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I am purchasing new laptop and I would like to know which OS would use less battery backup.

I am very familiar with linux and windows. So just seeking a generic advice. My purpose? I am a programmer and I am passionate about it.

I work on VC++ and sometimes rarely on Java!

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    Isn't VC++ just Microsoft's C++, therefore you're forced to use Windows?
    – Daniel Beck
    Dec 30, 2010 at 11:55

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Depends on what IDE and which language do you use, and how often you compile the app.
For example if you use notepad (ha-ha) for c++, it will last forever. Okay, much longer than anything else. Why? Because it won't use the CPU / etc for auto-complete, format, etc. Won't stress your computer. (For example if you'd code Java, it'd take a lot of battery power because even the IDE is resource-hungry. See an eclipse startup. You make some coffee, drink it, brush your teeth, AND its loaded.)

If you compile, you drain your battery. If you do something, it'll drain your battery. The concept is THAT simple.

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T500 with a 9cell battery. It already lost some juice. However, I can code for 2 hours with maximum performance. That means everything is maxed out. 3 hours with dynamic CPU and about 6 with maximum battery life (so the IDE slows down sometimes. I use Code Blocks and Visual Studio). ALSO, you can put an extra battery into the ultrabay.

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the battery life is more dependent on the hardware than the os. how large is the battery, how large is the screen, what hardware will be on (bluetooth, wifi, cd drive), hard drive in high demand and how many applications you have open will influence the life more.

the os selection would account for maybe 30 minutes of battery life.

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All machines with reasonable quality and name brand should be able to handle 90 minutes of battery use twice a day, no matter what OS. From that on, it depends on what exactly you do, and compiling is expensive on any system. And if you buy yourself 5 minutes of time a day by fiddling with your unusual operating system for only an hour each week, you lose.

Don't buy insane gaming machines and that's it. You might need to replace the battery after a while, but it should make it a year or so.