Battery Life

PowerCfg is a nifty little tool for analyzing and configuring all kinds of things related to battery usage and power plans. In Windows 8.1 PowerCfg learned how to analyze the effectiveness of connected standby, a new low-power mode introduced in Windows 8 that enables applications to stay connected while the device (mostly) sleeps. All the more frustrating when that new command suddenly stops working.

This is what I have been doing for the past few days: draining the battery of my new Dell Venue Pro 11, a Windows 8.1 tablet (the real deal, not RT). I wanted to find out how good Windows has become at battery-efficient video playback and how that is affected by GPU acceleration.

For a geek, one of the most fun things is choosing a new toy. I experienced this once again when I needed to buy a new laptop computer. The selection process was a lengthy one, during which I looked at and considered practically every model on the market. The benefits of that are twofold: I get a new device, whose strengths I appreciate and whose weaknesses I accept because I know there is no other model better suited for my needs on the market. You get this: a very personal laptop computer buyer’s guide.