Windows or Linux for battery life?

Hey guys,

I own an Acer Aspire One D257 Netbook. It came with a 3 cell battery but I'm most likely going to buy a 9 cell battery.

I'm an avid Fedora user when it comes to linux, but I also use Windows from time to time. Windows starter came pre-installed on the netbook, which isn't bad.

Has anyone tried both Linux and Windows on their Aspire One and noticed which one has significantly more battery life?

Linux lacks power management software, and Acer provided epower management for free. I do realize that Linux requires some fine tuning, so I don't want to waste my time unless I know it's worth it.

 

What! There's Jupiter and PowerTop! Jupiter is actually supported on Fedora, although Ubuntu users love it too.

 

I tried both on a laptop I used to own and didn't appear to do much.. I think clock speed has a huge effect. I could never get it to change. Also with powertop, I could never save tunable settings..

Right now on Windows I'm using ePower management from acer.. do you think that is any better?

 

I never used ePower.
I haven't tried PowerTop yet, but I did read that it doesn't let you save the settings.

Currently, I'm learning how to make a user defined session that will be limited to only a few applications. I figured that eliminating all unnecessary programs, even the ones comprising the Desktop Environment, should be more efficient than any power management program. I just hope it will still allow me to turn down the backlight, which is the most power hungry thing of all. Maybe I'll give it a screensaver too.

 

I actually installed Fedora 17 on the netbook and it's been going pretty well. I'm seeing a 30 minute increase in battery life under Fedora over Windows, this is after I fully configured Windows and Linux to save battery.

For Fedora, I ended up editing the suggestions from powertop into my rc.local so that they happen during boot. I also bumped down my clock speed and found out how to change power modes that changes clock speed based on idle or load activity.