Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the dell laptop battery
Since the very first day we saw the Dell Inspiron Duo's crazy swiveling hinge in action, we knew we wanted a laptop that swung that way -- but the Inspiron Duo itself turned out to be a sluggish netvertible with poor battery life. Well, it looks like Dell may be looking for a second chance, because a "Dell Panerai" just hit the FCC, which looks like might have sprung from the same minds who dreamt up the original's sexy frame. Believe it or not, we can thank Intel for revealing this Dell P12F and Canada for pointing out its convertible nature, because of a little-known test specifically designed for transforming tablets like these -- our northern neighbors require that hybrid laptop / tablet computers get checked for face-melting radioactivity if they have antennas built into the display, and that's just what happened to the dual-band Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi radio inside this machine. Oh, and judging by our calculations (based on the size of that orange label), the unit could sport a 15-inch screen. Sweet.
Performance from the Core i7-2630QM, 12GB of RAM and NVIDIA's GTX 570M beast was exemplary -- and don't forget, we're testing the base configuration. As you'd expect with a machine that scores 9,110 in PCMarkVantage11 and 16,862 in 3DMarkVantage06, games of Starcraft II, Portal and Half Life 2 ran at full resolution and maximum settings without a hitch.But with great performance often comes dismal battery such as dell 2941E battery
, dell 9943E battery
, dell Inspiron 7100 battery
, dell Inspiron 7500 battery
, dell Inspiron 7000 battery
, dell 310-6322 battery
, dell D5318 battery
, dell G5260 battery
, dell G5266 battery
, dell Latitude CPi battery
life. So, how does the GT683DXR stack up? Pretty admirably, actually. In Engadget's standard battery test it lasted two hours and 40 minutes before succumbing to slumber. But more impressive to us were the two hours and 41 minutes we clocked while using it at full-brightness as our work computer. That means 20-30 browser tabs open including brief stints of Flash video coupled with some light Photoshop work and an IRC client. As for mobile gaming, we eked out one hour and 25 minutes of nonstop 2v2 Starcraft II matches before the machine called it quits. However, be forewarned that graphics performance is significantly hindered while untethered. So much so, that we had to turn down Starcraft II's graphics settings from "Ultra" to "Low" if we wanted to play while battery powered. Odds are that you won't be fragging on the go, but if want to intimidate your coworkers with an orange glow, its certainly up to the task.
The GT683DXR is offered in two SKUs, priced at $1,699 and $1,849, respectively. While we tested the cheaper of the two, the only goodies the latter will bring are an additional 4GB of RAM (for a total of 16GB) and the addition of a Blu-ray burner. Otherwise either makes do with the same Core i7-2630QM CPU, a NVIDIA GTX 570M with 1.5GB of GDDR5 RAM and two 500GB hard drives paired in RAID 0.
If you're looking for more acreage in a similar chassis, the company also sells the 17-inch GT780DXR. It, too, shares many of the specs of its smaller brethren, yet adds a matte display and a backlit keyboard. It's available in two SKUs -- one with a DVD burner and the other with a Blu-ray drive and 1.5TB HDD -- for $1,799 and $1,999, respectively.
So how does the GT683DXR's stack up against others of its ilk? Turns out, pretty good actually. Take Alienware's m17x for example. The $1,700 model gets you an extra two inches of screen real estate, but you'll have to cope with 8GB less of RAM, a single 750GB spinner and a lesser card in the form of NVIDIA's GTX 560M. Around the same price is the Toshiba's 15-inch Qosmio F755, but while it's 3D-enabled, it, too, comes up short with a paltry 6GB of RAM and a GeForce GT 540M. A fairer comparison would be its big brother, the 17-inch Qosmio X775 which has a GeForce GTX 560M and 1.25TB of storage, but again you'll find less RAM (8GB) and a higher price ($1,899).
That leaves us with ASUS' G74. The 17-inch $1,799 laptop has the same 2630QM Core i7 and 12GB of RAM as our MSI, a little more storage at 1.5TB, but like the m17x makes do with a GTX 560M. It's more professional looking, sure, but given that the GT683DXR can be had for around $1,500, you'll have to decide whether or not its cleaner looks are worth the $200 premium.