Acer commissioned Principled Technologies (PT) to measure the battery life and performance of the Acer TravelMate TimelineX 8172T notebook system. This system has an Intel Core i3 Processor 330UM 1.2 GHz and ran the Microsoft Windows 7 Professional operating system. Acer provided the test system. PT set up the system and executed all tests. As Figure 1 shows, the Acer TravelMate TimelineX 8172T notebook system produced a battery life score of 8 hours 41 minutes. The Workloads section provides details on the benchmarks we used.
The Test results section and Appendix A show the test results in more detail. The Test methodology section explains how we ran the tests. Appendix B details the system configuration. Workloads BAPCo MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 Our goal was to see how long the
Acer TravelMate 8172T battery notebook battery would last running BAPCos MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 battery life benchmark test. MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 is an industry-standard benchmark that provides a battery life rating and a performance rating based on common office scenarios. In our tests, we focus solely on the battery life rating.
MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 includes applications and workloads specific to mobile systems. These include office activities like file and document management, data processing, and rich content creation. This module provides a score for battery life of the tested applications. MobileMark 2007 measures system battery life in minutes. MobileMark 2007 records system battery life at the start of the Productivity 2007 benchmark. It repeats the benchmark workload until the system battery life is depleted, or until the system powers down due to low battery life. At the 7 percent battery life setting, MobileMark 2007 records a timestamp once per minute. At the end of the benchmark, it compares the beginning timestamp to the final (last recorded) timestamp. MobileMark 2007 derives its system battery life rating as the number of minutes between the start and end timestamps. MobileMark 2007 measures system battery life in minutes.
MobileMark 2007 records system battery life at the start of the Productivity 2007 benchmark. It repeats the benchmark workload until the system battery life is depleted, or until the system powers down due to low battery life. At the 7 percent battery life setting, MobileMark 2007 records a timestamp once per minute. At the end of the benchmark, it compares the beginning timestamp to the final (last recorded) timestamp. MobileMark 2007 derives its system battery life rating as the number of minutes between the start and end timestamps.
Test methodology This section details the methodologies we followed in testing the system. Measuring battery life with MobileMark 2007 Antivirus software conflicts MobileMark 2007 is not compatible with any virus-scanning software, so we uninstalled any such software present on the notebook PCs before we installed the benchmark. If any of these applications are already on the system under test, they could cause problems with the benchmark due to software conflicts. To avoid any such issues, before we installed the benchmark, we uninstalled all conflicting pre-installed software applications, including different versions of any of the programs MobileMark 2007 uses.
We complied with this standard for all the tests we ran by setting the notebook PCs brightness as close to 60 nits as we could without going below that brightness level. We used the following procedure before we started each test.
Note: This procedure assumes we began with the notebook plugged into the power supply.
1. To create a completely blank, white screen, open Microsoft Paint by clicking StartAll ProgramsAccessoriesPaint.
2. Open the Attributes by pressing Ctrl+E.
3. Enter dimensions that are larger than the current screen resolution. For example, if the screen resolution is 1,280 x 800, type 1600 for Width and 1200 for Height.
4. Click OK.
5. Press Ctrl+F to view the bitmap image and render the screen totally white.
6. Wait 45 minutes to allow the screen to warm.
7. Unplug the notebook from the power supply, and measure the displays brightness using a luminance meter in the center of the screen. (We used the Gossen Mavolux5032C.)
8. If the reading is below or significantly greater than 60 nits, use the notebooks keyboard screen- brightness-adjustment keys to bring the display as close to 60 nits as possible, then retest.
9. Allow the notebook to run on battery power for 10 minutes, re-measure the display, and adjust the brightness up or down as necessary.
10. Verify that the notebook saved the brightness setting by plugging in the system, unplugging it, and taking another reading.
Note: If the notebook did not save this setting, use its power-management application(s) to set the brightness appropriately, and save that setting. If saving the settings is ineffective, use the keyboard brightness setting keys to adjust the screen to bring the display as close to 60 nits as possible. Next, note how many times you pressed the button to achieve the desired brightness. After unplugging the system under test, use the keyboard to set the desired brightness by pressing the brightness button as many times as you previously noted to return the screen to the correct brightness level. BAPCo AutoConfig Tool v2.4.1
This tool supports three levels of configuration:
1. Only makes changes that are REQUIRED in order for the benchmark to run.
2. Additionally, makes changes that are RECOMMENDED for repeatable results.
3. Additionally, makes changes that help ensure best results. We choose Level 3 in the AutoConfig tool. The BAPCo AutoConfig tool makes the following configuration changes at each of the three levels: Level 1Required
Creates and activates a new power scheme that it names MobileMark 2007 Disables hibernate, standby, and display standby Sets hard drive timeout and CPU power management Note: See the following Power schemes section for details on this scheme Disables Screen Saver Disables Windows Update Disables Desktop Cleanup Wizard Disables User Account Control (UAC) Disables Sidebar Level 2Recommended Completes Level 1 Disables Windows Security Center
Acer TravelMate 8172T battery warning messages Disables Windows Firewall Disables incoming Remote Desktop connections Disables Windows Error Reporting to Microsoft
Prevents the Welcome Center from running at startup Power schemes The BAPCo AutoConfig tool creates a MobileMark 2007 power scheme, which makes the following power option changes: a. Additional settings: Require a password on wakeup: No b. Hard disk: Turn off hard disk after: 3 minutes c. Wireless Adapter Settings: Power Saving Mode: Maximum Power Saving d. Sleep: Sleep after: Never e. USB settings USB selective suspend setting: Enabled f. Power buttons and lid:
Lid close action: Do nothing
Power button action: Shut down
Sleep button action: Sleep
Start menu power button: Shut down g. PCI Express: Link State Power Management: Maximum power savings h. Processor power management: Minimum processor state: 5% Maximum processor state: 100% i. Search and Indexing: Power Savings Mode: Power Saver j. Display: Turn off display after: Never Adaptive display: Off (Extends the time that Windows waits to turn off the display) Display brightness: 100% (We then adjust the brightness percentage to be no less than 60 nits) k. Multimedia settings: When sharing media: Prevent idling to sleep l. Battery: Critical battery action: Shut down (on battery), Do nothing (plugged in) Low battery level: 0% Critical battery level: 0% Low battery notification: Off Low battery action:
Do nothing Installing MobileMark 2007 v.1.06 and configuring the system for testing
1. Turn off the wireless network adapter by using the external toggle switch.
2. Insert the MobileMark 2007 Install DVD in the notebook PCs DVD drive.
3. When the Autoplay appears, click Run setup.exe.
4. At the Welcome screen, click Next.
5. Accept the license agreement, and click Next.
6. At the Choose Destination Location screen, accept the default location of
C:\ProgramFiles (x86)\BapCo\MobileMark 2007, and click Next.
7. At the Ready to Install the Program screen, click Install.
8. At the InstallShield Wizard Complete screen, click Finish.
9. Download MobileMark 2007 Patch 5, saving the download to the desktop.
10. Double-click the MobileMark 20007 Patch 5 desktop icon.
11. In the 7-Zip self-extracting archive window, select a location to extract the installation files, and click Extract.
12. Browse to the location of the extracted files, and double-click the MobileMark 2007 folder.
13. Double-click the MobileMark2007_patch folder.
14. Double-click setup.
15. At the Welcome screen, click Next.
16. At the Update Complete window, click Finish.
17. Run the BAPCo Auto-configuration tool, v.2.4.1,
or manually set the power options:
a. Insert the Auto-configuration tool disc in the notebook PCs DVD drive.
b. Double-click BAPCo_AutoConfig.bat.
c. Type M to choose MobileMark 2007.
d. Type 3 to choose the changes that produce the best possible scores.
e. Type R to restart the system when the application prompts you to do so.
18. Adjust the screen brightness to no less than 60 nits:
a. Click the Windows start button, and type power options in the Windows Start Search box.
b. Click Change plan settings.
c. Click Change advanced power settings.
d. Expand the Display option, and change the Display brightness on battery and plugged in to the correct percentage that produces no less than 60 nits. Note: If you are unable to save these settings, please see the Displaying Brightness section above.
19. Disable automatic disk defragmentation:
a. Click the Windows start button, type disk defragmenter in the Windows Start Search box, and press Enter.
b. Click Configure Schedule.
c. Uncheck the box next to Run on a schedule, and click OK.
d. Click Close.
20. Disable System Protection:
a. Click the Windows start button, and type System in the Windows Start Search box. In the search results that appear, click System under the Control Panel heading.
b. Click System Protection in the left pane.
c. In the System Properties window under the System Protection tab, click the first Available Drive under the Protection Settings heading, and click Configure.
d. Click the Turn off system protection radio button, and click OK.
e. When prompted with Are you sure you want to turn off system protection on this drive?,click Yes.
f. Repeat steps c through e for any other Available Drives as necessary.
g. Click OK, and close the System window.
21. Disable Windows Desktop Search indexing:
a. Click the Windows start button, type Indexing Options in the Windows Start Search box, and press Enter.
b. Click Modify.
c. Under Change selected locations, uncheck the boxes next to each indexed location, and click OK.
d. Click Close. 22. Defragment the hard drive(s):
a. Click the Windows start button, type disk defragmenter in the Windows Start Search box, and press Enter.
b. Highlight the local disk drive under Current status, and click Defragment disk.
c. When the process is complete, click Close.
Conditioning the battery
1. Plug the AC power adapter into the notebook PC, and completely charge the battery.
2. Install MobileMark 2007 v1.06, following the steps we outlined in the Installing MobileMark 2007 section earlier in this section.
3. Double-click the MobileMark 2007 icon on the desktop.
4. Highlight the Productivity 2007 item in the left panel.
5. Type System Conditioning as the name for this test in the Project Name field in the top-right panel, and click Next Step.
6. If MobileMark 2007 lists no problems or warnings, click Next Step. If it does list any problems or warnings, close MobileMark 2007, and correct the problem(s) before proceeding.
7. After the benchmark integrity check, click Next in the Preparing a new test window.
8. When prompted, unplug the AC power adapter. The Productivity 2007 test begins immediately.
9. The test is complete when the notebook PC has fully depleted its battery and is no longer operational when running on battery power.
10. Plug the AC power adapter into the notebook PC, and completely charge the battery.
Measuring battery life with MobileMark 2007 v.1.06 We performed the following steps to run the MobileMark Productivity 2007 benchmark:
1. Double-click the MobileMark 2007 icon on the desktop.
2. Select the Productivity 2007 test by highlighting it in the left panel.
3. Enter a name for this test in the Project Name field in the top right panel, and click Next Step.
4. If MobileMark 2007 lists no problems or warnings, click Next. If it does list any problems or warnings, close MobileMark 2007, and correct the problem(s) before proceeding.
5. After the benchmark integrity check, click Next in the Preparing a new test window.
6. When prompted, unplug the AC power adapter. The test begins immediately.
7. The Productivity 2007 test is complete when the notebook PC has fully depleted its battery and is no longer operational when running on battery power.
We executed the MobileMark Productivity 2007 test three times on the system and took the median battery life run as the representative score for that
Acer TravelMate 8172 battery test. Getting the MobileMark 2007 results After each MobileMark Productivity 2007 test completed, we plugged the AC power adapter into the notebook PC and turned on the system. MobileMark 2007 started automatically after the system booted, analyzed the test scores, and opened the Test Results Viewer with the results from the last test.
To submit these results to BAPCo, we saved the test results directory by performing the following steps:
1. Browse to the C:\ Program Files (x86)\BAPCo\MobileMark 2007\results directory.
2. Select My Computer. 3. Select Local Disk (C:).
4. Select the Program Files directory.
5. Select the BAPCo directory.
6. Select the MobileMark2007 directory.
7. Select the results directory. (Note: The name of the directory for the Productivity 2007 results is the name you gave the test in Step 3 of the MobileMark Productivity 2007 process.) Measuring performance with BAPCo SYSmark 2007 Preview v1.06 Addressing antivirus software conflicts SYSmark 2007 is not compatible with any virus-scanning software, so we uninstalled any such software that was present on the notebook PC before we installed the benchmark.
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