What kind of laptop user are you?

Robert Hallock 8 Apr, 2009 at 12:21pm ET Article published in Tech

Last Sunday we reviewed the myth of a laptop’s battery life, and began to discuss tests that would more accurately represent the battery life experienced by a real user. Throughout the discussion (which you should definitely join), it has become clear that we must first understand how regular people use their laptops. To begin gathering this data we have devised a quick two-question survey which seeks to answer that very question. Once we’re armed with a body of relevant data, we can move forward to design repeatable tests that more accurately represent the usage habits of real laptop users.

Please, take the survey and help make battery life ratings a little more accurate for everyone.

Thank you!

Comments

8 Apr 2009 ~ 12:41pm MiracleManS I have participated in your survey. I expect results NAO!
8 Apr 2009 ~ 12:49pm GooD Done too , but i don't except results NAO lol
8 Apr 2009 ~ 1:11pm Cliff_Forster I plugged in my numbers and passed the link around.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 1:38pm Leonardo Good idea. I just wish to remind whomever compiles survey takes into consideration the small sampling of respondants, and that said group does not necessarily represent the general market.

I completed the survey. The battery life 'study' has merit!
8 Apr 2009 ~ 1:42pm Thrax Through the power of Icrontic's resources, this survey is reaching millions of people, Leo. The vast majority of them will not gamers or tech enthusiasts.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 1:42pm BuddyJ Small sampling? We're at over 100 respondents right now and have taken this waaaay outside of just Icrontic's user base.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 1:45pm Thrax We had 100 respondents in the first five minutes.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 2:03pm MiracleManS Good to see this kind of stuff reaching a large user base. Things like this should happen more often.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 2:13pm airbornflght Yup, with 100 people in the sample you are already pretty close to a standard curve so the results should be pretty reliable.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 2:22pm Ryder "Two question Survey" links right back to the article.. on purpose?

Done, BTW.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 2:23pm Cliff_Forster This is amazing,

Just imagine, a year from now, your standing in a store looking at a box with a brand new mobile battery benchmark. It could happen, and if it does not, at least Icrontic did not assume a position of apathy.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 2:25pm Thrax Definitely done on purpose, Eric.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 2:34pm mas0n Awesome.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 2:37pm Leonardo

Through the power of Icrontic's resources, this survey is reaching millions of people

definitely not a small sampling

I was under the impression it was just Icrontic.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 3:14pm Cliff_Forster How many responses do we have so far? Plotting all that data could be some fun,

I am not too shabby with statistics if you need a hand.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 3:19pm QCH Done surveyed...
8 Apr 2009 ~ 3:27pm Thrax

Cliff_Forster wrote:

How many responses do we have so far? Plotting all that data could be some fun,

I am not too shabby with statistics if you need a hand.

I'm gonna whore myself out a few more times on Twitter to hit different day/time crowds, then let the survey run for a bit and then start crunching the data.
8 Apr 2009 ~ 3:41pm MiracleManS I wouldn't consider it whoring if what you're doing is actually something useful and needed...

Well, I guess it is by definition maybe
8 Apr 2009 ~ 3:45pm primesuspect Twitter is going to help immensely with the sample size.
9 Apr 2009 ~ 7:11am FelixDeSouze Done! -- I'll pass the link on as well
9 Apr 2009 ~ 8:51am poofie /survey'd!
9 Apr 2009 ~ 10:27am Mochan Done. BTW it is important to note that the answers in the survey only pertain to how you're using the laptop per se, right?

I mean I ranked listening to music very low, but that's because I don't use my laptop for listening to music; I use my MP3 player (or my desktop) for that.
9 Apr 2009 ~ 10:30am Thrax Given that the question for the survey is "how do you use your laptop?" ... Heh.
9 Apr 2009 ~ 11:28am Cliff_Forster So, how are we doing so far? Many responses?
9 Apr 2009 ~ 11:38am Thrax We're up to 174 responses so far.
9 Apr 2009 ~ 1:07pm the_technocrat first question needed to be a 1-5 as well
9 Apr 2009 ~ 1:21pm chrisWhite Done. First question didn't make much sense for me, I'm pretty equally the first and second options.

Basically, my laptop is for all media, internet and office type of stuff while my PC is for gaming, 3D, 2D, video, VFX and other pro-apps
9 Apr 2009 ~ 1:29pm Thrax Good thing you had all those awesome options in question #2 to explain what you like to do, right?
9 Apr 2009 ~ 1:39pm BobbyDigi Done. Glad to give me .5%
Keep up the awesomeness guys!

-Bobby
23 Apr 2009 ~ 1:19pm TranceLordSnyder Done!
23 Apr 2009 ~ 3:10pm Mirage I took the survey but I wish the first question had a "all of the above" choice. Anyway, the following questions will tell the usage pattern. I have 4 laptops (one of them Macbook). I use each of them for different purposes; playing with MacOS/UNIX, one laptop for office work, a bulky laptop for 3D gaming, and a lightweight for going anywhere. I think office and lightweight laptops are most critical regarding battery life, 3D gaming is always plugged in.
23 Apr 2009 ~ 3:18pm Thrax The second question perfectly captures any user who's really an "all of the above." If everything is important to you, you can definitely throw a shotgun of 5s!