New Intel chips to boost laptop battery by 50 percent


Today's laptops are held back, not by processing power, but by battery life. Even the best laptops can't go more than an average of five hours with multiple intensive applications running. Intel's fourth-generation "Haswell" chips are going to change that.

Intel's new 22-nanometer microarchitecture will reportedly boost laptop battery life by 50 percent, over computers running Ivy Bridge-based chips. It's not quite as impressive as previously reported, but we'll take it. Laptops with Haswell chips will use a feature called "power gating" to intelligently turn off features that suck battery life when the device is not in use.
Outgoing Intel CEO, Paul Otellini, described Haswell as a "revolutionary product" that will bring the "largest generation-to-generation improvement in battery life in Intel history" according toVentureBeat.
Not only will Haswell-powered laptops be able to run three HD movies on full before they drain, but it'll also bring about a 20 percent boost in graphics, as well as improved "instant on" states.
If you're on the fence for a new laptop, it's definitely worth waiting for next month when the first computers powered by Haswell chips are released.