Windows Vista uses more notebook power?

Vista_power_optionsThis type of headline should give pause to any mobile computer user that plans to run Vista, but I’m still on the fence with my opinion. InfoWorld indicates that "Vista could sap notebook PC battery life", the thoughts being:

  • Extra power is needed for more advanced processors, graphics cards and memory
  • More resources in general are needed to run Vista

Let’s think about this for a second: while the Aero Glass feature requires greater resources (we already know you need some good graphics horsepower under the hood), Vista is definitely more than Aero Glass. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a great feature and one I’ve tried to enable on every machine I’ve installed it on. I’ll also grant that Vista runs better with a higher end system, i.e.: one that has components requiring greater power.

From my personal experience however, I haven’t seen any distinct difference in my notebook or Tablet PC battery run-times using Vista over XP. (Note: this is based on systems not capable of running Aero Glass) In fact, I find the Vista power settings (shown) to be much more advanced than those in Windows XP. That may not mean greater power efficiency (nor less), but it’s a step in the right direction.

Like I said, I’m still on the fence with this whole argument. While I do more testing and gather my thoughts, give the article a read and chime in with your thoughts.

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