Back then, Intel had the best semiconductor process, and they had a wide margin on undervolting the CPU.
Back then, Intel had the best semiconductor process, and they had a wide margin on undervolting the CPU.
I don't know about undervolting, but ThrottleStop allowed me to run my 230W laptop off a 65W power adapter by downclocking the CPU to 800MHz!
How long did the battery last? Less than 30m I assume.
Anyway, indeed, that laptop was not designed to run off 65W. Mainly because it had a dedicated Nvidia GPU, but also because it had a bunch of other stuff (couple 6W fans, bright 4K panel, etc.).
The battery basically didn't exist from the very day I got the laptop brand new from Best Buy. I'm not sure if it's possible to get good battery life out of a 99Wh battery while pulling 230W. Of course, you could simply increase the battery capacity, but a not-insignificant fraction of laptop buyers want to bring them on planes so that'd be a pretty dumb idea.
They even tried to make it thin and light, which makes me cringe every time. Gamers don't need thin and light, wtf.