To test the battery today we put the machine through three sets of real world situations.
One as a media movie lover on the move, a person wanting to watch HD media on a train journey or bus with two thirds screen brightness (any less and quality suffers).
Secondly as a business man, using the machine for productivity with wireless enabled and balanced power settings with a mid way (around half) brightness setting.
Thirdly as a gamer on the move, with the nVidia graphics card fully active and screen brightness up high.
We didn't expect five hour battery life from a performance machine. When gaming, the system battery lasted around 1 hour and 30 minutes, extending to 2 hours and 30 minutes when loaded with general tasks.