4 ms·

Yet Linux 3.6 still lasts only 1h15m on idle compared to windows 7 at 4h45m on my laptop. Linux has all powertop optimisations on as well. YMMV

• mikevm 13y ago
  What explains the abysmal power efficiency of Linux?
  • lsiebert 13y ago
    Try installing powertop, and see for yourself. It generally isn't the kernel.
    • lsiebert 13y ago
      Actually, while doing this is a good idea for individuals diagnosing their system, There does seem to be a systemic issue. I hope I didn't come across as flippant. I run TLP, turn of my ethernet and wifi when not using them, and otherwise try to save power. Windows users do none of these things, yet they still seem to get okay battery life. It does beg the question... if the problem isn't in the kernel but in userland, what is the issue, and can something be done? I will gladly give money to someone who will work on figuring this out.
  • caf 13y ago
    On consumer hardware like laptops, it is generally that the driver for the GPU is not able to put the hardware into its low power modes. The power efficiency tends to be very good on server-class hardware (because large corporate users like Google tend to care a lot about it).
    • aschampion 13y ago
      AMD has submitted dynamic power management for the 3.11 kernel, so hopefully this efficiency gap will start closing: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQwNTU http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQwNTU