For laptop owners
Fast when it is cold. What does it hold when it is warm?
Laptops are sold on a peak they cannot keep. SystemCheck measures the level yours settles to, and whether the fan or the power limit decided it.
What the report tells you
Three figures, each with its reading.
Settled level
% of peak
Where the processor lands once heat has caught up with it. On a deep run this is the median of three windows, with the spread stated.
Battery flag
on / off
A run on battery is marked, because most laptops apply a lower power limit unplugged. Run both and the report shows the gap.
Saturation time
s
How long the machine took to reach its settled level. A thin laptop saturates in twenty seconds; a thick one in two minutes.
The diagnosis
The shape of the curve, read for your case.
01A single step down
Consistent with the manufacturer's boost window closing and the chip falling to its sustained wattage; comparing in the vendor's performance mode confirms it. That is usually the design, and the only fix is a higher limit in the vendor's power tool.
02A steady slide
Consistent with a cooler that cannot carry the sustained wattage; a sensor tool confirms it. A stand, a clean fan, or fresh paste changes this curve; a new power plan does not.
03A sawtooth
Consistent with a fan profile that lags the heat. Common on thin laptops in a quiet mode; the performance mode usually flattens it.
Every class comes with a stated confidence and the measurement’s own noise floor. How the shape is read
Where a browser stops
What it cannot tell you.
- No temperature or fan speed: the browser cannot read either. The curve is the evidence; the vendor's tool has the degrees.
- No battery health: the report reads the charge drained during the run, not the battery's wear.
- Core count as the browser reports it: some browsers round it down deliberately, and the report says so when it happens.
Which run
Deep, 9 minutes.
A laptop's story is its settled level, and the standard run's forty-five seconds is often not enough to reach it. The deep run's three minutes is.
All three kinds are free. The choice is on the set-up screen.
Questions
Asked in these words.
- Is my laptop throttling?
- Run the test with the laptop plugged in and quiet. If throughput keeps falling, by more than about 15%, after its boost ends and it settles, and the curve slides rather than steps, that is consistent with the cooling limiting it. A short boost and a clean single step down early in the run is normal and consistent with a power limit; the report shows it as the boost step and does not count it as decay. A sensor tool confirms which.
- Why is my laptop slower on battery?
- Most laptops switch to a lower sustained power limit on battery to protect the cell. The report flags a run on battery; run once plugged in and once not, and the before/after comparison shows the size of the gap on your machine.
- Does a laptop cooling pad help?
- It helps when the curve is a slide, because a slide is consistent with the cooler being the limit. It does nothing for a step, which is consistent with a wattage limit set in firmware. The shape tells you whether to spend the money, and a run before and after confirms it.