Intel has a solution to improve the battery life of future laptops, claiming it can add anywhere between four and eight hours of juice.
Dubbed as "Low Power Display Technology," it has a pretty straightforward name. Going by just that, it's easy to tell that the company is setting its sights on the component that typically drains the most power out of most devices — it's the screen, in case it isn't obvious.
Power Efficiency
As PCWorld says, the new technology will optimize the display and its inner workings, cutting LCD power consumption in half, which is two watts down to just one watt. It's designed with the U-series and Y-series processors for ultrabooks and other similar low-powered devices in mind.
Intel's Josh Newman tells the news outlet that the optimization could translate to four to eight hours more battery life in real-world usage. Theoretically speaking, that means some laptops might eventually be capable of keeping the lights on for one whole day on a single charge.
Engadget reports that the chip maker demoed a Dell machine equipped with the efficient panel and touted it to last 25 hours with a video playing on loop.
When it comes to brightness, there's no compromise either. PCWorld mentions that the panel can deliver about 350 nits.
Intel is working together with Sharp and Innolux on the technology. The announcement was made at Computex.
Competition Pushes Innovation
It's no mystery that Intel is starting to feel the heat of the competition from the Windows 10 ARM laptops that Qualcomm and OEMs are pushing out. Case in point, it indirectly warned Qualcomm about it back in June 2017.
These Windows 10 ARM devices promise more than 20 hours of battery life and house Snapdragon chips under the hood, so from that, it was only a matter of time before Intel had an answer to them, which is presumably the Low Power Display Technology.
The Bottom Line
Short battery life is an issue that most, if not all, laptop owners are familiar with. No one wants to see a low-battery warning while they're in the middle of something with no available outlets around. Thanks to the upcoming new panel, that'll be an unlikely scenario soon.
Intel is expected to roll out laptops with Low Power Display Technology sometime this holiday season, but whether or not pricing in general will be affected is in the hands of the device manufacturers.
