The UL Procyon One Hour Battery Consumption Benchmark measures the % battery drain over the duration of the benchmark run.

We recommend that the device you are testing has at least 20% battery before starting the test, as reported battery % drain is not as reliable at low battery levels on some systems.

After starting the run, the test workload will start after the first battery level change is detected by the benchmark.

Recommended baseline settings.

For the most reliable and comparable results, we recommend you start with the PC at factory settings and a fully charged battery. 

  • If the device is new, or the battery hasn’t been discharged for a while, follow the manufacturer’s advice to calibrate and condition the battery.

Windows

  • Set DPI scaling to 100% 
  • Disable WiFi / Bluetooth / Cellular 
  • Disable Screen Saver and Monitor Timeout 
  • Set the screen brightness level to 200 cd/m2 
  • Unplug any peripherals that consume power (e.g. external keyboards, mice or USB storage devices) 
  • Power mode set to balanced (or default OEM setting).

macOS

  • Calibrate the screen brightness to 200nits 
  • Auto adjust brightness - off (on by default) 
  • Color preset - default 
  • Refresh rate – Pro motion / Out of the box default 
  • Dim Display on battery - Off (on by default) 
  • Low power - Never (Automatic on pro model)  
  • True tone - off (on by default) 
Luminance is occasionally expressed in Nits. A Nit is a non-SI name used for units of luminance and is equivalent to the luminance SI unit cd/m2 (i.e. 1 nit = 1 cd/m2.)

Screen brightness settings

Screen brightness can have a significant effect on battery life. To produce comparable results, you should calibrate your device to the same screen brightness for each test if screen brightness is not your testing variable. For devices using standard backlit LCD displays, we recommend setting the screen brightness level to 200 cd/m2. For devices using other types of display technologies, please refer to the manufacturer's recommendations.

Please note that different devices may offer different levels of maximum brightness. Different screens may offer different levels of brightness at any specific brightness setting. E.g. the 50% brightness setting on one device may not be equal in luminance to the 50% setting on another device.

Recommended testing process

  • Make sure your battery level is at least 20% or higher before starting the Benchmark run
  • Open the UL Procyon application and start a Procyon One-Hour Battery Consumption Benchmark 
  • If the device is new, follow the manufacturer's recommendations to condition or calibrate the battery before starting the benchmark.
  • Please do not use the device while the benchmark is running.  
  • After the benchmark run, you will get the result page showing how much your battery drained during the benchmark run.  
UL Procyon benchmarks use real applications whenever possible. Updates to those applications can affect your benchmark score. When comparing two or more systems, be sure to use the same version of each application on every system you test.