Battery test

The battery test (Pro) profiles how your laptop's battery performs under different real-world scenarios. It measures discharge rate, power consumption, and estimated runtime across a series of workloads on battery power. The test also captures battery health data, so you can track degradation over time.

Battery testing is useful for comparing laptops and for evaluating battery health before and after a replacement. It also helps you validate power management settings and understand how different workloads affect battery life.

Prerequisites

Before you start a battery test, your system must meet one hard requirement:

Unplug the charger. The battery test requires your device to run on battery power. If the charger is connected, the test does not start.

Novabench also checks several conditions. If they are not met, it shows recommendations:

Battery level: charge to 90% or above before you start. Higher starting charge gives a longer, more accurate test.
Screen brightness: set display brightness to approximately 50% (between 45% and 55%) for consistent, comparable results across runs.
WiFi connection: the web browsing scenario works best with a network connection, though it is not strictly required.

Novabench shows these recommendations in real time on the battery test page. They update every few seconds as conditions change.

Test scenarios

The battery test runs six scenarios in sequence. Each one simulates a different usage pattern:

Scenario	What it simulates
Idle	Minimal system activity, screen on
Web browsing	Simulated web page loading and rendering
Video playback	Sustained video streaming and decoding
CPU load (light)	Moderate processor usage, around 25 to 30%
CPU load (medium)	Heavier processor usage, around 50 to 60%
CPU load (heavy)	Near-maximum processor usage, around 80 to 90%+

Each scenario runs for a fixed duration, and Novabench measures power consumption and energy used during that period. This gives you a detailed profile of how battery drain changes as workload intensity increases.

Stop threshold

By default, the test stops when the battery reaches 20%. You can adjust this threshold from 5% to 99% before starting. A lower threshold gives more data points but takes longer and drains the battery further.

Warning

Do not plug in the charger or close Novabench while the battery test is running. Interrupting the test produces incomplete results. Novabench sends a notification when the test is complete. The notification reminds you to reconnect the charger.

During the test

While the battery test runs, a progress view shows:

Current scenario: which workload is active
Battery level: real-time percentage remaining
Elapsed time: the time since the test started
Stop threshold: the battery percentage at which the test ends

You can cancel the test at any time. Novabench saves partial results for completed scenarios.

Reading your results

After the test completes, the results screen shows overall metrics, per-scenario data, and battery health information.

Overall metrics

Metric	Description
Time to empty	Estimated total runtime from full charge based on the discharge pattern observed
Average power draw	Mean power consumption across all scenarios (watts)
Total energy consumed	Total energy used during the test (watt-hours)
Efficiency	Minutes of runtime per watt-hour, which indicates how effectively the battery converts stored energy to screen-on time

Scenario breakdown

A table shows per-scenario results:

Duration: how long each scenario ran (seconds)
Average power: mean power consumption during the scenario (watts)
Energy consumed: total energy used during the scenario (watt-hours)

Comparing power draw across scenarios reveals how much each type of workload affects battery life. A large jump in power draw from idle to CPU load (heavy) is expected. An unusually high idle power draw can indicate background processes that consume resources unnecessarily.

Charts

Three time-series charts show the battery test data:

Battery level: shows the discharge curve (battery percentage over time), which reveals whether drain is linear or accelerates under heavy load
Power draw: shows instantaneous power consumption (watts) over time, with visible transitions between scenarios
Memory usage: shows RAM usage during the test, which can correlate with power consumption in memory-intensive scenarios

Battery health

The results also show battery health metrics that reflect the physical condition of your battery:

Metric	Description
Design capacity	The battery's original rated capacity as specified by the manufacturer (mWh)
Full charge capacity	The maximum charge your battery currently holds (mWh). This decreases as the battery ages.
Health percentage	Full charge capacity as a percentage of design capacity. 100% means the battery holds its original charge; lower values indicate wear.
Cycle count	The number of full charge/discharge cycles the battery has completed (when reported by the hardware)

A battery at 80% health holds only 80% of its original charge. Runtimes are shorter, even if the hardware is otherwise identical to a new unit.

Pro Tip

Run the battery test periodically (for example, every few months) to track health trends. A steady decline in health percentage is normal over time. A sudden drop can indicate a failing battery that needs replacement.

Feature availability

The battery test requires Pro or higher. Saving results to your Novabench account requires Plus or higher.

Feature	Plus	Pro
Battery test		Yes
Save results to account	Yes	Yes
Result tagging and comparison	Yes	Yes

Battery calibration: keep your battery controller's readings accurate so the test reflects real battery condition
Sensor monitoring: track power draw and temperature trends over time
System information: view battery and hardware details
Stress test: push CPU and GPU to sustained maximum load
Troubleshooting: tips for accurate and consistent test results