Dell Studio XPS 16 Review
Battery Performance
Perusing through Dell's own information portal on the Studio XPS 16, you'll come up empty if searching for a specific battery life figure. Indeed, the company simply asserts that opting for a 9-cell battery (over the standard 6-cell) can "increase your hours of entertainment."
During our testing (shown above in minutes), we found the battery life of the machine to be somewhat underwhelming, but not embarrassingly so considering that it's a pretty massive machine that's not designed to be used for long periods of time away from an AC outlet. With performance mode enabled (meaning that the discrete GPU was activated), we squeezed out just under 1.25 hours before Vista forced itself into hibernation. With Power Saving mode activated, we were able to get just over 2 hours of life.
Click To Enlarge
Mind you, this test represents "normal" activity. Light websurfing , MP3 usage, typing, etc. -- if you did absolutely nothing else, we wouldn't be surprised to see the battery hold up for three hours. 2 hours and 4 minutes isn't awful for what is essentially a desktop replacement notebook, but it's certainly not awesome. If you think you'll need more than that per sitting, go ahead and invest in an additional 9-cell to pack alongside the stock 6-cell.
During our testing (shown above in minutes), we found the battery life of the machine to be somewhat underwhelming, but not embarrassingly so considering that it's a pretty massive machine that's not designed to be used for long periods of time away from an AC outlet. With performance mode enabled (meaning that the discrete GPU was activated), we squeezed out just under 1.25 hours before Vista forced itself into hibernation. With Power Saving mode activated, we were able to get just over 2 hours of life.
;)
Click To Enlarge
Mind you, this test represents "normal" activity. Light web
;)
Click To Enlarge
