[/caption]   One of the best ways to improve battery life on a laptop, smartphone, or tablet is to shut off the WiFi radio. Of course, that’s not always practical, but a grad student at Duke University has come up with a technique for managing WiFi networking that uses between 38 and 51 percent less energy. When implemented properly, the…

Read more »

Evolve III introduced a triple boot tablet earlier this year called the Maestro that could run Windows, Android, and Maemo Linux. Now the company is pitching an updated model called the Maestro S which moves from an Intel Atom N475 Pine Trail processor to a new Intel Atom Oak Trail chip, making the Maestro S the first device I’m aware…

Read more »

The recently launched Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is a business-class laptop with a 12.5 inch display and a starting price of $899. But what really sets the laptop apart from the competition is Lenovo’s claim that you can get up to 24 hours of run time with the optimal battery configuration. The folks at Laptop Magazine got a chance to put…

Read more »

Notion Ink Rohan Shravan made headlines recently when he claimed that the company’s upcoming Adam tablet would be able to run for 15 hours on a charge, providing better battery life than the Apple iPad or pretty much any laptop on the market. Now he has released a clarification, suggesting that he was getting 15 hours the way he was…

Read more »

Battery life estimates are notoriously hard to predict, which is why we regularly see computer makers promising up to 14 hours and delivering only 7. So I’m going to suggest you take this news with a grain of salt, but Notion Ink’s Rohan Shravan says the upcoming Adam Tablet can run for 15 hours or longer on a charge. The…

Read more »

Pixel Qi’s 3qi display is a low power dual mode LCD display that can be used either with or without a backlight. With the backlight on, the screen looks pretty much like any other LCD display — and uses maybe a tiny bit less power. Turn off the backlight and you can easily read the screen outdoors in direct sunlight…

Read more »

Canonical released the latest version of the popular Ubuntu operating system next week. And while Ubuntu 10.04 may have a new look and feel, integration with the Ubuntu One cloud-based storage service, and improved boot times, it’s not without its issues. The folks at Phoronix have done some testing and determined that Ubuntu 10.04 uses more power than Windows 7….

Read more »

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about netbooks over the past few years, it’s that you basically have a few choices to make: You can get a netbook that’s thin, light, and has excellent battery life. Or you can get one with a reasonably fast processor. If you’re willing to add some weight to your mini-laptop, you can always get…

Read more »

Asus didn’t make much noise when it launched the Eee PC 1001P recently. The company’s flagship netbooks at the moment are the Eee PC 1008P and 1005PE which both feature Intel Atom Pine Trail processors, Windows 7, Bluetooth and other features that drive up the price. And then there’s the quietly announced Eee PC 1001P. This model comes with 802.11b/g…

Read more »

The Lenovo ThinkPad X100e stands apart from other notebooks in the thin and light crowd in a couple of ways. First, it has an AMD Neo MV-40 processor and ATI Radeon 3200 HD graphics, which you don’t find in a lot of 11.6 inch laptops. Second, it has a distinctive keyboard design. Third, it’s got Lenovo’s signature TrackPoint system which…

Read more »

While the netbooks of 2010 so far seem to wear a pretty standard uniform (1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, and at least an optional 6 cell battery), subtle differences can lead to differences performance. I mean, not so much in the CPU performance, but definitely in the battery life department. Case in point: NDevil has published a…

Read more »

Toshiba’s 10 inch netbooks have always had a few things going for them: large touchpads, comfortable chiclet-style keyboards, and excellent battery life. The latest model, the Toshiba Mini NB305 appears to be no different at first glance. But despite the fact that it uses the new Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor which is more energy efficient than the N270…

Read more »