I think we can finally put a certain myth to rest that's been circling around the web for a while now. Microsoft often claimed that netbooks running Linux saw higher return rates than those running Windows, but according to Dell, this is utter nonsense.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2008-07-15
Well, when running Ubuntu natively on my Macbook I get roughly 5 hours, which is about what OS X gives me. My other portable is an Eee PC 1000HE, and yes with the Eee-specific power management I easily get 8 hours, which is a little more than XP and about 1.5 hours longer than Windows 7 gives me on the same Netbook even with its ACPI drivers and such installed. From my experience, I've had equal or better results with Linux as opposed to Windows, but this can of course vary quite a bit depending on the specific model of computer and pre-configured options specific to one Linux os or the other. Ubuntu, from my experience, doesn't have the best configuration optimized for power management on some portables (i.e. CPUFreq not preconfigured among other power-saving features that aren't enabled by default).
Member since:2007-02-17
I run Kubuntu Jaunty on my netbook, with the KDE 4.3 (backport) desktop environment.
KDE4 desktop includes specific provisons to be less demanding on battery life, and it includes a new applet called PowerDevil for power management software.
The netbook achieves almost exactly the same battery life when running under either KDE 4.3 or Windows XP Home.
Netbooks generally aren't capable of running Vista in an acceptable way.
If you are running a desktop other than KDE4, then perhaps this might be a solution:
http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2009/05/26/update-on-miserware-beta...
Edited 2009-08-13 04:22 UTC
Member since:
2008-06-03
I'm just curious on the statement he made regarding poor power management and battery life.
Is it still as big an issue as it was as, say 2 years ago?
I mostly use a desktop for my work, so I'm not really a hardcore laptop user, but I have an Asus Netbook and with a couple of additional eeePC specific power management apps installed, I get approximately 7+ hours of use before needing to charge the battery (last I checked, you get the same battery life with XP on this model)
Also have an old ThinkPad (R series) that I recently converted to Linux (Debian + Openbox), and it gives me around 2.5 hours of use, which is around 20 minutes less than when I used to have Windows installed on it and it was brand new at the time.
Can you guys/gals clarify how bad battery consumption is on your Linux portable compared to the same thing running Vista or XP, please?