Vista laptop battery issues

Lanz · 24 Jan 2007 at 16:06

Since i installed vista on the laptop, you can actually watch the battery going down. OK, the battery is old now and could really do with being replaced, but it wasnt like this before with XP installed.

Im guessing its coz of the constant disk accesses and Aero using the GPU shaders all the time, sucking away power.

Anyone else noticed this?

It seems like Pentium M isnt decreasing its Mhz when on battery too, it seems to be the same performance on battery or mains.

Lanz · 25 Jan 2007 at 00:41

Ah, it seems if i want to use Aero, i should expect my battery to last 10 mins...This is a known microsoft issue. I have to switch it off and use Vista basic if i want any useable battery life.... What a load of tosh.

So people, dont install it on your laptop, unless you always use it plugged in.

Clarkey · 25 Jan 2007 at 01:04

throttling doesn't work in vista with pentium M's

Hudzy · 25 Jan 2007 at 01:17

If you can leave it on overnight it should finish indexing your files. That should cut down on the disc access.

lay-z-boy · 25 Jan 2007 at 01:20

are you guys using the speed/power selector in the control panel (or taskbar)?

I had terrible battery life until i switched it over to battery saving mode.

Clarkey · 25 Jan 2007 at 01:46

battery saving mode made no difference for me.

Atari · 25 Jan 2007 at 01:57

Made very little difference on my MacBook. Seem's to be power hungry :eek:

Things change I've changed · 25 Jan 2007 at 02:22

umm don't lke the sound of this one bit, I was only just thinking about getting the oem premium edition for my laptop but I only get 2 hours battery life out of it as it is, does it make a big difference of you turn Aero off ?

Emlyn_Dewar · 25 Jan 2007 at 07:52

Battery life isn't too hot for me either, I usually keep it on balanced though. It's on Power Saving mode now though and seems to be working a little better, I never really expected it to be that great due to the aero interface and increased disk access though.
I've got a T2300 Core Duo on the 945GM chipset with 2gb mem. I reckon with the way things are going right now it would last near 2 hours (OcUK Forums and Media Player.) Who knows for DVD's or anything, will leave that for another day.

Edit: One thing I am noticing with Power Saving Mode is that my fan isn't doing the typical stop/start shenannigans that is usually would when on other modes. I assume this is because the GPU is doing much less work for the desktop?

Clarkey · 25 Jan 2007 at 07:56

for reference, my battery usually lasts 2h30m, in vista, playing a fullscreen video in WMP it killed the battery stone dead in 50 minutes.

Lanz · 25 Jan 2007 at 11:09

Well ive turned Aero off, using Vista Basic theme. Its a little better, but not much... Its also a bit pointless having Vista if you dont use Aero, might as wll just use XP eh.