A class action started in a San Jose district court alleging that chip giant Intel is misleading people about the battery life of a laptop.
Daniel’s Den Inc alleges in the filing that it promoted its own microprocessors as giving superior battery life for a laptop.
The filing says that it based those claims on tests using MobileMark 2007, benchmark software belonging to the BAPCo consortium, of which Intel is a member.
Results from using MobileMark 2007 that Intel promoted do not meet the advertised battery lifespan, according to the filing. “To the contrary, regular use of such laptops produces vastly reduced battery life,” it continues.
It is further alleged that MobileMark 2007 doesn’t give an accurate indication of the battery life people can expect, and that the advertised lifespan “is misleading and inaccurate”. Further, “Intel knows, or reasonably should know, that its battery life claims are unrealistic”.
The filing quotes an article in the New York Times dated June 17th 2009 as describing the MobileMark 2007 test as “limited” and that Intel’s reliance on the test is “troubling”.
The plaintiff invites others to join in this legal case, based on a machine bought in November 2008 and advertised as giving between 6.2 to 6.5 hours of battery life, but in the plaintiff’s experience, the battery life is considerably less than 6.2 hours on a single charge.
The case seeks for a court to decide whether Intel made inaccurate claims; used inflated battery life claims in its advertising; is in breach of warranty with such claims and whether it violated unfair trade practice statutes.
