During the tests in Unreal Tournament 2003 no wonder happened again: Fujitsu-Siemens LifeBook S7010 BT again proved to be quite a mediocre solution for gaming needs, because of the integrated graphics subsystem instead of a fully-fledged graphics controller. As always, activating the battery mode pushes the performance about 1.5 times down.

The diagram follows:

The results of the laptop battery life tests were obtained with the help of our Battery Eater Pro 2.30 benchmark. The tests were run for two different screen brightness settings: maximum and minimum. Also we used three basic test modes:

• Classical mode: when the system is loaded evenly with the maximum workload;
• Readers’ mode: emulation of book reading;
• DVD viewing: measuring the time during DVD movie playback.

Here are the results:

With the maximum screen brightness the battery life of our Fujitsu-Siemens LifeBook S7010 BT laptop in different work modes appeared as follows:

• Classical: 1h 37mins;
• Readers’: 3h 25mins;
• DVD Viewing: 1h 35mins.

If we reduce the screen brightness down to the minimum, we will be able to extend the battery quite tangibly. It is clearly shown on the diagram, below. You can even read with such settings without turning the lights off.

When we measured the battery life during DVD playback we decided it wouldn’t make sense to reduce the brightness to the minimum, because in this case you will not be able to enjoy the movie that much: the color gamma will be too faded, and the contrast will also change badly. So, reducing the screen brightness to the minimum results into following battery life improvements:

• Classical mode: +1h 18mins;
• Readers’ mode: +38mins;

Well, you can significantly improve your notebook’s battery life by simply reducing the screen brightness. Maybe it is a goof thing to keep in mind while you are on the road, because a bonus life that will never be useless.