Power, Battery Life, Temperatures and Noise
After testing performance and weight, it’s time to see how the ASUS notebook compares when it comes to power and battery life.
Where the U6S and the HP nc6400 notebook both used about 25 watts at idle the U2E cuts that number by 75% or so and run on just 14 watts while sitting at the desktop. Under a full load the U2E is using just about as much as the other two systems at idle. This should bode well for battery life…
Again, because the U2E will come with both the 3- and 9-cell batteries, there are two instances of it here. The 9-cell results are simply incredible! Under our PDF reading scenario the system went about its business for nearly 8 and half hours and while playing back a DVD the system was able to loop for nearly 5 and a half hours! The ASUS U2E when paired with the 9-cell battery is probably capable of going through a whole work day without a recharge or need for a power cord as long as you hibernate it during your lunch break. Frequent fliers will love the ability to watch 2 or 3 movies in a single flight as well.
The results for the 3-cell battery aren’t as impressive and actually come in at LESS than a third of the 9-cell battery’s times. At 2 and a half hours or so under the reading test and 1 and half hours while playing back a DVD the system becomes much less portable in my view. You’d probably only want to use the smaller battery when you know you are only away from power for a short while.
The results for the 3-cell battery aren’t as impressive and actually come in at LESS than a third of the 9-cell battery’s times. At 2 and a half hours or so under the reading test and 1 and half hours while playing back a DVD the system becomes much less portable in my view. You’d probably only want to use the smaller battery when you know you are only away from power for a short while.
Getting all this performance and system in such a small container is obviously an engineering challenge – but ASUS seems to be more than capable of handling it. The hottest point of the machine was at the single exhaust port on the left side of the machine and the air coming out of that was about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Lucky for us right-handed mousers the right side was only 81 degrees and should remain cool enough for your hand while working on a desk. The bottom of the U2E was a bit hotter than I would have liked topping out at 108 degrees Fahrenheit but was it was manageable. I could definitely feel some of the heat on my leg on that left had side though.
Noise Levels
The problem with many tiny computers, whether they are laptops or HTPCs, is that small fans have to spin faster to move enough air to cool the system. I did have a brief period where the single, tiny fan on the ASUS U2E was creating a very audible humming sound, almost like it was just BARELY touching a fan cable or something like that. When I removed the keyboard and saw the fan, I pushed on it just a small amount and the sound was lessened quite a bit. Interesting, but not a major problem most likely.
Once that was resolved, the sound level on the system was pretty normal and though I the fan was still audible in a quiet room or office in most areas with just moderate background noise the U2E didn’t stand out.
