[gmdavis63]

I'm considering replacing my mini10 with the 11z. Dell's site currently offers the Celeron 743 or the "ultra low voltage" Pentium SU4100. Which one would be more battery efficient?

My use of the computer would be very basic -- email and internet -- so I'm sure either processor would suit me in those terms. I'm more interested in longer battery life.

Interested in your opinions.

[reflex]

I don't know which has the better power consumption, but one knock against the Celeron is the fact that it's missing Speedstep. Speedstep is Intel's name for the ability to change CPU frequency on the fly. It saves power by running the CPU at lower speed when possible.

Of course, the Celeron's single core is a plus when it comes to saving battery.

[thundertracks]

I have an 11Z Celeron with std battery, I get 2+ hours with Bluetooth surfing the web, display backlight at just over halfway. I am swapping in an Intel 40gb ssd, so I should see a bit longer battery life besides speeding it up. I feel Dell should have made a bigger std battery for the 11Z. I personally don't like the 6 cell, hanging out the bottom and all the weight on one end, but that is my opinion. Other than that I really like everything else about the 11Z.

[bsanborn]

There shouldn't be any difference in battery life between the two. They are both 10W Processors. Each core on the dual-core is just more efficient. Here's the Intel specs on both:
Intel® Celeron® M Processor ULV 743 (1M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) with SPEC Code(s) SLGEV
Intel® Pentium® Processor SU4100 (2M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) with SPEC Code(s) SLGS4

Needless to say, if there is a difference in battery life, it's going to be negligible.


*EDIT*
Actually, if anything, I would imagine the 4100 would use less battery power because it has speedstep vs the Celeron which doesn't.

[dandanio]

10W it thermal dissipation, not actual power usage. Although they are related (heat gets created from electricity), but there are not exact figures, and they vary wildly. 10W power dissipation is the MAX value, to which the fans/heatsinks are designed. So, without an exact figure and good measurements it is impossible to measure. But, as others stated, Celerons lack the Speedstep technology, and run at full speed all the time.

[bsanborn]

You are half-right. TDP does NOT stand for thermal dissipation. It stands for Thermal Design Power which in these days is mainly how processors claim their wattage. They are both on the same chipset and same socket, they both claim 10W TDP, so they are both gonna take very close to the same amount of power. The Atom is a 4W processor. That gives you an idea of where these two stand.

In the end, your northbridge and the rest of your computer, are going to make a larger impact on your battery life than changing these processors out.

[dr3d]

There are other factors aside from CPU which can much more significantly affect battery run-time. Some adjustments in your Power Settings control panel app can make huge difference in your unplugged hours. Obvious things like screen brightness, time to dim, and of course the type of usage you do - watching videos vs surfing the web.

Also some settings in the graphics properties can make a very noticeable diff. I have found that Intel's latest 4500MHD Media Accelerator Driver (see here) show a big improvement in power savings.

As an exercise, 'cause I was curious, with everything tweaked to the max, my 6-cell SU4100 11z could be configured to run for over 7 hours

[brookheather]

I have just performed some tests on two new 11z laptops - one with the Intel Celeron 743 cpu and the other with the Intel Pentium SU4100 dual core cpu. I installed BatteryBar 3.3.3 to measure the real time battery drain. Both laptops had the same 250GB hard drive and Dell 1397 wireless card with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed with all Windows updates applied.

When idling both laptops took between 7W and 8W however the SU4100 did drop down as low as 6.7W sometimes whereas the lowest for the Celeron 743 was 7.0W. It looks like the SU4100 is a fraction more power efficient than the Celeron 743 and so should give slightly more run time on batteries but there won't be much in it.

- Simon.

[dr3d]

Originally Posted by brookheather

I have just performed some tests on two new 11z laptops - one with the Intel Celeron 743 cpu and the other with the Intel Pentium SU4100 dual core cpu. I installed BatteryBar 3.3.3 to measure the real time battery drain. Both laptops had the same 250GB hard drive and Dell 1397 wireless card with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed with all Windows updates applied.

When idling both laptops took between 7W and 8W however the SU4100 did drop down as low as 6.7W sometimes whereas the lowest for the Celeron 743 was 7.0W. It looks like the SU4100 is a fraction more power efficient than the Celeron 743 and so should give slightly more run time on batteries but there won't be much in it.

- Simon.

exact same graphic drivers, RAM capacity, and power management settings?

[brookheather]

Originally Posted by dr3d

exact same graphic drivers, RAM capacity, and power management settings?

Yes - both brand new (refurbs) with the same Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit version, all Windows updates and latest Intel graphics drivers (2086). Default power management settings. Same Dell 1397 wifi card, 250GB hard drive and 2GB ram.

Interestingly my Mini 10v only drops down to 10.2W when idling - this is also with 2GB ram and a 250GB hard drive.

- Simon.