Prolonging the battery life of a laptop

WhiteLotus · Feb 20, 2009

So, my laptop (sony VAIO NS series - exact model number is PCG-7144M). I want to extend the battery life for as long as possible. I have already reduced the the brightness of the screen and i got around half an hour with that. But any other things that i can do?

It also has vista, now many people claim that it is bogged down etc etc What could i disable or strip out of it to up the battery life, and also as another idea, would Ubuntu (maybe it being a lighter OS to use?) give more me battery life?

All ideas welcome!

n-ster · Feb 20, 2009

Ubuntu would... underclocking both CPU and GPU would... underclocking ram would... and YES these are possible on most laptops... but I wouldn't go Ubuntu, to much trouble... just get XP SP3 32bit and you are fine... taking out unused processes would too... go in control panel, administrative tools, computer management, services & apps, services... PM me if you want a link to tell you which services do what and what is safe to turn off

kiriakost · Feb 20, 2009

If it was an ACER i would possibly help more ..

Generally by turning off , WiFi - BT - LAN , is all that you can do.

The Haunted · Feb 20, 2009

Disable file indexing and system restore, this will reduce hard drive activity a lot.

Error 404 · Feb 21, 2009

Vista actually gets more battery life on modern laptops compared to XP, so if you have Vista stick with it.
If you wanted to get into the hardware hacking scene, you could replace your laptop's backlight with an LED backlight (unless its already LED), which would save more power.
You could replace the HDD with a Compact Flash based SSD, boosting performance and saving power, and use the HDD in an enclosure for a portable hard drive.
If you're going to use a different OS, go for Linux Mint, its as good as, if not better, than Ubuntu, and installing drivers with it is a cinch.
Don't forget to utilise Vista's power options.
Another thing you could do is have a look at various ways of optimising Vista; treat it like its running on an old slow laptop, cut it down, make it lean and fast; it will run faster and use less power.

kwchang007 · Feb 21, 2009

Use the options in Vista and put everything to like maximum power saving.

n-ster · Feb 21, 2009

Error 404 said:
Vista actually gets more battery life on modern laptops compared to XP, so if you have Vista stick with it.
If you wanted to get into the hardware hacking scene, you could replace your laptop's backlight with an LED backlight (unless its already LED), which would save more power.
You could replace the HDD with a Compact Flash based SSD, boosting performance and saving power, and use the HDD in an enclosure for a portable hard drive.
If you're going to use a different OS, go for Linux Mint, its as good as, if not better, than Ubuntu, and installing drivers with it is a cinch.
Don't forget to utilise Vista's power options.
Another thing you could do is have a look at various ways of optimising Vista; treat it like its running on an old slow laptop, cut it down, make it lean and fast; it will run faster and use less power.

I must disagree about vista having better battery life... Vista uses many unnecessary processes and services compared to XP, and XP is much more customizable for prolonging battery life... Also, I believe He wouldn't want to buy expensive thing to get 10 more minutes of battery life lol...

P.S: sry about not being able to send you the link yet... I'm actually in the process of trying to make a guide... but I just arrived back home so I couldn't tell you this earlier... If I could put together a good guide it would be great! in the meantime I'll send you the links by tomorow

Dogmeat · Feb 21, 2009

I second Linux Mint.

Vista gave my Compaq 2.5 hours of battery, Linux Mint allowed 50% more!

zithe · Feb 21, 2009

Look in the BIOS. There are different settings for HDDs to reduce power consumption in some laptops.

Error 404 · Feb 21, 2009

n-ster said:
I must disagree about vista having better battery life... Vista uses many unnecessary processes and services compared to XP, and XP is much more customizable for prolonging battery life... Also, I believe He wouldn't want to buy expensive thing to get 10 more minutes of battery life lol...

Well, I'm only going on what I've heard, and my laptop managed to get more battery life when it had Vista compared to XP (and then the battery died).

I would really recommend Linux Mint, its a great OS.

n-ster · Feb 21, 2009

I've always had a bad experience with linux... but then again, he probably won't be gaming, and web browsing and word on my ps3 with linux is quite good... I would still go XP SP3 32bit... or even MicroXP... That'll save you a hell lot of disk usage etc... GREAT OS... though it is illegal if you don't have a legal copy of XP, which you do have

use google

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Prolonging the battery life of a laptop

WhiteLotus

n-ster

kiriakost

The Haunted

Error 404

kwchang007

New Member

n-ster

Dogmeat

New Member

zithe

Error 404

n-ster

Processor	C2D T7200@2 ghz vcore: .9875
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Storage	120 GB@ 5400 rpm fujitsu
Display(s)	15.4" 1440x900
Audio Device(s)	integrated
Software	vista 32 bit home premium

System Name	Is rly gud
Processor	Intel Core i5 11600kf
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