New Office Productivity Battery Life Scenario Released Today From Procyon®

Today, May 4, 2023, UL Solutions released a new scenario for the Procyon Battery Life Benchmark for Windows, which assesses daily usage of Microsoft® applications by constructing a simulation of general office usage throughout a typical working day and considers a personal computer’s (PC) screen brightness in its scoring.

Procyon is a suite of benchmark tests for professional users in industry, enterprise, government, retail and the press. Each Procyon benchmark is designed for a specific use case and uses real applications where possible.

This new office productivity scenario uses Microsoft® Office applications to simulate a working day. The benchmark uses Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook, with each workload allocated 15 of minutes run time, producing a workload versus idle time balance at the end of the loop. The score will be measured in minutes of battery life. Development is ongoing for this to be available multi-platform later in 2023.

Screen brightness can drastically impact battery life  

The latest launched scenario, office productivity, can further enhance this battery life benchmarking data’s consistency and reliability with its ability to take screen brightness into account.

Comparing calibration results between different devices, including the option to bring screen brightness into the testing, can enhance the consistency and reliability of this benchmarking data. The graph below uses data from our battery life benchmark, illustrating how screen brightness on a PC can vary depending on user preference and impact scoring.

Optimizing productivity for busy professionals and better informing retailers and manufacturers  

The rate of a PC’s battery draining depends on the usage by the individual, as evidenced above, showing the difference 200 nits of screen brightness can have on battery life compared to 40 nits.

Managing the PC lifecycle and ensuring peak productivity can prove difficult for information technology (IT) professionals who are often managing a fleet of PCs from multiple locations.

PC manufacturers also can increase their customer satisfaction with a standardized and consistent way of reporting and scoring battery life. The data from our relevant, accurate and impartial benchmarks, shown as easy-to-understand performance metrics for their specific use cases, can back up personalized recommendations from sales teams. For example, providing customers who are considering purchasing a laptop with battery life scores could help with decision-making, giving them better information to make the right choice for their needs.

UL Solutions designed the Procyon Office Productivity Battery Life Benchmark for Windows for IT professionals looking to maximize productivity and budget, technology reviewers, and retail customers looking to improve customer satisfaction by providing data that allows them to make informed purchases.

The Procyon benchmark suite offers flexible licensing, allowing you to choose the benchmarks that best meet your needs. You can buy just one benchmark or add more in any combination.

Find out more about Procyon benchmarks.