Thinkpads Forum

Hey all

I've had an x60s for about a year, using Linux (First Arch, then Ubuntu, and settling on Mint) for most of that time. I recently installed Windows, since I'd heard I could get better battery life if I used it, but in fact I'm seeing a much higher power draw. I can typically get two hours from the original battery in Linux, but barely 1:30 in Windows.

I have a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate (installed yesterday), and I installed the chipset drivers, power management suite and drivers, and a couple of other drivers (bluetooth, graphics) and a BIOS update.

What have I done wrong?

Windows uses 3D accelerated Aero, which keeps the GPU active all the time. Should explain the difference in power consumption. You can disable Aero by selecting the classic theme.

Try to configure all options in the power manager for minumum power draw. I set speed to minimum, deep sleep state, brightness 10 out of 15, dim screen to 8 at 1 minute, reduce screen refresh rate to 50 Hz, turn off HDD after 30 seconds (though I have SSD, not sure if it's a good idea with a platter drive), etc.

Also, you can clean the heatsink and apply new thermal paste. The more efficient the cooling system disipates heat, the lower the temperature of the CPU and the lower thre speed of the fan or even the time it's on. It draws more than what people thinks, probably in the order of 1-1.5W.

Thanks for the reply!

Either Windows or the Lenovo power management suite turns Aero off on battery, so it can't be that.

I've just re-done all that bar change screen refresh, I don't believe that's possible with this hardware. Battery life doesn't seem that different, and power draw is still high.

That sounds like a good idea, actually, it's probably not been done since new. Still doesn't help with the disparity between Windows and Linux, however.

What's the average power consumption in watts reported in the power manager?

Where does one find the average? All I can find is the current usage.