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Randy writes " Basic laws of thermodynamics and conservation of matter (and energy) provide all the evidence--actually solid *proof*--you need. *Anytime* heat is generated, that means power has been wasted (unless that heat was generated for a purpose and captured for that purpose--but I assure you, nobody buys computers to use them as space heaters)." Well I sure don't know what conservation of matter has to do with this, but any processor is going to generate heat. The amount of heat generated (and power used) depends on the processor design and the speed it runs at. If a machine runs hot, it does not mean that it is *generating* more heat, which is the only issue as far as battery life goes, but more likely that it is simply not dissipating the heat as effectively, which has nothing to do with power usage. Since most of the heat comes from the processor and related chips, two machines with the same processor at the same speed will generate about the same amount of heat. The Thinkpad *seems* to generate more heat because it is designed to run with a very hot case bottom (note that the top of the case is actually cooler than in most othr designs), and dissipate the heat by contact with what it is sitting on. This seems to work fine, and has no apparent adverse effects except ones of convenience if it is trying to dissipate its heat onto your lap (I also slightly damaged a wood surface on a table before I realized just how hot it ran). I run my thinkpad permanently on, and it is usually sitting on a padded table which I doubt is a very good heat sink, so that's a worst case, and I have had zero troubles. As for battery life, it seems comparable to other machines with the same hardware configuration, which is what one would expect.