Testing laptops on battery and AC power — Comparing Intel, Qualcomm, Apple, and AMD

Tom's Hardware compared new Intel, Qualcomm, Apple, and AMD laptops on battery and plugged-in power using Cinebench 2026 and Handbrake.

Apple's M5 Max was the most consistent unplugged, and Intel's Core Ultra X9 388H also held performance well.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme showed the widest swings between battery and AC performance.

AMD laptops posted the biggest battery performance drops, leaving the largest gap to close for battery parity.