I ditched my laptop charger for a day of travel, w...

An Asus Zenbook Duo laptop being used to play Civ 6 on a UK train — (Image credit: Future)

Gaming laptop battery life is, by and large, rubbish. Or rather, trying to use a gaming-capable machine for a full day of work without charging it is, err, rubbish. I've hauled many discrete GPU-equipped lappys into the office for a spot of real-world testing, and most of them are usually begging to be plugged into a wall socket by lunchtime.

Upon hearing Intel's battery life efficiency claims for its new, Panther Lake-based, Core Ultra Series 3 chips, I knew what needed to be done. Top up my Asus Zenbook Duo review sample overnight, take it on my round trip from my Southampton home to 18WENKU Towers in Bath (a roughly 126 mile jaunt), use it for a regular day, and record when it conks out.

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More doubts entered my mind. I still had a full eight-hour working day in front of me, and I was planning to finish off with some light gaming on the journey home. Could this power-efficient machine, even with a 99 Whr battery system, really run the distance?

As is the way when you get your head down at work, I soon forgot about my battery anxiety. I set to work typing up my performance testing piece, attending video meetings, and juggling multiple windows and tabs. While I wouldn't describe myself as a power user in the traditional sense (I'm not 3D modelling or spending all day in Photoshop, for example), my role involves a whole lot of multitasking—and the PTL chip cruised through every demand I asked of it with ease.

Two Intel stickers on the back of an Asus laptop

(Image credit: Future)

By lunchtime, after roughly four hours of near-constant usage, I was down to around 70%. My mood improved immensely at this point, as it was clear that the lappy's battery was relatively unbothered with my usual work routine. Merrily, I skipped into Bath for an overpriced sandwich.

However, my post-lunch afternoon was about to provide a more demanding test. Heading down to our studio, I used the Asus machine as a note provider for a chat with my hardware overlord, Dave, about the new Panther Lake chips, before capturing some B-roll footage and photos with our peerless video team.

The Arc B390 iGPU is a very capable graphics cruncher, but booting up something truly demanding, like Cyberpunk 2077, would likely be a battery-draining mistake

Again, those dual OLEDs were booted into life, with the brightness boosted for an accurate capture. I thought about all the tech running inside my charger-denied sample.

Twin 1800p OLEDs, blazing away in front of me as the laptop rotated on a motorised plinth. 16 CPU cores, albeit with Low-Power Efficient versions taking the lead on battery power alone. Perhaps I should start closing some tabs and background apps to even the odds a little?

I resisted. This was a real-world test, and while the dual-screen design of this laptop skews the data a little, I was still curious as to the capabilities of the Asus machine itself.

18WENKU hardware writer Andy Edser demonstrating the dual OLED displays of the Asus Zenbook Duo gaming laptop in a video shoot A photo of the display of the Asus Zenbook Duo laptop with 18% battery life remaining

(Image credit: Future)

For those of you with ultra-efficient, productivity-style laptops in your possession, the idea of all-day battery life is far from a new one. But from a gaming laptop, it's a rare sight. It's also an impressive indication of just how efficient Intel's new chips are when subjected to all the rigours one might throw at them over a long day, and how well the Core Ultra X9 388H handles its power management.

I could have realistically left the Asus machine's power brick at home, and not worried once about making it back with battery life to spare. And while we're not quite at the point where laptops are capable of delivering truly phenomenal gaming battery life, I think my testing is a pretty good indication that we're well on our way.

My usage adds up to around 11 hours total, give or take. And while that might not seem too impressive at first glance, the fact I had nearly 1/5th of the battery remaining after a full day, including nearly two hours of gaming time, has made me rethink what I expect from a gaming machine's portable potential.

Intel's Arc B390-equipped chips will rightly gain plenty of accolades for their iGPU gaming performance—but when it comes to legacy, it might be the battery life that cements their place in the hardware hall of fame.

Best gaming laptop 2026

1. Best overall:
Razer Blade 16 (2025)

2. Best budget:
Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10

3. Best 14-inch:
Razer Blade 14 (2025)

4. Best mid-range:
MSI Vector 16 HX AI

5. Best high-performance:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10

6. Best 18-inch:
Alienware 18 Area-51

👉Check out our full gaming laptop guide👈

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