There’s nothing better than a laptop that lasts a whole workday and still has enough gas to get you through an entire season of Bluey (my child’s new favorite word). Recently, laptops have been skyrocketing in battery life, some getting over 17 hours.
I recently reviewed the Acer Swift 14 AI, one such laptop. It lasted 17 hours and 30 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test. The era of AI is partially responsible, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips leading the charge in efficiency and performance.
I’ll explain why the Acer Swift 14 AI might be a good purchase for you. If not, there are at least two other great choices. Here are three laptops that lasted over 17 hours.
An era of epic battery life
First, let’s talk about our testing. The Laptop Mag battery test involves setting up the laptop to continuously surf the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. An important note here is the brightness. Since laptops generally range between 300 and 500 nits of brightness, you’ll want to set your brightness somewhere between 50% and 30%, respectively, in order to recreate our results.
Now, let’s jump in.
Acer Swift 14 AI
The Acer Swift 14 AI lasted 17 hours and 30 minutes, which is excellent, but that’s not the only reason you’d put it in your cart.
Its aluminum chassis and silky touchpad provide a premium aesthetic and feel all around. The last thing you want out of a laptop is for it to look or feel cheap.
Its 14.5-inch, 2560 x 1600, 120Hz display represents an impressive list of specs for this price category. However, one flaw that you should keep in mind is its mediocre color and brightness.
Thanks to its shiny new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, it offers killer performance, scoring 14,531 on the Geekbench 6.3 overall performance test. It wasted the MacBook Air’s M3 (12,052).
The Acer Swift 14 AI delivers more than just excellent battery life, so while it's not perfect, it still belongs on your shortlist if battery life is a high priority.
Here are the best deals available today on the Acer Swift 14 AI:
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441
The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 lasted 18 hours and 20 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, 50 minutes longer than the Swift 14 AI.
While its simple silver chassis may not be too alluring, it’s what’s underneath that’ll keep this thing in your lap. No, literally, the thermals are great — its underside climbed up to 88 degrees Fahrenheit, which is safely below our 95-degree comfort threshold.
If you’re working from home, you’ll love this laptop because of the webcam. Pair that with a bright, 14-inch, 2560 x 1600, 60Hz, touch display, and you can sit with your back to the window and shouldn’t suffer harsher effects of screen glare. However, one ding we hit this laptop for is its poor color gamut coverage (images will seem duller than expected).
But even with a lower-tier Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 processor, the Inspiron 14 Plus did great on performance, hitting 13,281 on Geekbench 6.3 and skidding past the Zenbook 14’s Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (12,707).
Here are the best deals available today on the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441:
Dell XPS 13 9345
I saved the best for last: The Dell XPS 13 9345, outliving every laptop we’ve tested, hitting a minimum average of 19 hours and 1 minute (19:31 post-BIOS update). It does offer the greatest battery life of them all, but it’s a bit of a double-edged sword in some categories.
It’s incredibly light and slim, at 2.6 pounds and 11.62 x 7.84 x 0.6 inches, but it features an overall cramped keyboard and only two ports. Its 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200, 120Hz is bright but offers poor color coverage.
Despite those give-and-takes, it provides a reliable webcam (which is rare despite this pro showing up twice on this list). The XPS 13’s more powerful Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor dominates in performance, nailing 14,635 on Geekbench 6.3, making it the leading performer on this list.
Here are the best deals available today on the Dell XPS 13 9345:
Outlook
It’s no secret that AI laptops deliver excellent battery life, but over 17 hours? Leaving every other laptop in the dust? That rarely happens. In fact, the last time that happened was when Apple introduced the M-series chips to MacBooks. That was four years ago (yes, time does fly like Superman).
Qualcomm's competitors will need to pick up the pace if they don’t want to get left behind in this battery life race. I won’t be surprised if this time next year, I’m writing about a slew of laptops with 20+ hours of battery life. It’s an exciting time to be a tech nerd.
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