Z11 & Power Profiles

I've been spending some time playing around with all the new Z's power options (which I assume are mostly related to Windows 7), but I find that I like the fact that each of the 3 "modes" can be assigned a different overall profile, with different behaviors whether plugged in or on battery.

So I can use "Auto" mode for daily use (where I'm generally plugged in) with Nvidia graphics and pretty much everything set for good performance without excess heat production. Then if I simply unplug to do some surfing for a couple hours in front of the couch, "Auto" drops down to the Intel adapter but keeps reasonable performance settings, Aero, etc.

But if I'm going to spend a while away from power and just want maximum battery life, flick the switch to "Stamina" and I get the Intel adaptor, no Aero interface, 40hz refresh rate and pretty much everything set to extract the most battery life possible.

And if I'm feeling crazy, go to "Speed" and get everything full tilt on battery or AC... which I guess is good for playing demanding games (for the 15 or so minutes it'll last on battery!

I'm only a bit disappointed that they backlit keyboard and automatic screen brightness settings aren't tied to the individual power profiles, but are overall preferences.

Has anyone come across some good places to save battery life? They're kind of all spread out in at least three different sections - it took me a while to find the place to drop the refresh rate to 40hz for the "Power Saver" profile (which works better than I was expecting - video playback doesn't look like crap). Also I'm not sure where you tell it what theme to use - ie. where's the setting that switches from Aero to Basic?

 

Well if you go personalisation in the control panel it lists a background for W7 basic. However, i'm a bit sceptical if that really is Aero basic.
To be 100% sure you could go to the performance information and tools in the control panel and click on adjust visual effects in the left hand corner and then click on adjust for best performance. This will turn of Aero.

Also, you could try putting it in silent mode when on battery. You should find this setting in the vaio control centre.

Putting it in power saver and turning the drive of if you have it are obvious tips which you're no doubt doing already.

You could also check your wireless adapter settings and see if they are set to max performance. Having them on meduim is more battery friendly.

Also, in stamina mode can you set the Intel drivers to max power savings?

If you follow these tips and your own what sort of battery life are you indicated on a fully charged battery?

 

Hmm.

Sitting on an idle desktop, no WiFi, with a 100% charged standard battery in Manual Stamina mode with my newly optimized Power Saver profile, with the screen brightness at a rather dim 9% (the most it will let me do without the brightness warning message) it's showing me 7 hours, 33 minutes. Of course that's not doing anything.

If I turn on WiFi and then start playing a 720p x.264 video full-screen from over the network using WMP, at 18 minutes into the video the expected life has dropped to 3 hours 42 minutes at 92%. Which I guess works out to exactly 4 hours at 100%.

However my battery isn't fully conditioned yet, and I expect I could get a bit more if I was playing it from the SSD with WiFi off.