In the past year, some retail outlets in North America began including information on the battery life of the Notebook PCs available for consumers in store and online. This information is a measurement of how long the Notebook PC will run on a single battery charge. The test used to measure this battery life is the Mobile Mark 2007 (MM07) benchmark from the Business Applications Performance Company (BAPCo) industry consortium.
The Problem:
Because MM07 measures the battery life of Notebook PCs running only a few commercial applications and then running at idle as much as 95 percent of the time, AMD believes that providing consumers only MM07 battery life measurements only tells part of the story and as a result a prospective purchaser risks having unrealistically high expectations for the battery life of the Notebook PCs being sold. AMD believes MM07 battery life estimations do not reflect actual achievable battery life under normal usage because they can only be achieved under conditions which would be considered abnormal to most consumers – with screens dimmed to 20-30 percent brightness, with the wireless radio turned off and therefore no Internet browsing, with no virus scans or other security software running, and no video or music playback software running.
The Proposed Solution:
AMD believes consumers need more information in order to make a fully informed decision – i.e. MM07 battery life estimates on their own are inadequate - and that an additional measurement of battery life should be provided. AMD believes an appropriate second test is one that shows the battery life of a notebook PC actively using applications common among today’s consumers.
The Investigation:
To confirm AMD’s assumptions related to the above, AMD commissioned Synovate, a leading market research firm, to conduct a consumer survey in order to find out:
- How consumers interpret MM07 battery life information;
- Consumer understanding of MM07 methodology; and
- Consumer reaction upon learning about MM07 methodology.
In addition, Synovate presented consumers with AMD’s proposal to offer additional battery life measurement information showing the notebook PC’s battery life when it is actively running common consumer applications. Simply stated, AMD’s proposal is to provide consumers with Active and Resting battery life measurements. Synovate was commissioned to find out:
- How consumers interpret the Active and Resting battery life icon; and
- Whether consumers like this proposed way of communicating battery life.
Synovate’s eNation Omnibus survey was used to gather statistically relevant data, representative of the North American online consumer population as a whole.
The Findings:
Synovate Battery Life Research Highlights
Our Conclusions:
The findings of Synovate’s eNation Omnibus survey support AMD’s assertion that using MM07 alone does not provide full and adequate information to predict full battery life stated under normal use. Further, once consumers are made aware of the methodology behind MM07, they overwhelmingly want more information on the battery life a notebook PC delivers under normal operating conditions.
About Synovate eNation Omnibus Research