Anything better than Lenovo's Power Manager for ThinkPad?

I got a ThinkPad SL400 a few months ago. Since then I've installed all necessary hardware drivers in order suggested by Arki's XP Clean Install Guide.

I tried Lenovo's Power Manager and found it somehow useful. But my distrust towards big company's bloatware just kept me from actually installing that software. I do need a nice and lean power management tool especially to turn on/off the ThinkPad's display. I ruined quite a few laptop's displays due to my reckless usage (keeping display turned on even while not using it).

So anything better than Lenovo's Power Manager? What's your favorite pick?

Thanks!

 

PM is a must! (don't forget to install power management driver first)
PM provides some advanced controls: you can set the threshold to charge your battery, you can set your balanced fan noise /heat/battery consumption.

but if this is your first time, please invest some time to get used to it.

 

cool! i hope they have that for my Y460

 

Yeah, I would suggest keeping power manager, it's a great tool.

 

Ideapads' can't use the Thinkpad's Power Manager, sorry.

 

:O THOSE Bas Tards!!

 

Between solid build quality and their power manager those are the two things that keep me favoring Lenovo over other business models. What do I like about the power manager? Advanced threshold management, accurate level reporting, lots of statistics about the capabilities of your battery.... what's not to like?

 

Best tool available to manage power/battery. Lenovo's Power Manager even surpassé other's ones. You want more? Write it your own!

 

Doh, mine was a ThinkPad n00b question. I'll take that
Thank you very much for the timely recommendations! I'm certainly in the right place - this forum has got loads of useful info, and knowledgeable people!

 

I had a second test-run of ThinkPad Power Manager (PM). Although I found PM useful for hardware optimization, I wasn't impressed by how it had been written. PM installer requires the presence of Microsoft .NET Framework. I generally try not to use software written for .NET Framework which alone is about 400 megabyte installation. That's what it's holding me back from actual use of PM.

On the other hand, I'm concerned that without a competent hardware/power manager, my ThinkPad might be suffer unnecessary depreciation. I'll be using my ThinkPad SL400 8-12hrs/d mostly indoor.

What's the trade-off?

--
References:
ThinkPad Power Manager I tested:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-70602.html
Installer filename: 6iu719ww.exe
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...2F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en

 

Having moved across many notebooks manufacturers. I have to say that IBM/Lenovo got it right with the power manager. I have had business computers from several and no one else comes close. Keep and use the PM my friend, you will not find a better solution. Case in point. I have had the same battery since my purchase over 30 months ago. The battery still has 80% of its original capacity. AMAZING! I had to replace the batteries from previous laptops annually. That's my 0.02.

 

I wan't implying that PM per se was bloatware. I just wasn't sure if it's worth installing fatass app like Microsoft .NET Framework solely as prerequisite to use PM. However having rereading all the replies, it's clear that you all think it's worth it......

 

I'm a former IBMer with 15 years of experience with thinkpads. I consider it bloatware. Keep downloading Power Manager though... it helps keeps my friends employed.

 

As a .NET developer, I think you might be a little misguided in thinking that the framework is a "fatass app". A lot of programs are now moving towards managed languages (C#/VB.NET), and the framework is extremely flexible and powerful - allowing a set of code to be reused on the desktop, web server, Silverlight, and now even the Windows Phone 7. Also, Windows Vista/7 now come with .NET preinstalled. Windows Server 2008+ has .NET as well, and I don't think servers usually come with "bloated junk". Also, my Microsoft.NET directory (which hosts most of the DLLs for the framework) weighs in at about 166 megs.

Getting back on topic, I used to think PM was junk as well, but after killing me T61's battery in little over a year, I think I'm going to keep it installed on my new T410s. Best part about it is letting me know how much power I'm drawing, which allows me to test which apps are killing the battery.

 

Agreed. PM offers information and capabilities that Windows doesn't, no matter how you look at it. Maybe those things aren't important to you, but I hate that it gets called bloatware. It uses next to nothing from your system resources and yet it's portrayed to be a performance killer. Even if we multiplied it's cpu resource usage by a factor of 100 I doubt anyone would ever notice.

The only thing that's oddly inefficient about Lenovo's PM is actually having it open. For some reason that does use a lot of CPU. But sitting in your task bar I've monitored it over time and it's near immeasurable how much cpu time it takes.

 

I don't mean to be picky, but isn't this a contradiction in terms? Or, am I misunderstanding you? Apologies, if I am.

 

He is talking about if you click the program open and the PW main screen is on then it does take a decent amount of CPU resources. However, if just left alone in the taskbar then power useage is next to none.

 

It isn't a contradiction because it is not 1 program.

It is a set of tools:

- Taskbar icon (uses low memory, low CPU)
- Configuration/monitoring tool that opens only when you click on it (.NET app that uses quite a bit of memory)
- Other services that provide features like dynamic brightness

I used to not run it. Now I do. It is one of those 'not necessarily needed' apps as their are not many features you don't get with Windows 7 out of the box. New things that you do get are:

- Ability to change some low level power like 'deep sleep'
- Ability to have the optical drive power off completely
- Ability to reduce LCD refresh
- Dynamic Brightness control
- Enable 'battery stretch'
- Battery maintenance

All other things are available in Windows/BIOS.

So... not much extra is in here, but it does wrap everything up neatly in one place.

Do you really need the things I listed above. No. Does it really use much CPU when just a task bar icon. No.

Choice is yours!

 

well said realwarder, well said. +1

 

Thanks guys! I was only looking at infinus' post. I do have it installed and running on my machine.

 

Thanks for the fine pointer.
I must add that I mostly use the ThinkPad indoor on AC power with the batt taken off.
Lemme think about whether to install PM or not

 

May I ask why (you take the battery off)? This is one place where PM excels! I have not removed mine more than two or three times since I have had the laptop. Battery still going strong...

 

I feel, with no evidence to back up with, that the fewer rounds of recharges the longer batt lasts. I know I need to read the batt guide on this forums, and quick.

 

The Lenovo PM though allows you to manage the battery better in a sense by keeping it in it's ideal range of about 40 percent charge when it's not in use. You can set it to charge when it drops to 30 and stop when it gets to 50 for example. Then your machine will automatically give it a little boost once a month or whatever to keep it in that range.

Otherwise you'd have to plug it in from time to time to make sure it hasn't trickled down too low.

 

Exactly, what you are doing is worse for your battery. PM is designed to give you the longest battery life keeping it healthy. I was convinced through my own experience... Let PM do its job, and put the battery back in...

 

I haven't been able to find this charge level setting. I've looked in PM, battery tab, battery maintenance button, as described in the help file, but it doesn't seem to be there! Can anyone shed light? maybe a screen shot of where it is?

Thanks.....
.

 

The current version of PM for the newer models like your (and my) T510 doesn't have the option. Supposedly they are adding it back in in the next version, but I don't know when that will be coming.

 

That seems strange. From this thread, that is one of the primary advantages of using it!!

 

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkVa...battery-life-quot-in-Power-Manager/m-p/204741

 

Excellent! Just what I need to read. Thanks!

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