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.

    Windows 7 Ultimate - Lower Battery life?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by worx, Sep 5, 2009.

  1. worx

    worx Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I am running my dell xps m1330 with Windows 7 RTM Ultimate 32 bit and noticed that shows about 30 - 45 minutes less than what it use to show when I was running a fully charged battery with Windows 7 Beta (build 7000). It use to show around 4 hours and now it shows no more than 3 hours and 30 mins with everything at the same settings. Does Windows 7 ultimate eat up more power? I was wondering if anyone else had this issue? Could it be any extra processes that are running in win 7 ultimate edition? Driver compatibility?
     
    worx, Sep 5, 2009
    #1
  2. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

    Reputations:
    1,654
    Messages:
    5,955
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Funny, I read only so far that Windows 7 extends battery usage better than Vista and XP - thus it cannot shorten battery life, non?

    cheers ...
     
    qhn, Sep 5, 2009
    #2
  3. Deks

    Deks Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    1,272
    Messages:
    5,201
    Likes Received:
    2,073
    Trophy Points:
    331
    I also read that Win 7 supposedly extends battery usage ... but thus far, I can't say I noticed the difference.
     
    Deks, Sep 5, 2009
    #3
  4. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

    Reputations:
    1,654
    Messages:
    5,955
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    MS makes an internal demo watching a DVD. Many T400 users reported an extra 1.4hrs of battery usage under W7.

    Those are the only rumors so far that I am aware of.

    cheers ...
     
    qhn, Sep 5, 2009
    #4
  5. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

    Reputations:
    836
    Messages:
    3,682
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    You'll probably need to wait for Dell to provide Windows 7 drivers before you start comparing battery life.
     
    kegobeer, Sep 5, 2009
    #5
  6. MaXimus

    MaXimus Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    432
    Messages:
    1,906
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    make sure youhave set your power plan to BALANCED and not High Performance! Balanced offers the same high performance only when you need it! , when idle, it is running at half the speed to save power, and give u a cooler heat experience!
     
    MaXimus, Sep 5, 2009
    #6
  7. worx

    worx Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I used the Power Saver profile on both Win 7 ultimate and back when I used the beta. I was comparing ultimate vs beta, but yeah, I probably should wait on newer drivers.
     
    worx, Sep 5, 2009
    #7
  8. GoodBytes

    GoodBytes NvGPUPro

    Reputations:
    742
    Messages:
    3,108
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    106
    It is a driver + BIOS issues. This issue will be fixed once all Win7 drivers are available. Don't worry about it.
    For me Power Saver (CPU lowest speed 1500MHz) uses more power than Balance (CPU lowest speed 795MHz) ... clearly a driver issue, as in Vista it's perfect.

    BTW, you should go 64-bit to unlock the full potential of your CPU, and be able to use 4GB or more of RAM.
     
    GoodBytes, Sep 5, 2009
    #8