Page 1 of 1
Installing a low-voltage CPU in an X200
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 4:51 am
by anars
Hello!
I'm not too happy about the battery life on my X200. It runs with a P8400 CPU right now, but was wondering if it's possible to replace that with an SLxxxx?
I realize the SL (amongst others) runs at a lower voltage, which I assume is auto-detected by the BIOS.
Any thoughts and opinions are welcome!
Re: Installing a low-voltage CPU in an X200
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:35 am
by ZaZ
The X series CPUs are soldered. You'll have to replace the motherboard unless you want to do the solder work yourself. You could probably use a X200s board, but that seems an expensive option. If you park the CPU at the lowest setting in Power Manager, which is all you need for Office and Internet, that should help with the battery life.
Re: Installing a low-voltage CPU in an X200
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:17 am
by anars
Thanks for the reply.
I've already set it to use the most battery-time saving profile, but it still doesn't seem to do the trick: I can hear the CPU fan even though it has a 7200 RPM HDD even on the battery-time saving profile, and it only clocks down from 2,23 GHz to 1,5 GHz.
I'm running with a 4-cell battery, and I only get around 1:50 hrs while running on lowest powerconsuming setting. I'm considering purchasing a 9-cell battery for the longer trips between power outlets. Is there a linear relation between the number of cells and Wh's available?
Regards,
Anders
Re: Installing a low-voltage CPU in an X200
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:24 am
by ZaZ
That seems a bit low from every thing I've seen, but I don't have a X series notebook. My own R60 goes about 2.5-3 hours with the screen at half and wifi on, that's with the six-sell. How old is your battery? There are bigger battery options for the X200. A ssd will offer you some more battery life and better performance if you want to spend the money.
Re: Installing a low-voltage CPU in an X200
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:08 pm
by j-dawg
I've heard that the X61t gets ~2-3hrs on a 4-cell battery, but the 8-cell gave me six to eight hours when it was new. I've never found a good explanation for it. Maybe they use different cells for the different batteries?