It means: Notebookcheck screwed up this time - you should make battery tests with and without VRR. Big disappointment.
Looked promising but the XPS 14 really needs to be 1KG max and just dump the stupid glass palm rest idea.
I'm looking on Dell pro 3 annoucements and it looks it will have similar VRR IPS screen, battery 70Wh, normal touchpad and keyboard = can be better than xps14.
We will see :)
Quote from: X on March 31, 2026, 20:18:40It means: Notebookcheck screwed up this time - you should make battery tests with and without VRR. Big disappointment.
i'll agree with X, Notebookcheck is great with their reviews but they really need to check for VRR. The whole point of it is battery saving and not checking it during battery tests is ..... odd.
VRR introduces a nasty, distracting, effect when scrolling, check recent YouTube reviews.
Quote from: DC on March 31, 2026, 20:37:32Looked promising but the XPS 14 really needs to be 1KG max and just dump the stupid glass palm rest idea.
I agree, for a 14 inch laptop it's quite heavy.
But if the 3x battery duration is true (per same/similar Wh battery capacity), it's still huge. Let's see how APPLE responds. Spoiler plot: If VRR is the reason, APPLE will also add VRR.
QuoteIt means: Notebookcheck screwed up
Because we all browse the Web at 1 Hz, don't we?
Quote from: Sergey on April 01, 2026, 13:07:53Because we all browse the Web at 1 Hz, don't we?
Since we don't, another battery test is also needed:
Office usage on average near Idle, 150 nits, variable refresh rate.
The shelf life of this laptop which is virtually impossible to repair on your own since you have to remove the back cover and the keyboard to replace the battery or any other component is likely to be short.
In fact, starting in February 2027, all portable devices such as laptops, smartphones, game controllers, etc, sold in Europe must be equipped with a battery that is easily accessible and replaceable by users themselves...
I saw this impressive battery performance on a YouTube video. But the text while scrolling was abysmal. Plus the MBA destroyed it on nearly every performance test. Not even close. It doesn't matter when you cross the finish line if you don't have the baton in your hand.
I feel like once you get past 14 hrs, it's more than enough.
That last gaming test on the other hand, 2.5 hrs vs 4 hrs is a lot more concerning however.
so you failed in the test to enable VRR?? LOL.
Quote from: sfeldstein on April 01, 2026, 17:46:51It doesn't matter when you cross the finish line if you don't have the baton in your hand.
This. Macs can't even run 99.99% of software. Apple silicon is a ****ing joke. Not even close.
Quote from: I mean on April 01, 2026, 20:04:01I feel like once you get past 14 hrs, it's more than enough.
That last gaming test on the other hand, 2.5 hrs vs 4 hrs is a lot more concerning however.
It's not concerning. You can set the TDP lower on the Intel part too, then you'll get better load battery life. The XPS is way faster on multi-threaded workloads, and if you lower the performance by 20% or so, then you'll get much lower power. Then you can get similar 4 hours battery life.
Quote from: X on March 31, 2026, 20:18:40It means: Notebookcheck screwed up this time - you should make battery tests with and without VRR. Big disappointment.
I don't care about VRR either. It gets 27 hours for the XPS 16 without VRR anyway. It ruins your eyes.
Quote from: DavidC1 on April 04, 2026, 05:06:04It ruins your eyes.
For static contents? Maybe for dynamic contents with too low VRR.
Quote from: DavidC1 on April 04, 2026, 05:06:04It's not concerning.
With rumours of apple buying all the ram to keep competitors from getting any supply, it feels like none of this matters.
Even though memory pricing seems to be stabilizing somewhat the price of everything else is still going up making many of these products feel like worse value compared to mac.