Dell DTR Laptop Shootout - M1710 vs. E1705
by Jarred Walton on May 30, 2006 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Battery Life
We used MobileMark 2005 to test battery life. We limited testing to the productivity and DVD playback tests, as the Reader 2002SE and Wireless results are generally very close to the productivity results. Screen brightness was set to 3/8 on all three laptops, which represents a value relatively close to 70 nits.
While it's true that power draw can be reduced relative to our AC power tests, the end result is that the X1400 configuration continues to lead by a large margin. The GeForce Go 7800 and 7900 GTX both apparently power down to a similar level when running off the battery, as battery life is nearly identical. Meanwhile, the E1705 with Radeon Mobility X1400 offers 57- 88% more battery life.
The productivity result in particular, lasting over 4.5 hours, is extremely impressive. Three hours of DVD playback is also nothing to scoff at, especially on those longer flights. Sure, productivity performance is slightly lower than the other systems, but it is doubtful most people will notice the difference. An extra hour or two of battery life on the other hand....
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Gary Key - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - link
Jarred will be reviewing these in the near future.tthiel - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - link
I've been issued plenty of Dell laptops at the various companies I have worked for and they were all cheap plasticky junk. I've lost track of how many died on me. I was just given a new Thinkpad T43P and it is much better. Very well made, rock solid. So many of the engineers where I work wanted those instead of Dells that they had to restructure the ordering process and images to take care of all the new Thinkpads.JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - link
I've heard about problems with ThinkPads now that Lenovo has taken over. (I haven't used any personally, so I can't say for sure.) I have also used many of the older Inspiron models, and have been unimpressed. These are definitely in a different league, however -- the cheap plastic case (at least on top) has been replaced by aluminum, for example. The problem is that most businesses don't buy higher end Dell laptops; they go with the more value oriented offerings, and whenever prices cut you can be sure that quality is cut as well.We're hoping to expand our mobile coverage in the future, so this is merely the beginning. As time goes on, we'll have more products that we can directly compare new offerings with. For now, I'm generally impressed with what the E1705 offers. Impressed enough that I recommended one to a family member, after browsing around looking for a suitable equivalent. Getting a large laptop with a 17 inch (or larger) display, 1920x1200 resolution, dual core processor, etc. is pretty difficult right now. Getting one with 2 GB of RAM for $2300 is even more difficult. Not everyone wants a laptop this large, certainly, but for those that do the E1705 is quite good.
jenson - Monday, January 7, 2013 - link
when cheap laptops really got a good shake, with many models looking and behaving a lot more like their costly cousins than in the past.