Testing laptops on battery and AC power — Comparing Intel, Qualcomm, Apple, and AMD

['Andrew E. Freedman', 'Senior Editor', 'Layer Van-Ds .Vds-Author Font-Size Var --Text-Base', 'Font-Size Var --Vds-Author-Font-Size', 'Var --Text-Base', 'Line-Height Var --Text-Base--Line-Height', 'Line-Height Var --Vds-Author-Line-Height', 'Var --Text-Base--Line-Height', 'Letter-Spacing Var --Tracking-Normal', 'Letter-Spacing Var --Vds-Author-Letter-Spacing'] Latest from Tom's Hardware 2026-07-29 14:07:18

To see the current state of this, we've taken samples of the latest laptop from each major CPU manufacturer: Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple, and run a few tests to see how they compare. In AMD's case, we had two Gorgon Point processors, a Ryzen AI 9 465 and a Ryzen AI 7 445. While it dramatically increased in performance on battery for Cinebench nT, it dropped a similar amount for Handbrake. The least consistent system on battery power was the Acer Swift Go 16 AI, running on an AMD Ryzen AI 7 445. Intel and Apple's most advanced systems give you very similar experiences on battery and power — at least in these tests.