Thinkpads Forum

I have a a T61 with the following configuration: T8300(2.4GHz), 2GB RAM, 160GB 5400rpm HD, 14.1in 1440x900 LCD, 128MB nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint Reader, Windows 7 BETA 64bit
My problem is, that it seems to be impossible togo below 17-18W, even with lowered brightness (10%), wifi and bt off. With wireless on, 60% display brightness, I get about 22-27W, which is horrible. I don't know what to do, I can get like 4 hours from my 9c battery with 85% charged, which is not too fancy. Battery time is crucial for me, as I travel a lot.
Do you have any idea, what should I do, in order to lower the consumtion of my laptop?

Thanks for the answers in advance,
Mate

Is the CPU in balanced mode, which allows it to run at lower frequency when its idling?

dr_st wrote:Is the CPU in balanced mode, which allows it to run at lower frequency when its idling?

Where can I find it? IN Power Manager, I found CPU speed, that is set to Low, and my Settings are set to Balance all parameters.
I see Adaptive option at CPU speed, that's when frequency can change, no?

Yes, but if it is on Low (meaning fixed to lowest frequency), then it is already as power efficient as it is going to get.

Try running the process manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and track CPU usage over time. If you frequently have some processes hogging CPU time, rising CPU utilization over 30% even when you are idling, this could be a reason for the high power consumption.

Also I would check that power saving mode is enabled on the nVidia card (no idea how to do that, though).

dr_st wrote:Yes, but if it is on Low (meaning fixed to lowest frequency), then it is already as power efficient as it is going to get.

Try running the process manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and track CPU usage over time. If you frequently have some processes hogging CPU time, rising CPU utilization over 30% even when you are idling, this could be a reason for the high power consumption.

Also I would check that power saving mode is enabled on the nVidia card (no idea how to do that, though).

You made a point. I checked, and a possible solution can be, that I enable PowerMizer, that can handle my GPU consumption. The problem is, that I cannot find it in my Nvidia Control panel. I checked, it should be under Mobile Settings, but I don't have mobile settings node in the tree in Nvidia Control Panel (NCP). I checked, my version for NCP is 2.7.100.11. Which version do you have? I tried to update it, but on nvidia site, where I can download it, it says Lenovo Thinkpad notebooks are not supported. Lenovo though, don't have a valid Win7 driver. :S I'm screwed. :S
I also checked my Task Manager, I ahve 0% CPU use with nothing opened, with 4-7% peaks. When I have Firefox and Word opened, I have a 19% constant CPU use, wih 35-39% peaks. I guess that's just normal. The problem I believe is the Quadro GPU.
Any idea about updating my Nvidia Control Panel?

I wanted to post an update on my old thread and I ended up reviving this thread along the way in order to make two points:

There's no reason for Firefox or Word to gobble that much CPU. Maybe you have a couple of these dreadful Flash websites open. Or maybe your version of Word is bloatware. You certainly want to keep that stuff under control if you want your battery to last.
That or disable all but one core, lock the system in superLFM and configure your CPU to run at its lowest speed. That way your power consumption should remain reasonable even with software running amok.

You should be able to save a watt or two by undervolting your CPU. Intel prevents us from undervolting Core2s much (the minimum voltage is so high that I can run my CPU from 0.6 to 1.8 Ghz without upping it) but it's still going to make a difference. In any case, RMClock has other settings that should improve battery life a bit. Check it out!
My 15 inches T61's idle power consumption is about 15-20% under gulyasm's but then again I choose a T61 without dedicated graphics. More importantly perhaps, I can load the CPU without breaking 22W. And that's with two cores and wireless enabled...

T61s are obviously not designed to last a whole day with a single battery. It makes more sense to carry a second battery around than to fiddle endlessly with your laptop in order to squeeze a few more minutes of life out of a single battery.