Lenovo's Power Manager vs. Windows 7 native power settings

[JayNYC]

Hi. Running a T60P with Windows 7 32bit. Do the experts here use and recommend Lenovo's Power Manager Software? Or does Windows 7 have better power management capabilities?

Are there any features of Lenovo Power Manager that Windows 7 does not have?

[Norway Pad]

Generally Lenovo system software contains features that are more aimed towards and better suited to Lenovo hardware than generic Windows functions. Most of the settings and options there are the same as the ones found in the built in Windows power manager, and you will also see that the settings you select in Power Manager are copied over if the same setting exists in Windows. Functions that are specific for Power Manager are settings for fan and system temperature, which you don't have in Windows. Power Manager also lets you set charging thresholds for the battery, and gives you access to detailed battery information, like cycle count, capacity, voltage, and so on. Combined with Hotkeys, it also gives you the Fn+F3 menu, and it let's me control my R61/T61's 'Always On USB', which I believe is otherwise a BIOS setting.

The drawback is of course that Power Manager is another piece of software that draws resources. I always use Lenovo's Power Manager for my Thinkpads, as I find the above mentioned functions and settings useful to have. Even though really I suspect and expect it does, I haven't run tests which proves that Power Manager actually gives better power management capabilities than Windows.

FWIW, my advice is to use it. Others might disagree.

[dr_st]

The Power Manager is about almost the only piece of Thinkvantage Software I find useful on a modern machine...

[ajkula66]

The Power Manager is about almost the only piece of Thinkvantage Software I find useful on a modern machine...

QFT. Same here.

[emeraldgirl08]

FWIW, my advice is to use it.

I agree. It really is a helpful program.

[Ormu]

Bumping this because this issue is related...

It seems that (after an update of something?) the hard disk on my T410 spins down when using Windows 7 even though I have disabled hard disk spin down in the power manager. I think I'm going to get rid of the power manager as it apparently can't do what it should.

I don't really need accurate power management capabilities. What I usually want to do is disabling most power saving features. Display brightess adjust and ability to turn off radios (Fn+F5) are important. Do these work without the power manager software?