XP Still Beats Windows 7 in Netbook Battery Life

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Drag0nR1der

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[citation][nom]homrqt[/nom]For all the fuss it had.. XP really is a good OS... We've had good, good times my friend.[/citation]

XP had exactly the same outcry when it launched as vista did... the omg my hardware won't run this, omg look at the resources it uses, I'm sticking to 98 (or 2000) until it's fixed .. yada yada. Thing is, of course XP runs great now, hardware has come on in massive leaps and bounds and its had several service packs. W7 is far better than XP was for the 'current generation' of hardware they were respectively released on.
 
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Great Article!!
At least some truth out there!

Not only netbooks, but laptops and desktops as well!

Funny, but this morning I thought to myself: "XP All the way!!".
I may never switch over to 7, until perhaps XP's next next next operating system; this all due to the automatic defragging process in the background of the Vista (and clones).
Vista's defrag in the long run is causing notebooks to run REALLY slow!!

In XP I can manually defrag without having to fear the automatic process will interfere.
So far Vista's (and probably 7's) automatic defrag is one of the worst additions to the OS!
 
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[citation][nom]homrqt[/nom]For all the fuss it had.. XP really is a good OS... We've had good, good times my friend.[/citation]
Had and still are having :D
All my pc's run XP, save one where the HD broke.
It runs linux now!
 

maydaynomore

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[citation][nom]Drag0nR1der[/nom]There was a time when Tom's Hardware would have run a test themselves to confirm this, and then looked at the effect of turning off various W7 features (like aero) to see if this could bridge the gap... oh well. Turn off aero and it still looks better than XP (which always reminded me of a fisher price toy for 2 year old, with its giant start button and horrible primary colours ... windowsblinds was a must for me with XP)[/citation]

So, you are one of those "people" that likes new flashy things. I bet you have the newest iPhone too. Good for you. Windows blinds did nothing but slow down your computer. I preordered Win7 and installed it the first day it came out, but only because I don't care about battery life. I own a desktop only. If I had a laptop/netbook I would mostlikely use WinXP on it (if what they claim is true). Battery life on a laptop/netbook are very important. I'd give up the good looks of Win7 for an extra 45min (Win7 on a netbook is probably the basic model. None of the Eye-candy of other Win7 models. Probably doesn't look much better than XP)
 

bfstev

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47 minutes more for xp doesn't tell me much if I dont know more what its more than. If its 5 hours, then thats not that big of an issue. If its 1-2 then yea that matters
 

monicas

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I think you can be sure that moving forward any new OS will likely not be as light in memory or battery life as the old. Certainly not one like W7 that adds a great deal more features and functionality over XP. Vista always felt bloated and user unfriendly. Whereas Windows 7 feels as the perfect sequel to XP.

Anyway, not surprising on the batter life thing.

Monica S
Los Angeles Computer Repair
http://www.sebecomputercare.com/?p=1178
 

ravewulf

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[citation][nom]Drag0nR1der[/nom]There was a time when Tom's Hardware would have run a test themselves to confirm this, and then looked at the effect of turning off various W7 features (like aero) to see if this could bridge the gap... oh well. Turn off aero and it still looks better than XP (which always reminded me of a fisher price toy for 2 year old, with its giant start button and horrible primary colours ... windowsblinds was a must for me with XP)[/citation]
Please do put on your own set of tests! What are the effects of turning off various features (Aero, indexing, etc). What about using an SSD instead of a HDD? Don't forget Win7 was only just released (no service packs) while XP has been out for years (3 service packs). Additionally compare the benefits and drawbacks to XP vs Win7 on netbooks.
 

ravewulf

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[citation][nom]maydaynomore[/nom]So, you are one of those "people" that likes new flashy things. I bet you have the newest iPhone too. Good for you. Windows blinds did nothing but slow down your computer. I preordered Win7 and installed it the first day it came out, but only because I don't care about battery life. I own a desktop only. If I had a laptop/netbook I would mostlikely use WinXP on it (if what they claim is true). Battery life on a laptop/netbook are very important. I'd give up the good looks of Win7 for an extra 45min (Win7 on a netbook is probably the basic model. None of the Eye-candy of other Win7 models. Probably doesn't look much better than XP)[/citation]
{sarcasm] and I bet you're one of those "people" who prefers to use command line for everything [/sarcasm]

Seriously, what is wrong with wanting something that looks better and is far more functional? WTF is with the iPhone crack too? Just cause some of us want a decent looking OS doesn't mean we want an Apple product. Also, Windows Blinds isn't nearly as bad as it used to be.
 
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Anyone with enough sense to install an operating system should be able to disable all of those unnecessary services that run. Even with Ubuntu I take the time to strip away all unnecessary stuff. Even with Windows 7/Ubuntu on my new rig I'll still strip away all of the stuff I don't normally need.
 

guess who

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I'd take 4 hours of Windows7 over 5 hours of WinXP ANYTIME.

Sure, if you were working on something really important and your machine died half your before you were done, you would say: "Man, I am glad I switched to W7"

These comments are just an extension of all the stupid OS flame wars we see on the web.

Is my OS supporting all my hardware? Check
Is my OS running all my applications well? Check
Is my OS giving me the longest possible battery life? Well is it?
If it isn't. I will switch. If I were not interested in battery life I would buy desktop (replacement) and leave it plugged in. End of story.

 
pfffffffftttttt i installed windows 3.11 on my laptop and got an hour more, then i upgraded to 98 and lost 20 minutes, then XP worse of all lost me another 40 minutes because its too heavy and graphical lol bla bla bla

ok so i bs'd about that but thats esentially what your all telling me, and i treat XP like windows 3.11 - i dont care its its lighter I HATE IT - ITS OLD

besides, i have a butload of ram in my two laptops and 32-bit just doesnt cut it for my broard range of tasks and goodluck with 64 bit xp - ill pass

xp gen hardware with xp generation batteries will give you say 3 hours max, now we have new gen hardware with windows 7 getting 5 hours - so what that windows 7 with its better productivity gets us less battery life - WE STILL GET MORE OVERALL THEN XP GEN BATTERY LIFE

thats my 0.02c
 

WheelsOfConfusion

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[citation][nom]Regulas[/nom]Linux, Ubuntu[/citation]
Isn't the power management in Linux generally worse than in windows due to device vendors' crappy driver support? That's the experience I've had on my laptop.
 
[citation][nom]guess who[/nom]Sure, if you were working on something really important and your machine died half your before you were done, you would say: "Man, I am glad I switched to W7"These comments are just an extension of all the stupid OS flame wars we see on the web.Is my OS supporting all my hardware? CheckIs my OS running all my applications well? CheckIs my OS giving me the longest possible battery life? Well is it?If it isn't. I will switch. If I were not interested in battery life I would buy desktop (replacement) and leave it plugged in. End of story.[/citation]

So i want my laptop with 4+ gb and a 512mb video card but i simply cant because i have to stick with a dinosaur?
 

blackcatbonz

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Upgrade already people....drive that chevette to the scrap yard.

XP is past it's prime.

Jeez, i bet you all sit around and think about the good ole days of small pox and black plague.
 

randomizer

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[citation][nom]gwellin[/nom]Wait, Stop the press. Are you telling me that a more demanding OS that only been released for a couple of week isn't as battery efficient as a "How many years old highly polished" OS. Thank you captain obvious.[/citation]
The release date means nothing. If they didn't improve it before release, it will be a Service Pack or two before you see even a minor improvement, if that. MS don't bring major changes to the OS in their monthly Windows updates.
 
[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]The release date means nothing. If they didn't improve it before release, it will be a Service Pack or two before you see even a minor improvement, if that. MS don't bring major changes to the OS in their monthly Windows updates.[/citation]

I was under the impression most service packs were 99% of updates already released in one "servicepack" plus a few new ones?
 
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This is pointless.

Do a real comparison. Do the best you can to run Windows 7 as if it where xp. Strip down everything that you can thats in windows 7 that is not in xp.

Set the power options exactly the same.

Do not just load two OS's default settings that are close to a decade apart and come to the conclusion which one gets better battery life. Even in this case I would bet on xp winning myself.

And to the person who complained about the auto defrag. FIX IT. You know about it right? Turn it off. Vista by default is sheduled to do a degrag everyday. 7 is once a week. Both are terrible but once a day....wow. Just turn scheduled defrag its that simple. I figured that out with in the 1st half hr of messing with Vista rc1.
 
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