200RPM HD and 9-cell battery: 3 to 4 hours.

 

I have also heard the the 5400 RPM drives will not use as much battery as the 7200 ones. If you are sold on a 17 incher, but want to stretch out the battery life, a slower RPM drive will stretch it out some.

 

Would cost a bit more, but have you conisidered an XPS M1210? 9 cell with decent battery life and an optional 7400go.

 

Thanks for the help all. I think I'll go with the E1405 after all.

 

my e1705 on the 6 cell battery averages at around 2 hours and 10 minutes per charge.

 

what about the e1505, or 1501? Both would give you more graphics power than the 1405, and much better battery life than the 1705. If graphics aren a major concern, the 501 could be your ticket, and they are cheap, 15.4 wxga, turion x2, 1gig ram, cdr/dvd, integrated radeon 1150(spanks the gma950 really hard) and dell wireless card and a nine cell batt for right around $800, thats a lot of machine for the money, and could be cheaper with lower options