15 Ways to Extend Laptop Battery Life

jmke · 8th July 2007, 20:05

Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up. How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible? Here are 15 easy ways to do so.<br><br>
Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory. Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.

http://www.friedbeef.com/2007/07/01/...-battery-life/

jmke · 8th July 2007, 20:06

Doesn't adding RAM increase power usage?

8th July 2007, 20:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmke

Doesn't adding RAM increase power usage?

Quote:

Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy

rams consumes only a little amount of energy compared to a hdd. So lowering the hdd (swap) usage saves a bit of energy.
Quite surprised they didn't even mention undervolting the cpu, this realy save a lot of energy (and heat).

Sidney · 8th July 2007, 21:16

Quote:

Quite surprised they didn't even mention undervolting the cpu

99.99% of laptop users don't fool around with BIOS

I'd rather get a second battery if you really can't find a power outlet within miles

:Like a 16-hour flight in economy class.

jmke · 8th July 2007, 21:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardFreak

Quite surprised they didn't even mention undervolting the cpu, this realy save a lot of energy (and heat).

find me a laptop which allows vcore control

8th July 2007, 22:13

You guys gotta be kidding, undervolting any Intel laptop CPU is easily done from windows and can be fully handled by software. I gained over 30 minutes battery life by undervolting my Pentium M to 0.7v and locking it to 800MHz when not on AC power.

I use notebook hardware control found here http://www.pbus-167.com/ Any Intel CPU uses Speedstep, and that is what this software does. You can change the multiplier and lock it depending on load, ac/battery power, or 24/7 use as long as the system supports Speedstep. Same with voltages. It supports auto-profile selection for many different power state profiles.

AMD users may be out of luck, I'm not entirely sure. But any Intel CPU laptop with Speedstep can be underclocked and undervolted with this software. It does not overclock anything however.

jmke · 8th July 2007, 22:18

not talking about Speedstep

Sidney · 8th July 2007, 22:21

That's pretty much standard on level of power setting in today's laptop. High performance, balanced or power saver; even with AMD. That is what mobile processors are all about

9th July 2007, 04:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmke

not talking about Speedstep

Neither was I.

Speedstep doesn't undervolt the CPU to 0.700v, it'll default to a much higher voltage even at 800Mhz. The application exploits Speedstep's ability to configure voltage and CPU multipliers on the fly and lets you pick any combination you please for any situation.

9th July 2007, 08:27

I was talking about undervolting like this

8th July 2007, 20:05	#1
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,021	15 Ways to Extend Laptop Battery Life Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up. How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible? Here are 15 easy ways to do so.<br><br> Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory. Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory. http://www.friedbeef.com/2007/07/01/...-battery-life/ __________________

8th July 2007, 20:06	#2
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,021	Doesn't adding RAM increase power usage? __________________

8th July 2007, 22:18	#7
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,021	not talking about Speedstep __________________

8th July 2007, 22:21	#8
Sidney Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 15,738	That's pretty much standard on level of power setting in today's laptop. High performance, balanced or power saver; even with AMD. That is what mobile processors are all about __________________ lazyman Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II Last edited by Sidney : 8th July 2007 at 22:23.

9th July 2007, 08:27	#10
wutske Posts: n/a	I was talking about undervolting like this Attached Thumbnails

8th July 2007, 22:13	#6
Kougar Posts: n/a	You guys gotta be kidding, undervolting any Intel laptop CPU is easily done from windows and can be fully handled by software. I gained over 30 minutes battery life by undervolting my Pentium M to 0.7v and locking it to 800MHz when not on AC power. I use notebook hardware control found here http://www.pbus-167.com/ Any Intel CPU uses Speedstep, and that is what this software does. You can change the multiplier and lock it depending on load, ac/battery power, or 24/7 use as long as the system supports Speedstep. Same with voltages. It supports auto-profile selection for many different power state profiles. AMD users may be out of luck, I'm not entirely sure. But any Intel CPU laptop with Speedstep can be underclocked and undervolted with this software. It does not overclock anything however.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Microsoft looking into Windows 7 battery life failures	jmke	WebNews	0	3rd February 2010 11:49
Asus Promises 12-Hour Battery Life In New High-End Laptop	jmke	WebNews	0	12th January 2010 08:48
Internet Browser Face-Off: Battery Life Explored	jmke	WebNews	0	12th September 2009 15:15
AMD vs. Intel: Battery Life Investigated	jmke	WebNews	0	6th August 2009 13:45
How To Extend Notebook battery Life	jmke	WebNews	1	5th February 2005 06:14