Arch Linux

pistol-mcgee

Member

From: WA State

Registered: 2010-02-08

Posts: 12

Battery life ?

Right now im running a VERY slow copy of windows (quite old, dont wanna take the time to clean it to make it faster). I was planning on installing a new copy of windows when arch popped into my head. Only problem im thinking of is battery life and support for the cd drive power switch (i ran arch on a usb stick for a while to get some packages)

On windows i can get about 3-3.5 hours on almost min screen brightness, if its on the max around 2 hours, linux i never tested because its never actually been installed on the HD.

What does the arch forum think of battery life (xp vs arch)?

Ive searched for a while and never got a exact answer, if someone knows of a thread please point me to it.

edit: the laptop im using is a few years old. A Panasonic Toughbook CF-Y4. I never found any info about people installing arch on this laptop

edit2: if this is the wrong section please let me know/move it.

Last edited by pistol-mcgee (2010-11-29 01:26:23)

thestinger

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Toronto, Canada

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 478

Re: Battery life ?

If it has integrated intel graphics, and you set up all the powersaving stuff (cpufreq, alsa, wireless, screen brightness, hard drive spin down, etc.), arch should be comparable to Windows.

With dedicated graphics, you'll never reach the Windows battery life because there aren't drivers that support the same quality of power saving.

pistol-mcgee

Member

From: WA State

Registered: 2010-02-08

Posts: 12

Re: Battery life ?

Yeah, as far as i know its integrated intel gfx.

i think i may take the plunge and just see what happens.

eldragon

Member

From: Buenos Aires

Registered: 2008-11-18

Posts: 1,029

Re: Battery life ?

i doubt you will match windows

ive never seen a notebook that lasts as much. (completely subjective)

things you can do to save battery life:

- laptop mode tools
- undervolt the cpu
- dimmed backlight
- mount a ramfs and have your firefox profile / cache there. (then you can have your hdd spin down more often and for longer periods)

kokoko3k

Member

Registered: 2008-11-14

Posts: 2,394

Re: Battery life ?

my 1005ha lasts about 8,5Hrs in archlinux, while it's life in xp is shorter (it is because it accesses to the hd a lot more)

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unknwn

Member

Registered: 2008-02-02

Posts: 35

Re: Battery life ?

my asus u30jc uses ~9watts/h with win7 which transforms to almost 10hours  while idle. With archlinux it uses 11-12watts/h which is ~7hours idling. I have tryed different kernels with different idle/power saving options, nvidia optimus disabled also i have sata, pcie, usb, intel sound power saving options enabled.
While watching 720p video i get almost the same battery life with both (~4h30m), however i wish i had the same idling performance on archlinux too.

Last edited by unknwn (2010-11-29 15:56:34)