8 ms·

How's the battery life on linux laptops these days?

by sjg007 5y ago

vaidhy 5y ago
Not OP, but my laptop lives long enough for me to get to a plug point if needed. I have power at work and home and I have suspend turned on when I close the lid. I can live with a few seconds of wake up time, when I have no accessible power for long periods of time. It is really not that complicated.
callamdelaney 5y ago
good enough, especially with optimisations.
dralley 5y ago
Still not as good as Windows but much better than it used to be, especially if you're using well tested hardware like a Thinkpad
- trelane 5y ago
  My experience with ThinkPads has been terrible. I've lost faith in ThinkPads. Too bad we can't get working Linux hardware at work. Fortunately, I can buy my personal hardware from whomever I wish, and it certainly will not be Lenovo.
  - dralley 5y ago
    I agree that the quality of the hardware has gone downhill (weak hinges, getting more fragile every year, keyboard quality) but running Linux has been fine. No real complaints.
    - trelane 5y ago
      > running Linux has been fine That has _very_ much not been my and some colleagues' experience.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
I dual boot Windows and Linux and I found out I can actually work longer in Linux. Maybe it's related to the fact that Windows services consume more CPU.
LooseMarmoset 5y ago
Pretty good, especially if you install TLP for power management. I get at least a full workday and a half out of my Dell 9375.
rglullis 5y ago
Does it really matter?! Are you really that careless with your privacy and your basic freedoms to the point that you make your choices based on the ~battery life~ of your computing device? Sorry to pick on you, but whenever I hear these sorts of questions I realize how shallow people can be, even those who are (supposedly) informed and smart enough to know better. To be worried about the inconvenience of ~shorter battery life~ over fundamental freedoms is like failing the marshmallow test for tech people.
- _Algernon_ 5y ago
  >Are you really that careless with your privacy and your basic freedoms to the point that you make your choices based on the ~battery life~ of your computing device? Not OP, but yes. In a laptop, battery life is the number one thing I'm looking for. That being said, Linux does fine when it comes to battery life in my experience.
- rrdharan 5y ago
  1. The marshmallow test has been debunked (just like so many other flashy claims in the social sciences field, the science is questionable and the replication crisis is very real). So using it in a rant about how uninformed people are is itself a laughable irony. 2. Many of us simply do not agree that the use of an Apple computing device impinges on either our privacy or basic freedoms, or (more nuanced) that the marginal risk is so small that it’s not worth the moderately large inconvenience of shorter battery life.
  - rglullis 5y ago
    1. It doesn't matter if the effects of the marshmallow test are true or not. The idea is just to illustrate how tech people are as weak-willed, short-term focused and plain "convenience-at-all-costs" as the general consumers. 2. There is no argument here: if you can not control what and how your device operates, your freedom is being taken. You can argue that you don't value this freedom over the convenience it brings you, but this is at best an admission of you being on (1).
    - 5y ago
asciimov 5y ago
It's not the battery life that's the issue on Laptops these days, as it is typically better than windows. The biggest issue is getting all the hardware supported out of the box. For example, there is a certain amount of mucking about you have to do to get any off the shelf laptop running Linux. On rare occasion system updates change something that the laptop doesn't like, hunting down that change can become tedious.
- rglullis 5y ago
  The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware. I've owned Samsung laptops, HP laptops, Thinkpads. I've built my own work desktops. I've never had any issues, as long as the hardware is ~6 months out on the market. That's about the time it takes for linux devs to catch up with companies that focus on windows drivers.
  - trelane 5y ago
    > The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware Or don't out Linux on Windows hardware. System integration teams are a thing, and one person without access to documentation is going to do it poorly. Instead, buy Linux in Linux hardware.
  - AshamedCaptain 5y ago
    That's useless advice. Even Webcams from laptops as older as 6 years may still not work under Linux. Anything which has an Intel webcam for example is almost guaranteed not to work, outside of perhaps a couple of popular models (like MS Surface devices, and then not precisely "out of the box"). The rule still is to get either a Linux-supported or at least a Linux-popular laptop, even if it's more expensive or doesn't match all your features/requirements. Then it doesn't matter whether it's 6 years old or brand new. It will work. i.e. it's more important for it to be Lenovo and the correct line than the age. But not all Lenovo are equal. T/P stuff is likely supported out of the box even if brand new. X depends on popularity of the model. Tablets/IdeaPad stuff.... look elsewhere. (Lenovo is just an example, leaving other brands for the reader).
throw10920 5y ago
It varies, like it does for literally every other combination of hardware and software on the market, but mine gets between 8 (light web browsing) and 12 (terminal programming, no web browser running, wifi disabled) hours on a single charge. For reference, Windows on the same laptop gets about 6 hours while just sitting there.

How's the battery life on linux laptops these days?

by sjg007 5y ago

How's the battery life on linux laptops these days?

Not OP, but my laptop lives long enough for me to get to a plug point if needed. I have power at work and home and I have suspend turned on when I close the lid. I can live with a few seconds of wake up time, when I have no accessible power for long periods of time. It is really not that complicated.

callamdelaney 5y ago

good enough, especially with optimisations.

dralley 5y ago

Still not as good as Windows but much better than it used to be, especially if you're using well tested hardware like a Thinkpad

trelane 5y ago
My experience with ThinkPads has been terrible. I've lost faith in ThinkPads. Too bad we can't get working Linux hardware at work. Fortunately, I can buy my personal hardware from whomever I wish, and it certainly will not be Lenovo.
- dralley 5y ago
  I agree that the quality of the hardware has gone downhill (weak hinges, getting more fragile every year, keyboard quality) but running Linux has been fine. No real complaints.
  - trelane 5y ago
    > running Linux has been fine That has _very_ much not been my and some colleagues' experience.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago

I dual boot Windows and Linux and I found out I can actually work longer in Linux. Maybe it's related to the fact that Windows services consume more CPU.

LooseMarmoset 5y ago

Pretty good, especially if you install TLP for power management. I get at least a full workday and a half out of my Dell 9375.

rglullis 5y ago

Does it really matter?! Are you really that careless with your privacy and your basic freedoms to the point that you make your choices based on the ~battery life~ of your computing device? Sorry to pick on you, but whenever I hear these sorts of questions I realize how shallow people can be, even those who are (supposedly) informed and smart enough to know better. To be worried about the inconvenience of ~shorter battery life~ over fundamental freedoms is like failing the marshmallow test for tech people.

_Algernon_ 5y ago
>Are you really that careless with your privacy and your basic freedoms to the point that you make your choices based on the ~battery life~ of your computing device? Not OP, but yes. In a laptop, battery life is the number one thing I'm looking for. That being said, Linux does fine when it comes to battery life in my experience.
rrdharan 5y ago
1. The marshmallow test has been debunked (just like so many other flashy claims in the social sciences field, the science is questionable and the replication crisis is very real). So using it in a rant about how uninformed people are is itself a laughable irony. 2. Many of us simply do not agree that the use of an Apple computing device impinges on either our privacy or basic freedoms, or (more nuanced) that the marginal risk is so small that it’s not worth the moderately large inconvenience of shorter battery life.
- rglullis 5y ago
  1. It doesn't matter if the effects of the marshmallow test are true or not. The idea is just to illustrate how tech people are as weak-willed, short-term focused and plain "convenience-at-all-costs" as the general consumers. 2. There is no argument here: if you can not control what and how your device operates, your freedom is being taken. You can argue that you don't value this freedom over the convenience it brings you, but this is at best an admission of you being on (1).
  - 5y ago

asciimov 5y ago

It's not the battery life that's the issue on Laptops these days, as it is typically better than windows. The biggest issue is getting all the hardware supported out of the box. For example, there is a certain amount of mucking about you have to do to get any off the shelf laptop running Linux. On rare occasion system updates change something that the laptop doesn't like, hunting down that change can become tedious.

rglullis 5y ago
The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware. I've owned Samsung laptops, HP laptops, Thinkpads. I've built my own work desktops. I've never had any issues, as long as the hardware is ~6 months out on the market. That's about the time it takes for linux devs to catch up with companies that focus on windows drivers.
- trelane 5y ago
  > The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware Or don't out Linux on Windows hardware. System integration teams are a thing, and one person without access to documentation is going to do it poorly. Instead, buy Linux in Linux hardware.
- AshamedCaptain 5y ago
  That's useless advice. Even Webcams from laptops as older as 6 years may still not work under Linux. Anything which has an Intel webcam for example is almost guaranteed not to work, outside of perhaps a couple of popular models (like MS Surface devices, and then not precisely "out of the box"). The rule still is to get either a Linux-supported or at least a Linux-popular laptop, even if it's more expensive or doesn't match all your features/requirements. Then it doesn't matter whether it's 6 years old or brand new. It will work. i.e. it's more important for it to be Lenovo and the correct line than the age. But not all Lenovo are equal. T/P stuff is likely supported out of the box even if brand new. X depends on popularity of the model. Tablets/IdeaPad stuff.... look elsewhere. (Lenovo is just an example, leaving other brands for the reader).

throw10920 5y ago

It varies, like it does for literally every other combination of hardware and software on the market, but mine gets between 8 (light web browsing) and 12 (terminal programming, no web browser running, wifi disabled) hours on a single charge. For reference, Windows on the same laptop gets about 6 hours while just sitting there.