Maingear 13.3" Clutch 13 Ultraportable Notebook
We mentioned earlier that we were quite impressed with how sleek, slender and light the Clutch 13 is. Here's why. Rather than using a 6-cell or 9-cell battery like many 13.3" ultraportables, Maingear includes room for only a 4-cell battery. There's no extended battery option either; if you need more than 2-3 hours on a charge, you'll need to carry around a spare 4-cell battery. Even with screen brightness set to 50%, Wi-Fi / Bluetooth turned off and a power-saving SSD under the hood, we only managed 2.5 hours of life on a full charge. BatteryEater Pro is our go-to testing program, which continually loops a graphic and taxes the CPU the battery runs dry.
There's no other way to say it: Ouch! Most notebooks and ultraportables that cost $1100 or less last longer than the Clutch 13, and part of the reason for buying such a compact machine is because of its presumed mobility. While the design is highly mobile, having to find a power outlet after only 2-3 hours of use isn't ideal. It's hard to say if we would have rather had a thicker, heavier machine with a 6-cell battery, but there's no doubt that we're displeased with only 2-3 hours, regardless.
There's no other way to say it: Ouch! Most notebooks and ultraportables that cost $1100 or less last longer than the Clutch 13, and part of the reason for buying such a compact machine is because of its presumed mobility. While the design is highly mobile, having to find a power outlet after only 2-3 hours of use isn't ideal. It's hard to say if we would have rather had a thicker, heavier machine with a 6-cell battery, but there's no doubt that we're displeased with only 2-3 hours, regardless.
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