T60 battery life mediocre

My T60 doesn't seem to be getting very good battery life. It's the 14.1" model as specified here (mine has the X1400, though). I have the processor turned down to low, the screen set to 5, and the fan set to balance parameters. Right now I've een surfing the internet on and off (the screen/hard drive turn off after 3 minutes and standby is after 10 minutes) for about 3 hours and the battery's at 13% whereas it started at 95% (I have the battery set to charge when below 75% and stop at 95% while the AC is plugged in).

So, what am I doing wrong? Is it possible my battery is partially defective?

 

I've got the same screen and graphics hardware. I agree about the battery.

I just use the AC most places.

 

This is with the standard 6-cell? If so, what you're getting is perfectly normal. Upgrade to the 9-cell if you want to make 5+ hours.

 

You're right. It is a 6 cell, and with all the extra load on it in comparison to my old 365XD, it seems normal. I'm happy with it.

 

Yes, it's the standard 6-cell.

 

The 3+ hours you are getting is expected. On my 15" T60, I get about 3.5 hrs using only the 6-cell. I got the ultrabay battery as well, so all-in-all, I get about 4.5-5 hrs on battery. If you had gotten the 14" with the GMA950, you'd be getting about 6 hrs on battery (6-cell only) as that's what my bro is getting on his T60.

The x1400 is most certainly a battery guzzler. It's sad that Powerplay doesn't work in battery mode.

 

Dropping the screen to 3 or 4 will help some.

 

I've got my screen at brightness 5 on AC and brightness 1 on battery. It's still confortably bright enough for me even at 1.

 

Is there some way to adjust the power the X1400 is using to try to conserve some battery power?

 

Not to my knowledge. Powerplay doesn't seem to work with the x1400. It could be just if you're using Omega drivers (like I am), or it could be due to another incompatability, I'm just not too sure.

You can try underclocking the GPU/VRAM and see if that will give you better battery life. Powerstrip would be a good place to start as it allows you to save profiles.

cheers!

 

Good call, Ramian. I just desperately called Lenovo to try to switch out my x1400 to a 64mb x1300 to try to save some power; their advice was just to get the x1400 and underclock the GPU. It wasn't totally clear whether you can do this in power profile or whether you'd have to download something 3rd party (like notebook hardware control), but it seems underclocking the x1400 should save a pretty bit of power. Besides I think everybody with 64mb VRAM is going to be hating it once they're trying to run Vista Aero.

 

I'll personally consider underclocking the video card only if there is a program which can handle stable undervolting of the CoreDuo and over/under clocking of the x1400. Currently only RMClock excels at the undervolting and PowerStrip at the over/under clocking of the x1400. Hopefully, v2 of NHC will be able to support both these features when it is finally released. Until then, I'm happy with just undervolting, even though the benefit lies more towards reduced temperatures rather than improved battery life.

 

Try using this to underclock your x1400

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/259

I've heard that using a x1300 will save little to no power overall.

 

It looks like powerplay comes pre-installed with the x1400; so, that seems like the best bet for underclocking the video card. Just like Rabian called, a combination of NHC and powerplay are probably needed to underclock both the processors and the video card.

 

I don't know if it works, but on mine, POWERPLAY allows you to set a battery-conserving mode while on battery. haven't tested yet. I hope it's real, since that was the basis on which I felt comfortable getting the X1400!

S

 

What should I underclock it to? I already have tray tools and power strip, and I've been snoping around on the Tray Tools forum to learn more about optimizing my graphics.

By the way the other day I got a little more battery by turning the display down to 1 on the battery. I always leave it at max when the AC is in, though. What's the point of turning it down when the power's free? This screen is aleady dark as it is at max brightness.

 

I believe that the battery life of the thinkpads is way overstated. IBM doesn't have some magical formula. The batteries they use standard are the same capacity as other manufacturers', and they have the same components as other notebooks, too. So I wouldn't expect anything more than 3 hrs for a 6 cell. I find that the IBM notebooks have dimmer screens in general, and it is beyond me how anyone uses a notebook at level 1, b/c it is very dim indeed. But if you took a dell, for example, and put it at the lowest, disabled all the ports' power, and lowered the processor speed just like the ibm's software does, you'd get similar battery life. IBMs have a rep for having super long battery life, but it is unwarranted.