Fun With Your Pentium M Laptop
I finally got around to doing some serious tweaking with the ThinkPad's power settings last night.
ThinkPads are known for being good at managing battery power, and of course the Pentium M/Centrino chipsets are just wonderful in that regard.
That said, most Centrino laptops and definitely the well-built Thinkpads can be tweaked significantly on the power side with the right program.
For those not afraid to play around with undervolting, the Notebook Hardware Control software (previously Centrino Hardware Control) is marvelous. I went with fairly conservative settings on both the CPU and video card in my 1.86 mHZ Pentium M/Sonoma-powered T43, and my estimate is that I've gained myself about 30 minutes on my 6-cell battery as a result (which should get me slightly above four hours at low brightness on the lcd). Also important, the software allows for detailed performance and temperature monitoring, and the undervolting has resulted in a cooler core operating temperature (good for the life of the laptop and better for the life of the battery, since heat is hard on laptop batteries).
I found the discussions on the ThinkPad forums useful, although there are probably good discussions for other brands on the Notebook Forums. If you have a Pentium-M notebook and would like to squeeze a little more battery time out of it, I'd recommend experimenting a bit. Just be sure to educate yourself via the FAQs and forums a little before jumping right in. A computer that spits out errors because of overly aggressive undervolting isn't very useful. :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/17/05 10:51 | Other | Technorati
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Comments
Kevin,
Is this a Lenovo Thinkpad or an older IBM model?
Posted by Dwight Silverman @ 21:04 on 12/17/05
THAT is kind of a tough question to answer! I bought the machine in the summer, well after Lenovo had purchased the rights to ThinkPad/ThinkCenter, and customer service calls and orders were already branded as Lenovo customer service/sales. The machine itself (the T43) was obviously a pre-Lenovo design, and Lenovo was still putting the IBM badge on the machines (I think they negotiated the right to do that for a set time after their purchase of the division). I was a little concerned if they would maintain the same level of customer service, but so far so good! Indeed, I have to say that they've continued to push software updates, and have done some things to improve the process. They seem to understand that the customer-service performance/reputation is pretty important to IBM users.
I believe the new Z series is Lenovo's first truly new, post-IBM development in the laptop market. It is comparable to the T-series in power/weight, but comes with a widescreen (a ThinkPad first) and seems aimed slightly more at the consumer/entertainment market than earlier offerings. It looks like a pretty sweet addition to their lineup.
Posted by Kevin @ 08:16 on 12/18/05
Really glad that Lenovo hasn't turned everything upside down. Despite the cost premium, IBM's Thinkpads have always been a great buy. Camille's getting a new laptop next year. Luckily, it sounds like the ThinkPad is still a great option.
Posted by RAW @ 12:00 on 12/18/05
She may qualify for academic pricing, BUT definitely still price various models through the various visa/amex/mastercard discount links (you probably already know this from past experience).
http://www.ibm.com/business...
(sub mastercard and amex for the other cards)
I saved about $200 off the regular price of the T43 model I purchased. I was really pleased with the deal given their level of service and the three-year warranty.
Posted by Kevin @ 13:48 on 12/18/05
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