"In fact, the improvements in the electrical efficiency of computing are nothing short of astonishing. More importantly, they are the necessary precondition for the mobile world of computing you know and love. Let me run through a quick thought experiment so you can see why.
Imagine you've got a shiny computer that is identical to a Macbook Air, except that it has the energy efficiency of a machine from 20 years ago. That computer would use so much power that you'd get a mere 2.5 seconds of battery life out of the Air's 50 watt-hour battery instead of the seven hours that the Air actually gets. That is to say, you'd need 10,000 Air batteries to run our hypothetical machine for seven hours. There's no way you'd fit a beast like that into a slim mailing envelope."
great article on the improvements in efficiency of computing.
My wife has a laptop which she always plugs into an outlet - at work, home, motels when she travels. I know they used to last no more than 2 or 3 hours on battreies. Have they advanced the battery life on the typical laptop in the last few years?
Does a mac pro have good battery life? Down the road I'm looking at getting a laptop when we spend time in our rec home. I'm thinking a mac pro would be a good way to go, or does the mac air have the capability to stream videos, do the more simple things?