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This week I installed Ubuntu 12.10 64 on my ThinkPad W500. Great machine, powerful. But my battery lasts only around 2 hours.

What I've done:

  • In the BIOS, I disabled the discrete graphic card (Intel 4500MHD).
  • Switched off Bluetooth.

Are there other drivers or settings to use?

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  • Why would you disable the discrete graphic card? It is installed so your computer uses less energy when only using 2D applications. A dedicated graphic card uses much more battery.
    – panmari
    Feb 22, 2013 at 16:52
  • If you write cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i "cpu mhz" in the terminal, the does the CPU frequencies look right in idle situation(s)? If not, does your BIOS has any settings related to CPU frequency scaling? Feb 24, 2013 at 21:31
  • You could try the solution outlined here; askubuntu.com/a/207270/82517 Feb 24, 2013 at 23:10

1 Answer 1

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I have exactly zero stats to back this up, and it's probably just wishful thinking, but jupiter (hardware and power management tool) seems to have improved my battery life (Thinkpad Edge). See pileofrocks's comment below.

If you want to try it out

Press Ctrl + Alt + T, terminal will pop up; type

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/jupiter

enter password (you won't see it as you type, that's normal), confirm adding the repo, then:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install jupiter

If you want to play around with settings yourself search for jupiter in the dash.

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  • Thanks, i tried jupiter. It gave me information about cpu temperature. and about the battery time left. No matter what i selected it gave me only at least 2 hours (what i had before). Maybe i should try fedora 18?
    – Peter
    Feb 20, 2013 at 17:11
  • @phipsalabim As far as I've understood, jupiter won't make much difference if the CPU frequency scaling is already working properly. It mainly limits the maximum CPU usage, so in minimum use it makes even less difference. I did use it for a while too (Thinkpad Edge, too, btw) until I read more about it. See e.g.: askubuntu.com/questions/98972 Feb 24, 2013 at 21:50
  • @pileofrocks thanks for this. It looks like there's too much wishful thinking on my part. Edited post. Feb 24, 2013 at 22:46

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