The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    What can one disable to extend battery life?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by StagoreK, Jun 19, 2007.

  1. StagoreK

    StagoreK Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    My T60 is a 2 ghz, 4mb cache with 2 gigs of memory and an ATI 64MB dedicated card, with Windows XP, and a 6 cell battery.

    I notice the battery life gets eaten faster than I would like, and I do realize with the faster specs and CPU it will get hotter, and also battery life will be less.

    But I was wondering what can I turn off that I may not use that would save a lot of battery?

    For example I don't use bluetooth so I keep that off. But my LAN is on all the time, even though I only use wireless, would it help to turn it off or power it down somehow? Would it save much battery life?

    What other things would one recommend?

    Thanks!
     
    StagoreK, Jun 19, 2007
    #1
  2. hehe299792458

    hehe299792458 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    175
    Messages:
    1,571
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Disable all the hardware you don't use and try to undervolt your CPU (try NHC for that).
     
    hehe299792458, Jun 19, 2007
    #2
  3. dietcokefiend

    dietcokefiend DietGreenTeaFiend

    Reputations:
    2,291
    Messages:
    3,023
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    106
    Closing the lid on my T60 and disabling the LCD gets me about 3 more hours ;)
     
    dietcokefiend, Jun 20, 2007
    #3
  4. colm

    colm Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    21
    Messages:
    126
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    turn off wireless, lower the screen brightness to it's lowest, set the hard drive to power down after 1 or 2 minutes, don't use your DVD drive, unplug any external devices (usb drives etc..)
     
    colm, Jun 20, 2007
    #4
  5. spike229

    spike229 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    125
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    i had a pentium M dell that lasted for about 3 hours turned up to full doing web surfing and i used a program to turn down the cpu and turned the screen down the lowest then let go of the mouse.. all that and i finally got up to 5 hours and 4 minutes of life.. or thats what it told me neway....
     
    spike229, Jun 20, 2007
    #5
  6. StagoreK

    StagoreK Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks for the replies, I'll try all the suggestions.
     
    StagoreK, Jun 20, 2007
    #6
  7. johndrake

    johndrake Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    14
    Messages:
    25
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Screen brightness is a big one. And run System Update to make sure all your power management software and BIOS are up to date...
     
    johndrake, Jun 22, 2007
    #7
  8. Matt

    Matt Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    2,618
    Messages:
    1,757
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    LOL! :D

    As others have suggested, I find these most useful:

    - Lower screen brightness (as if it wasn't low enough already :rolleyes: )
    - Turn off wireless
    - Switch power profile to Maximum battery
    - Remove any discs from your optical drive (spinning the disc requires power)
    - Turn off Bluetooth
     
    Matt, Jun 22, 2007
    #8
  9. colm

    colm Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    21
    Messages:
    126
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I'm *really* happy with the 9 cell battery life on my 15.4" T61....I get approx. 5:00 from a full charge....(That's with WiFi on too).
     
    colm, Jun 22, 2007
    #9
  10. imjimmy

    imjimmy Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Good to hear. I have a similar config, which in now in transit shipping.
    I wanted to know if the 9 cell battery protrudes too much from the side. How heavy(approx) do you figure the machine is with the 9 cell battery?
     
    imjimmy, Jun 22, 2007
    #10
  11. vkpascal

    vkpascal Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    58
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    i read this, anticipating a solution!!!! i cycled the mechanics of this twice in my mind?
    gotdamnit


    terribly funny (literally)!
     
    vkpascal, Jun 22, 2007
    #11