Traveler’s Electronics Dream? Oh Yeah, Maybe!
For travelers, it should be no surprise that laptop sales have been plummeting at the expense of popular tablets. While laptops tout benefits such as more memory and hard disk space, they have been pretty dismal for battery life.
Battery lives in laptops are rated in hours but the problem has always been that the rating is based on optimal conditions, frankly something that never happens in the real world. Thus it is no surprise that a battery with a supposed 8-hour life really only works for 4 hours, maybe 5 if you are lucky. This can be a nightmare flying with no power outlets when suddenly your laptop dies on you.
Intel hopes to change this with a release of their newest processor. While the next gen chip will improve graphics and add a third power state, Intel promises the real gain is a dramatic increase in battery life. Long the bane for travelers, we should finally see laptops and hybrids with 10-13 hours of battery rating.
Will the new processor save the sagging Microsoft-based laptop industry? I have no idea but this is definitely a step in the right direction, even more so with products that include both laptop and tablet features. The timeline calls for the first Haswell-based laptops/hybrids to be available in the fourth quarter of this year (available this month for servers/desktops). If you are thinking of replacing yours, it might be worthwhile to put it off for a few months.
I think you’re a little off on your timeline. The new Macbook Airs with Haswell are shipping today. I know a bunch of Windows laptops were announced at Computex last week (Acer for example) with Haswell in them as well, though I don’t know when those are shipping.
I guess timing is everything. This was written last week but finally posted today and just by coincidence, Apple announced today at WWDC they they will ship the Airs with Haswell. As a Mac Air user myself, this is exciting news even though Intel acknowledged there is a minor bug. Side note: Apple also revealed iOS 7 today.
That said, the focus of this was Microsoft-based products and to date, I am not aware of any manufacturers that have committed yet to an earlier release though it wouldn’t surprise me given their lackluster sales.