Update: Intel Expands Our Battery Testing At CES 2013

Results: Average Power Use

I like this chart a lot, because we get to see the average for each test, broken down by tablet.

When it comes to Web browsing, idling on Google’s homepage is clearly the least-demanding workload, while Wikipedia ranks second. Meanwhile, sitting on tomshardware.com imparts a fairly heavy load on each platform.

But look at how each tablet responds as the task shifts from light to heavy. In all cases, the Tegra 3-based Surface uses significantly more power than the other three solutions. When viewing google.com, both of the Qualcomm-based tablets offer the lowest power consumption. On Wikipedia, the Atom-based Acer slots in between the Samsung and Dell tablets. By the time we hit Tom’s Hardware, both of the APQ8060A-equipped systems are using more battery power than Acer’s W510.

Then there are the two video-oriented workloads. Playing back Iron Man is a measure of the video decode hardware's efficacy. The overall picture looks a lot like sitting idle on the simple Google homepage, actually. Samsung’s ATIV Tab even manages to use less power than it did with IE 10 open.

Shifting over to YouTube combines video playback with a fairly demanding webpage. Here, all platforms experience pretty significant spikes in power consumption. The Tegra 3-based Surface fares worst, followed by the XPS 10 and ATIV Tab, in that order. Interestingly, the Dell demonstrates slightly better power attributes in the browsing tests, while Samsung’s tablet is particularly strong in video.

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
  • amuffin
    Strike a pose for the camera!
    Reply
  • archange
    Are there any news about the 5th companion core in Tegra being supported under RT? Is software patching feasible?
    Reply
  • abbadon_34
    Please tell me the "Metro" reference in IE10 does not mean some forced Win8/Metro style interface. They've lost enough users to other browsers, do they want the rest to jump ship?
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    whatever it is, 5-10hours of battery life is not good enough. 24hours is the ideal length.
    Reply
  • archange
    abbadon_34Please tell me the "Metro" reference in IE10 does not mean some forced Win8/Metro style interface. They've lost enough users to other browsers, do they want the rest to jump ship?
    It's not "forced". On w8 you get applications specifically designed for touch input. Basically, you have two versions of IE10: the "regular" desktop one and the "Metro" version. The latter has re-placed the URL / search bar at the bottom and has larger, finger-friendly buttons. It also hides its bars for a full-screen browsing experience, which comes in handy on smaller tablet screens. Oh, and I don't use it. Dunno why, but it just doesn't appeal to me :P
    Reply
  • vaughn2k
    AMD should never had sold the (Imageon) Adreno to Qualcomm.. they should have been gaining business in the mobile business by now... Ruiz was a @*!!@$$...
    Reply
  • ojas
    Also an interesting read:
    Anand's pre-CES article b/w Atom, Krait and the Cortex A15:
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/6536/arm-vs-x86-the-real-showdown
    Reply
  • ojas
    Was interested to read about the predictions for this year.

    In order to get the 5-10 hours of gameplay, Tegra 4 would need to run between 3.8 and 7.6 W. We're immensely curious to see if the company can do this.
    Anand estimated a 8w TDP for a quad core A15, i think it was the Exynos....with that in mind...i think you're indeed right about your estimate...
    The yellow line is the time he's gaming.

    Intel claims that its Haswell architecture will be exerting influence in the same space as quad-core Cortex-A15-based devices by the end of the year.
    True...Ivy Bridge's already dipped to 7w...
    Reply
  • kyuuketsuki
    So... you list those 3 SoCs as defining the 2013 tablet space and completely ignore:

    1) Samsung's A15-based Exynos
    2) AMD's Temash

    The heck?
    Reply
  • cangelini
    KyuuketsukiSo... you list those 3 SoCs as defining the 2013 tablet space and completely ignore:1) Samsung's A15-based Exynos2) AMD's TemashThe heck?We didn't have that hardware on-hand in Vegas, but certainly would like to add those numbers!
    Reply