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I'm new to Ubuntu, and I've just installed Ubuntu 11.10, and I must say I really like it a lot. I'm getting used to Ubuntu faster than I thought but the only issue I'm having is the power consumption.

I have a " dell 15R with BIOS a07" and I uninstalled Ubuntu 11.04 because of some glitches I hated. None of those appear on this Ubuntu but now my computer discharges way too quick. when I check the power icon, it states that I have like 3:45 min remaining, which is fairly the same as what win7 and Ubuntu 11.04 used to tell me but 15 min later I check again and it gives me only 1:15 min remaining. Also, my computer seems to get a lot hotter than it used to.

Is there more options to control the power usage on my laptop?

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  • I have exactly the same problem, plus that it feels like it produces more noise than before.
    – user32459
    Nov 10, 2011 at 1:42
  • Same problem here and from what I have gathered it seems there is a bug or something wrong with the Linux Kernel 3.0 on some models and since Kernel upgrades are normally implemented only in releases we are pretty much stuck with this over heating issue until 12.04 is released
    – Mysterio
    Nov 10, 2011 at 8:03
  • Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! This question should instead be filed as a bug report, and as such is off-topic, thanks! Bug #760131
    – Bruno Pereira
    Feb 19, 2012 at 1:28

1 Answer 1

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UPDATE: Heres solution How do I solve this super 11.10 heating problem

Old post: That's cause its using processes for showing that unity and effects.

I tried on netbook 11.10 and 10.04.3 but found best results with Ubuntu Netbook Remix witch last version is made in 10.04 LTS and LTS on every Ubuntu version coming out witch means that its sub-version made just a month ago.

Take Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04.03 from here.

You can learn about LTS here .

Believe me it will be faster. Also I recommend my "clean installation 1st time one liner" command witch sets better performance and less useless programs and it will later be more longer with more speed up settings.

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    It is highly unlikely that the power usage have anything to do with Unity, since it doesn't consume much resources at all. (Which is why it runs great on ten year old hardware). There are other issues, however. For instance there are some new fixes in Linux that are necessary because of bad hardware, but do consume lots of power. But you are right that these issues were not present in 10.04. That isn't because it is an LTS.
    – Jo-Erlend Schinstad
    Nov 10, 2011 at 7:08
  • BTW it does and its laggy and slow. And it lags a lot even on 5y old HW and also even on 1/2 ago released netbook.
    – Kangarooo
    Nov 12, 2011 at 20:41
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    How did you confirm that this was about Unity and not Linux or other parts of Gnome? This seems like pure assumption to me. I'm not saying Unity is perfect, but I don't understand how it could possibly have a major impact on your battery life.
    – Jo-Erlend Schinstad
    Nov 13, 2011 at 2:25
  • Thats a great assumption about 10y old HW yourself.. Is there still gnome with Unity also? Well i saw that unity responds really slowly with freezing. And since it needs more power to make graphics work faster- it consumes electric and in case using battery then electricy from battery. The more beeing used the more hotter computer gets.
    – Kangarooo
    Nov 13, 2011 at 13:42
  • Yes, Unity is an app for Gnome. More precisely, it's a Compiz plugin. I weren't assuming anything. I was just saying that it isn't safe to make assumptions based on visual appearance. There are many things in your system that can consume lots of power. The fact that Unity is nice looking, doesn't prove that it requires lots of resources. Have you tried switching to Unity 2D, for instance? If the resource usage drops dramatically, then you'll know it's Compiz that causes it. If it doesn't, then it's something else in your system that causes it.
    – Jo-Erlend Schinstad
    Nov 14, 2011 at 6:20

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