In A Nutshell
The Lenovo ThinkPad T450s‘s capability to browse the internet for over 15 hours without a charge makes it the laptop with the longest battery life. The ThinkPad T450s starts at around $1070 and the extended battery is available for around $80.
The Details
The stock T450s comes with a 3-cell battery that lasts for a respectable 7-8 hours, but the extended 6-cell battery significantly increases the battery life. Laptop Mag tested the ThinkPad T450s using their Laptop Mag Battery Test, which includes continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi, and found that the extended battery lasted for 15 hours and 26 minutes. That means the 14-inch, 3.5lb laptop can last the duration of a trans-Pacific flight. The battery capacity is NOM 11.22V 6.34Ah 72 Wh and Lenovo offers a Power Bridge feature which lets you change batteries without powering down the laptop.
Reviewers are split on the quality of the RAM upgrades, and it does not come with the most expansive storage. There is, however, an overwhelming consensus that the ThinkPad T450s has one of the most comfortable keyboards on the market. Finally, the T450s’s 500GB SSD and Intel 5th Generation Core i5 cpu assure a speedy performance.
While the T450s is not among the lightest (3.8lbs) nor thinnest (.83″) laptops on the market, it is among the most durable. Laptop Mag writes on the T450s’s durability:
With a carbon-fiber lid, magnesium body and interior roll cage, the notebook is designed to take some abuse, passing MIL-SPEC tests for extreme temperatures, humidity, vibration, sand, shocks and fungus. The company also tests the T450s by opening the device’s stainless steel hinges 30,000 times and dropping metal balls on the machine from over a meter in the air.
Another Option
Chromebooks are a cheaper alternative to the pricey ThinkPads and offer a competitive battery life. I have an ASUS C200 Chromebook and its battery lasts for 11 hours of continuous wireless browsing. While Chromebooks are lightweight and inexpensive, their functionality and pared-down OS make them good for browsing the web but not much else web.
The ASUS C200 is available for around $200.
