MediaFile

(Posted by Clare Baldwin)

Advanced Microchip Devices Inc is arguing that laptop battery life should be measured the same way as cellphone battery life: in terms of idle time and talk time.

AMD first raised the issue in a blog post in March, but is again making the rounds to convey its message that current standards, which it says measure the equivalent of standby mode in a cell phone, is misleading consumers.

Why exactly is this issue so important to AMD? Because under current standards, laptops based on arch-foe Intel’s chips demonstrate significantly better battery life. Under alternative standards, their battery life is roughly equivalent to AMD’s.

“Twenty-dollar cell phones give better information to the consumer about battery life than a $799 notebook,” AMD vice president Patrick Moorhead said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

Moorhead said the current standard is based on dim screens (20 percent brightness), miniscule microprocessor loads (7 percent usage) and has WiFi turned off.

Brian Dunn, who is set to become Best Buy's CEO next week, has his own example of what it means to be connected in today's digital age.

When he was visiting London a few weeks ago, Dunn watched the L.A. Lakers take on the Utah Jazz in the NBA playoffs on his notebook computer.  His three sons, who are also big basketball fans, were watching the game on TV at home, Dunn said.  They kept in touch using Skype to have a video chat.

As Dunn told Reuters, the boys were whispering to him, worried that their mother would hear that they were up too late.