Electronics

What are the best Linux laptops with good (10hours+) battery life?

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon vs Lenovo Thinkpad T480s vs Dell XPS 13

 vs HP Spectre 13 vs HP Spectre x360 15t vs Lenovo Thinkpad T460 vs Lenovo Thinkpad T470s

Specs

RAM

8GB/16GB LPDDR3 1866Mhz

Storage

512GB/1TB SSD

Screen resolution

1920x1080 or 2560x1440

Weight

2.49 lbs / 1.13 kg

GPU

Intel HD 620 Graphics

Ports

2x USB-C Thunderbolt 3, 2x USB 3.0, HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card, Native RJ45 dongle port

3DMark Firestrike Score

1001

Dimensions

WxDxH: 12.74" x 8.55" x 0.63" / 323.5mm x 217.1mm x 15.95mm

Battery Life

15.5 hr MobileMark 2014

Battery capacity

57Wh

CPU

Up to 8th Generation Intel Core i7

Ethernet Port

Dedicated Ethernet Port via ThinkPad Ethernet Extension Cable

CPU

-

Screen size

-

Aspect Ratio

-

Wireless

-

Webcam

-

Trackpoint

-

Card Reader

-

GeekBench Score

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

RAM

-

Storage

-

Screen resolution

-

Weight

-

GPU

-

Ports

-

3DMark Firestrike Score

-

Dimensions

-

Battery Life

-

Battery capacity

-

CPU

-

Ethernet Port

-

CPU

-

Screen size

-

Aspect Ratio

-

Wireless

-

Webcam

-

Trackpoint

-

Card Reader

-

GeekBench Score

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

RAM

8 GB/16GB

Storage

128GB/256GB/1TB SSD

Screen resolution

UHD, FHD

Weight

2.7 lbs

GPU

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Ports

2xUSB3 & 1xDisplayPort

3DMark Firestrike Score

-

Dimensions

-

Battery Life

-

Battery capacity

-

CPU

-

Ethernet Port

-

CPU

8th-generation Intel quad-core i5-8250U or i7-8550U processor

Screen size

13.3"

Aspect Ratio

16:9

Wireless

802.11 n & Bluetooth 3.0

Webcam

720p

Trackpoint

No

Card Reader

No

GeekBench Score

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

RAM

-

Storage

-

Screen resolution

-

Weight

-

GPU

-

Ports

-

3DMark Firestrike Score

-

Dimensions

-

Battery Life

-

Battery capacity

-

CPU

-

Ethernet Port

-

CPU

-

Screen size

-

Aspect Ratio

-

Wireless

-

Webcam

-

Trackpoint

-

Card Reader

-

GeekBench Score

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

RAM

8GB

Storage

256GB SSD

Screen resolution

UHD

Weight

2.89 lb

GPU

Intel Graphics 620

Ports

2xUSB-C, 1xUSB-A

3DMark Firestrike Score

920

Dimensions

-

Battery Life

-

Battery capacity

-

CPU

-

Ethernet Port

-

CPU

8th Generation Intel Core i7

Screen size

15.6inch

Aspect Ratio

16:9

Wireless

-

Webcam

-

Trackpoint

-

Card Reader

-

GeekBench Score

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

RAM

8GB/16GB

Storage

240GB, 500GB, 1TB HDD/SSD

Screen resolution

1366 x 768

Weight

-

GPU

-

Ports

-

3DMark Firestrike Score

-

Dimensions

-

Battery Life

-

Battery capacity

-

CPU

-

Ethernet Port

-

CPU

6th gen Intel Core i5

Screen size

14"

Aspect Ratio

-

Wireless

-

Webcam

-

Trackpoint

-

Card Reader

-

GeekBench Score

6708

3DMark FireStrike Score

-

RAM

8GB-24GB

Storage

1TB SSD

Screen resolution

1080p

Weight

2.9 lbs/1.364 kg

GPU

Intel 520 HD Graphics

Ports

3xUSB-A, 1xUSB-C, HDMI, Ethernet

3DMark Firestrike Score

-

Dimensions

-

Battery Life

-

Battery capacity

-

CPU

-

Ethernet Port

-

CPU

Intel Core i7-6600U 6th Gen

Screen size

14inch

Aspect Ratio

-

Wireless

-

Webcam

-

Trackpoint

-

Card Reader

-

GeekBench Score

-

3DMark FireStrike Score

1078

Pros + Cons

Con
 Not sure what Linux distros it has 10 hours of battery time with

Comment

Pro
 Excellent display

The X1 Carbon comes in two different versions. With a 1080p or a 1440p display, with the latter being $70 more. Both displays are excellent. The image is sharp and the colors are very noticeable. Although, understandably, the 1440p display has images that are a bit sharper than its 1080p counterpart. According to colorimeter tests, both versions of the display can produce 104 and 103 percent of the sRGB color gamut, respectively. That's very impressive when compared to the average for 14" displays (83%). The 1080p screen is noticeably brighter than the 1440p screen (292nits vs 257nits) and the colors generally start fading only at about 45 degrees viewing angle.
Comment

Con
 Missing a full size Ethernet port

The X1 Carbon has a native RJ45 Ethernet port but it requires a dongle, so people who prefer having a wired connection will need to remember to bring a dongle.
Comment

Pro
 Great build quality

The Carbon X1 is a very light and durable laptop. It has the characteristic raven-black finishing of other Thinkpads on top of a carbon-fiber reinforced chassis. The carbon fiber increases the overall durability of the laptop, making it a great fit for people who travel a lot since it can withstand a lot of physical damages.
Comment

Pro
 Great battery life

The battery supports over 10 hours of light activity like web browsing, watching videos and editing documents. This can be doubled to 20 hours by swapping in the extended, 6-cell battery, which can be hot swapped without turning off the laptop since it also has an internal 4-cell battery.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent typing experience

Like most Thinkpads, the X1 Carbon has an excellent keyboard as well. The keys have about 1.8mm of travel and provide great tactile feedback. Their gently curved keys also make it very easy to target without looking at them. The keyboard also has optional backlighting which can be turned on or off with a simple key press.
Comment

Pro
 Great speakers

The X1 Carbon has bottom-mounted speakers which provide excellent audio output. The sound is loud enough to fill a large room and there's clear separation of sound coming from the speakers, making them great for any sorts of recreational activity involving audio be it listening to music, watching movies or playing videogames.
Comment

Pro
 Very portable

At around 2lbs this is a very light laptop. Especially when you compare it to other Thinkpads. It's light enough to carry in one hand and when it's carried in a backpack it's easy to forget that you are carrying a laptop because of how light it is.
Comment

Con
 Extended dual battery adds weight

6-cell extended battery adds 0.4 pounds to take this ultrabook's weight far above that of the ultrabook standard (<3 pounds).
Comment

Pro
 Great form factor

Compact, but not tiny.
Comment

Pro
 Great, colorful display

The Spectre x360 has a great glossy Full-HD screen to complement its amazing design. At 317 nits, the screen is pretty bright and it has a decent color range as well, covering 101.7 percent of the sRGB color spectrum.
Comment

Pro
 Long battery life

For simple activities such as web browsing and editing files, the HP Spectre clocks in at around 11 hours of autonomous battery life.
Comment

Pro
 Good keyboard

HP put a lot of effort in the creation of this keyboard and it shows. With 60 gram actuation weight and a travel length of 1.3mm, typing on the Spectre x360 is a great experience, reminiscent of typing on a mechanical keyboard.
Comment

Pro
 Great design

The HP Spectre x360 has an all-aluminum body that gives it a very premium feel. The edges are all smooth and polished which provide a great highlight accent to the laptop.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent performance

Performance of course depends on the configuration, but a medium-powered configuration with 8GB RAM and i7 provides an excellent performance. Multitasking is a breeze and the laptop doesn't stutter or lag even with 20 Chrome tabs open simultaneously. The SSD is also extremely fast and is able to copy 40GB of data in about 2 seconds. Gaming performance is decent as well, managing to hit 40FPS with Dirt 3 on medium settings.
Comment

Con
 Can easily trap heat and overheat

The extremely thin chassis is a drawback as far as heat management goes. Even a relatively simple activity like streaming HD videos will overheat the laptop and put the internal heat at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit which is 10 degrees higher than the 95 degrees "comfortable" threshold.
Comment

Con
 Has some bloatware

While it's less than HP usually has, there are still apps like Netflix, The Weather Channel, Hearts Deluxe, Connected Photo etc.
Comment

Pro
 You can swap the external battery with a second one without shutting down the laptop first

Since the T460 also has an internal 3-cell battery besides the external one, you can hot-swap the external unit once it runs down with another one (because the external battery is drained before the internal one) without shutting down the laptop, effectively adding an addition 10 hours of battery life to your laptop.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent touchpad

The Touchpad in this laptop is excellent. It's very responsive and consistent with both swipes and gestures.
Comment

Pro
 Extremely durable

Like all other Thinkpads, the T460 can handle a beating. The chassis is made of plastic reinforced by fiberglass which makes it extremely durable. Lenovo also claims that the T460 has passed several MIL-SPEC 810G durability tests, including those for extreme temperatures, shocks and vibrations.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent battery life

The T460 uses Lenovo's PowerBridge technology which basically combines an internal 3-cell battery with an external, removable 6-cell battery. Both of these units amount to an average of 13 hours and 12 minutes of normal use.
Comment

Pro
 Capable of serious multitasking and productivity work

With 8-16 Gigs of RAM and with an SSD, this laptop is capable of doing some serious multitasking without experiencing any lag whatsoever.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent keyboard

The T460 has an excellent keyboard which provides a very pleasant typing experience. The keys have and overall 2.33mm of vertical travel, which is pretty deep for laptops (1.5mm-2mm is typical). The keyboard is also spill-resistant, which is not surprising, considering the length Lenovo has gone to to make this laptop as sturdy as possible.
Comment

Con
 The display does not have very rich colors

Even though the 1080p display is very accurate and produces a sharp image, it struggles a bit with displaying accurate colors. Tests show that the T460 reproduces only 67 percent of the sRGB color gamut with both touch and non-touch panels.
Comment
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