Help - high power usage in Windows 7 with T400

So, ever since installing Windows 7 on my T400 I have been getting higher power usage and worse battery life than with Vista. With Vista I could manage an average of 10-11 watts and 4:30 to 5 hours of battery life.

Since installing 7 (and the thinkpad power management driver, switchable graphics driver, etc) my power usage is about 20 watts and my battery lasts only a little over 2 hours. I'm happy with everything about 7 except for this.

Any suggestions to fixing my high power usage?

 

You probably have that problem where both graphics card are operating. Try switching the graphic a few times. That may solve your problem.

 

You were absolutely right, after switching to high performance and back again power usage is down to 10-11 watts as usual and the system reports battery life at about 3:30 to 4 hours, slightly discharged. Thank you!

Is there fix for this, so I don't have to keep switching back and forth? I have the feeling they both come on whenever the system comes out of standby, which is quite a bit.

 

Funny, I have had the same experience with my W500 and Win7. After no problems with Vista, with Win7 my Intel gpu ran very hot. Found - by chance it all ran cooler with ATI gpu, so stayed with ATI for a few days. Ran very quiet. Then switched back to Intel to check if problem still there. Much better than before, at least for a while. But now I'm back to the ATI. Uses fan less. Intel gpu driver not quite there yet. There is definitely something wrong with the Intel driver/Lenovo switchable gpu driver. It should run cooler than the ATI, by a long way. But it doesn't.

 

^ I'm thinking I'll just keep it on integrated in the bios until they release a fixed driver.