M11x Battery Life Question

I just received my M11x R2 a few days ago and being that it's my first laptop I'm still trying to get the hang of battery optimization. I've read through the optimization thread here (thanks for all the great info) however I'm not receiving the kind of battery life that others saw. I have done the following:

Pretty much every optimization tip in the thread, from the fan fix to disabling aliensense. I've also gone through services, the bios and msconfig and disabled everything I don't use such as bluetooth, alienfx, the SD card slot and I've unplugging my usb cooling pad.

I usually run the monitor at about 3 bars of brightness, sometimes 2. I've also gone through the power settings and set everything to max power and I have the processor set to passive cooling (just to see if I can hit the 4-5hr mark). I prefer this on active because the processor runs about 45-50 idle which is about as hot as my desktop i7 at 4.0ghz.

Is there anything I have missed that would be decreasing my battery life? Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

disable aero, lower minimum processor speed under advanced settings for power management profiles.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I disabled aero (just picked a Windows 7 Basic Theme -- I assumed that turns it off).

The minimum Processor state was 5%, that was default though, should I take it lower than that?

 

What kind of battery life are you seeing, and is that actual or Windows' estimation?

 

I haven't tried running it to hibernate yet, this is just a Windows estimation, I meant to type that in my initial thread but I forgot. I will get a chance to try it tonight and I will post back with the results.

Is the Windows estimation not accurate?

 

i have mine brought down to 1%.

 

Aero must have had a bigger impact than I expected because now the estimation is at 2hrs20min at 55%. Thats about on par with what I'm looking for, thanks guys.

 

You should keep in mind the windows estimation changes based on what is going on right when you check it.

So for example, if you check it while you are loading your desktop it could read 1hr. If you wait a good 2-3 minutes after it is done with everything, it could shoot up to 3hrs for example. It is just an estimation based on whatever the computer is doing RIGHT when you check it.

 

I would recommend checking out BatteryBar, very nice and there is a free version that works quite well.

I am pulling an average of 4-5+ with a modified Power Saver, I set my max CPU to 25% and min to 0% though, 20% screen brightness. I was able to play Torchlight so it is running well.

 

Hi, I am a new user, I am getting my m11x this week and am wondering where this "optimization thread" is located, or if you could please link me to it or point me in the right direction.

Thanks a bunch you guys!

EDIT: Found it http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/463114-m11x-optimization-thread.html
But I'm not sure which posts to trust? D: