Dell’s new XPS 16 laptop appears to offer incredible battery life, and it’s in part thanks to Intel and LG Display.
Essentially, the laptop has a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate (VRR) display that lets the device sip power when the screen isn’t in use — as little as 1.5 watts.
According to benchmarks Notebookcheck ran on a version of the laptop with the LG Display screen and a new Intel Panther Lake chip, it was found to be one of the most efficient laptops ever to undergo its Wi-Fi web browsing test. At idle, the Core Ultra 325-powered XPS 16 lasted nearly 27 hours despite housing only a 70-watt-hour pack. Of course, real-world usage will likely see shorter battery life. It’s also worth pointing out that the XPS 16 has a 1080p display — higher-res panels will draw more power.
According to Notebookcheck, the XPS 16 lasted longer than any MacBook or MacBook Pro, and apparently longer than that of all but two other laptops since the test began in 2014. Interestingly, of those two laptops, one was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip and had a larger 84W battery, while the other had two batteries for a combined 194Wh. Important note: both laptops had only a 60Hz screen.
As The Verge pointed out, this tech may not be exclusive to Dell for long. LG Display just announced that it has become the first company to mass-produce the 1-120Hz laptop LCD panel — which is reportedly branded as the Oxide 1Hz. There are reportedly plans to mass-produce an OLED version in 2027.
Now, similar display tech has been in smartphones and smartwatches before; the 2019 Apple Watch Series 5 introduced a 1-60Hz screen to save power, the 2021 Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra had a 10-120Hz display, and the OnePlus 9 Pro also had a dynamic 1-120Hz refresh rate. And variable refresh rates aren’t new to laptops either, though most don’t go lower than 60Hz at the bottom end.
Couple those panels with more efficient chips, like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X CPUs or Intel’s new Panther Lake — which, in our testing, showed excellent battery life — and we could soon have a variety of long-lasting laptops on the market.
Source: Notebookcheck Via: The Verge
