Windows Vista confirmed to reduce battery life

[K. Eng]

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6181366.html

As I suspected before Vista's release, it has to do with the Aero Glass interface:

When Aero is turned off, battery life is equal to or better than Windows XP systems. But with it turned on, battery life suffers compared with Windows XP.

Lenovo's comment is:

"In (Aero) mode, you will drain the battery faster, but you get something in return because it's cool and nice looking," Lenovo's Locker said.

Hmm...

[milstein]

Would like to know from those who are using Linux and OSX on Thinkpad about the battery performance...
It should not be totally fair though, as the power management software on these platforms (for Thinkpad) are not so tailor-made

[dr_st]

As I suspected before Vista's release, it has to do with the Aero Glass interface

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Aero Glass stresses the GPU somewhat, and the GPU, like the CPU, is known to consume significantly more power under stress.

[berlin]

mystery solved My battery can last over 8 hours with Vista on my X60s and that's good enough for me. But it seems that everyone wants to squeeze 48 hours from an 8 cell, 10 hour battery. Also for Tseries users, you can lower your graphics settings to a score 2.0 and still run aero without problems.

[tomh009]

Berlin, can you clue us in on your settings? I think many other people here would be happy with your battery performance, too!

[Kyocera]

I pretty much confirmed it the first few days I was using it. And there was no rocket science involved.

Turn off Aero.

[tomh009]

I think Berlin is implying that he can get eight hours with Aero ...