A way to UNDER-clock the R2 for more battery life?

I am extremely impressed with how zippy the i7 feels in day to day usage. Having tons of apps open it doesn't miss a beat (except for the usual accessing external disks or whatever).

I'm so happy that I wonder if there's a way to UNDER-clock my processor to gain more battery life? I don't play many games on it, just day to day usage.

Is the default speed 133mhz? I see the setting in BIOS goes up to 166, but any way to set it lower?

 

There is no native way to do this, but it is automatically built in to your laptop. Intel Speedstep downlclocks your CPU while idle so it saves battery life. Make sure it is enabled.

Here is an idea too for you: Between enabling Intel Speedstep and disabling Turboboost, you would lock your system at not passing 1.2 GHz, and it would downclock when necessary. I don't think battery life savings would be worth it tho.

 

Well, I have no idea (as I have not actually messed with the Bios on my M11x yet) but maybe this could help. How to Underclock a PC - wikiHow

 

Good idea, I'll try disabling the Turboboost (Already enabled SpeedStep). I wonder if the performance hit will be too much, I'll report.

Thanks, I recommend going into the BIOS and disabling the ports you don't need (like Bluetooth and WWAN in my case) for a few more minutes of battery

 

Well, I gotta say the battery indicator didn't change much (if at all) after disabling TurboBoost, I guess I'll turn it back on.

And the machine definitely feels slower, starting up a few apps and moving things around. Not un-usable, just a little less responsive during some actions.

 

Yeah, Speedstep is what you're asking for, and that just downclocks the CPU when it can. As long as you got that enabled, you are set.

 

I don't think I can trust the windows battery indicator too much, it has been stuck at 3:13hrs for 5 minutes

So maybe it did make a difference, I'll have to use it for more time to figure out how much more battery it gave me, if any.

 

AT YOUR OWN RISK! NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO MACHINE!

There is an option, in windows 7. I am not in front of my m11x so I am going from memory here...
1. Start -> Run -> type MSCONFIG
2. Choose BOOT tab at the top.
3. Notice at the top it has an option to set CPU number? Try entering 1 and see what happens. Remember to save settings and do not change the memory option.

You may want to create a restore point before doing this just in case....

Good Luck, StevenX

 

Thanks Steve, however it was already set to 1 so I didnt change it.

Man the windows battery indicator stinks, it was stuck at: 3:13hrs 77% for 5 minutes

Now it is: 3:15hrs 75%

 

Be sure to let me know!

 

I installed BatteryBar, I'll use my machine for a couple of days without turboboost and I'll let you know