UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark

UL Procyon® Battery Life Benchmark

Measure the real-world battery life of laptop and notebook PCs

A laptop's battery life depends on how you use it, but a lack of standardized approaches for battery life benchmarking means many manufacturers favor methods that produce eye-catching battery life claims that end-users are unlikely to see in real-world use.

The UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark measures the real-world battery life of Windows laptops, notebooks and tablets across a range of scenarios. The first two scenarios—Video Playback and Idle—are available now with more in development and coming soon.

Features

  • Measure real-world PC battery life.
  • Compare battery life profiles of devices.
  • Run tests from the UI or the command line.
  • Export results as Excel, XML or PDF files.
  • Simple to setup and run. Can be used offline.

Relevant results

Accurately and consistently measuring PC battery life proves challenging because battery life depends on how you use the device. The UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark measures battery life for a range of real-world scenarios.

Designed for professionals

We created the UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark for enterprise IT managers, retailers and press reviewers who need relevant, standardized tools for accurately and consistently measuring the battery life of Windows laptops, notebooks and tablets.

Easy to use

The benchmark is easy to install and run—no complicated configuration required. Run the benchmark from the graphical UI or via the command line. View benchmark scores in the app or export detailed result files for further analysis.

A better way to benchmark battery life


A laptop's battery life depends on how you use it. Some activities are more intensive than others and will drain the battery faster. Screen brightness settings, power saving features and other optimizations can also significantly extend or reduce the battery life for different tasks. Manufacturers favor testing methods that produce the longest battery life claims, while end-users want to know how long the battery will last in everyday use.

The UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark continues the Battery Life Profile concept we pioneered in PCMark 10. Instead of producing a single number, the UL Procyon Battery Life Profile provides a broad view of battery life across different scenarios. The Procyon Battery Life Benchmark includes two popular scenarios—Video Playback and Idle—with further scenarios already in development.

Bar chart comparing the UL Procyon battery life profiles of two laptop computers

Video Playback

The Video Playback scenario uses the Microsoft Films & TV app (known as Movies & TV in the U.S.) that is included with Windows. The benchmark measures battery life by playing an HD video file in full-screen mode until the battery is empty.

Idle

The Idle scenario measures battery life when the PC isn’t performing any active tasks. The screen is kept on, but there is no other activity. The Idle scenario produces the upper limit of the system's battery life profile.

More scenarios coming soon

Further scenarios are already in development, and cross-platform support for Apple Mac computers is coming later this year.

For enterprise IT


The shift to hybrid and remote working has increased the importance of battery life benchmarking. IT managers need to provide employees with PCs that are suitable for their work in remote locations while striking a balance between performance, portability and battery life.

The UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmarks gives IT teams practical battery life measurements for a range of real-world scenarios.

For retailers


Retailers use benchmarking data from UL at the point of sale to help their customers make informed purchases.

PC manufacturers tend to make attention-grabbing battery life claims that end-users are unlikely to see in real-world use. Retailers can improve customer satisfaction by using Procyon Battery Life Benchmarks to a device's practical, real-world battery life for a range of scenarios.

For press


A lack of standardized approaches for battery life benchmarking across the industry means end-users have a hard time comparing the battery life of different devices.

The UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark helps reviewers measure PC battery life accurately and consistently for a range of real-world scenarios. A Procyon battery life profile provides a more useful way of comparing models than a single figure.

UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark

Buy now

Get quote Press license

From $495 per year

  • Annual single-seat license for UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark.
  • Priority support via email and telephone.

Also available

Flexible licensing lets you pick and choose the individual UL Procyon benchmarks that best meet your needs. You can buy just one benchmark or add more in any combination. Contact us for a quote.

Minimum system requirements

OS Windows 10, 64-bit
Processor Dual-core CPU
Memory 4 GB
Storage 5 GB

Ready for Windows 11

UL Procyon benchmarks are compatible with Windows 11.

Ready for Windows on Arm

The Battery Life Benchmark is compatible with Always Connected PCs powered by Arm processors.

Required applications

Microsoft Films & TV (Movies & TV in the U.S.)

Applications not included. You must install and activate licensed versions of the required applications on every system you plan to test.

Support

Latest version 1.0 | July 1, 2022

Languages

  • English
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Spanish