How to reduce power consumption

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Revision as of 06:37, 21 March 2007 by Monnier (Talk | contribs) (Typo)
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Reducing system power consumption will extend battery life, reduce system temperature and (on some models) reduce system fan noise. This page summarizes the known techniques for reducing power consumption on ThinkPad laptops under Linux. The power numbers given (in Watt) are very rough and model-specific.

System power states

CPU

Graphics

Hard disk

Spinning down the disk saves about 1W.

Optical drive

The optical drive consumes about 1W even when not accessed.

System fan

Consumes about 0.5W when running.

Wireless network

Consumes up to ~4W.

USB

Causes significant power draw due to bus mastering (affects CPU C-state). Disable by unloading modules, or unbinding the devices in sysfs.

Sound

Consumes about 0.3W.

Related topics

External resources