I have an Asus laptop that had a usable battery in it, with windows I could get 35-40 minutes from it.
With Ubuntu I can get about 35-40 seconds(12.04 LTS, running a tab in Chromium and Libreoffice)
Here is my take on it:
Ubuntu does not have drivers for the various power supply optimizers that windows has.
If you have ever disassembled a Lion battery pack, you can see that each cell has its own terminals that connect to the computer.
However, I think that Ubuntu is utilizing one of those cells, which as a result has become severely overdrained(and damaged).
It fails to detect the other cells and therefore does not use the bat pack's full capacity.
I read this thread:
Battery life starts at 2:30 hrs (99%), but less than 1 minute later is only 1:30 hrs (99%)
and it may be a similar issue.
I am no tech nut. Just a teenager who really likes Ubuntu and spends a lot of time on my laptop and outside.
My battery life is horrid.
If it is bad-and you know you have battery left-
you can try this:
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools
dconf-editor
It will open up a text-editor like thing.
If you already have dconf tools skip the first line of code.
I didn't so I included it.
go to
org > gnome > settings-daemon > plugins > power
and change the "critical battery action" value to nothing
This may give you quite a bit more battery life.
It may not.
Just something to try.
UPDATE: I am now doing this.
It increased the battery life signifigantly.
:)
