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    Battery Life Windows XP

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by konfuzd, Apr 14, 2008.

  1. konfuzd

    konfuzd Notebook Guru

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    I have a Lenovo 3000 N200 (0769A8U) that has been giving me constant problems in windows vista. Over the weekend I gave up and installed xp pro, using the drivers from lenovo's website. today I took my laptop with me to class only to find out that I now have about a 1-1.5 hour battery life vs the 3 hour battery life I saw with vista. Here's what I did before I made this discovery:

    -Used RMClock to lock the CPU in Super LPM (800MHz).

    -Made sure PowerMizer was enabled on the GPU.

    -Set the screen brightness at about 50%.

    I know xp doesn't have nearly the power management tools built in that vista does, but it shouldn't be this bad. What did I miss?
     
    konfuzd, Apr 14, 2008
    #1
  2. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    Actually, that's about right, IMHO. I had horrible battery life under XP, and I saw a huge battery life increase under Vista. You might try not using RMClock, and then allow XP to manage the power settings, using the Power app in the control panel.
     
    kegobeer, Apr 14, 2008
    #2
  3. facadegeniality

    facadegeniality Notebook Consultant

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    wow i din know that. why is this so?
     
    facadegeniality, Apr 15, 2008
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  4. konfuzd

    konfuzd Notebook Guru

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    Everything else I've seen says battery life is about the same with both os's. But I guess every pc is unique.

    I found one possibility to improve battery life if I can get it to work. I installed windows desktop search 3.01 on my laptop, but I can't set it to disable indexing when on battery power. I know its possible, but I can't get the addon to work with the group policy editor, despite having followed the instructions found here:

    http://1060.org/blogxter/entry?publicid=B1D8B10704436D86C425463A8B7DB7BE&token=

    Any ideas?
     
    konfuzd, Apr 15, 2008
    #4
  5. obsolete

    obsolete Notebook Evangelist

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    Yeah, if Vista offered twice the battery life of XP I would have installed my free upgrade version long ago. It doesn't sound right to me, but I don't have any answers for you. Sorry.

    Battery FAQ
     
    obsolete, Apr 15, 2008
    #5
  6. konfuzd

    konfuzd Notebook Guru

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    I figured out the indexing thing, but I'm still curious to see if there's anything else.
     
    konfuzd, Apr 15, 2008
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  7. Hiker

    Hiker Notebook Deity

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    Unless some can can me how, it doesn't make sense. I highly doubt Vista gets twice the battery life of XP.
     
    Hiker, Apr 15, 2008
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  8. iRis9091

    iRis9091 Notebook Consultant

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    it does, i installed xp yesterday to give it a try
    i get 1 hour and 20mins on xp and 2 hours and 28mins under vista
    xp just sucks bad now
     
    iRis9091, May 26, 2008
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  9. eleron911

    eleron911 HighSpeedFreak

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    I have a much battery life in XP than Vista .
    And even better now that I UVed the CPU.
    Granted, Vista is more advanced and might provide better battery life, but it doesn`t work for everyone.
    Honestly, Vista is an improvement in this particular chapter.
    Pairing Vista with Undervolting will get you an awesome battery life, but a very slow computer.
     
    eleron911, May 26, 2008
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  10. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

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    It's time to go back to Vista then.
     
    coolguy, May 26, 2008
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  11. Surfer666

    Surfer666 Notebook Consultant

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    Which battery are you using konfuzd?
     
    Surfer666, May 26, 2008
    #11