Better battery usage!
Before we start, I’d like to establish these facts first:
- I’m using a laptop with a Hybrid GPU configuration (intel/nvidia)
- I’m using a Linux distribution, although you can still apply these fundamental ideas on other OSes.
Okay, let’s start. I will order these tweaks/changes from most to least impactful.
1. CPU/GPU tweaks
1.1 Disabling/offloading the GPU
On a hybrid system, the dedicated GPU draws power 24/7; even when it’s not used on most configurations.
- I achieved this using envycontrol/supergfxctl, you can alternatively use other softwares/configure your BIOS settings.
You can setup offloading to use your dGPU only when it’s needed, too. Though as I experimented, the dGPU stil draws some amount of power (might just be a skill issue, though.)
1.2 Undervolting & Underclocking
This is for more advanced users and might cause damage to your hardware. If you’re uncomfortable with this fact, skip this chapter.
There are other resources that explains this much better than I can.
2. Software tweaks
- I’ll be using TLP and powertop.
2.1 powertop:
2.2 TLP:
3. Other tips
3.1 Electron apps
- I usually just avoid electron apps like the plague, lol.
- Try the
--disable-gpu flag! (e.g spotify --disable-gpu)
4. My results:
- Without undervolting, I was able to lower battery consumption from 12-24W down to 7W (That’s 2-3 hours -> 10 hours!). Although you could go even lower with undervolting, this is enough for my use case.