X1 Carbon 7 gen - Improving Battery Life on Ubuntu

2020-03-08, 21:45 PM

source:https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Ubuntu/X1-Carbon-7-gen-Improving-Battery-Life-on-Ubuntu/m-p/5002483

Hey!

Just got the x1 carbon 7 gen but get less than 3 hours on a battery. 9 hours advertised.

Linux support is not that good for this model so this might be on of the problems.

●  Processor: 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10710U (1.10GHz, up to 4.70GHz with Turbo Boost, 6 Cores, 12MB Cache)

●  Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64

●  Display Type: 14.0" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, anti-glare with Privacy Guard, 400 nits

●  Memory: 16GB LPDDR3 2133MHz (Soldered)

●  Hard Drive: 1TB SSD PCIe

●  Warranty: 1 Year Depot or Carry-in

●  Graphics: Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics

●  Camera: IR & 720p HD

●  Fingerprint Reader: Fingerprint Reader

●  Keyboard: Backlit - US English

●  Wireless: Intel® 9560 802.11AC (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 5.0

This is what I did till now:

Firmware

fwupdmrg enable-remote lvfs-testing

fwupdmrg get-devices

fwupdmrg refresh

fwupdmrg get-updates

fwupdmrg update

fwupdmrg disable-remote lvfs-testing

TLP

Install tlp: https://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-management.html

CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR_ON_BAT = powersave

CPU_ENERGY_PERF_POLICY_ON_BAT = balance_power

others are default

Undervolt & Fan Control

Install https://github.com/erpalma/throttled

Because of throttling CPU at 85C (now it's at 95C)

Undervolt offsets: CORE: -100.00 mV | GPU: -150.00 mV | CACHE: -100.00 mV | UNCORE: -100.00 mV | ANALOGIO: 0.00 mV

[BATTERY] Thermal: OK - Power: OK - Current: OK - Cross-domain (e.g. GPU): OK  ||  VCore: 607 mV - Package: 1.9 W - Graphics: 0.6 W - DRAM: 0.3 W          

Get battery watt consumption command:

system_profiler SPPowerDataType | grep "(m[AV])" | awk '{ print $3 }' | tr ' ' ' ' | awk '{ print $1*$2/1000000 }'

As comparison will be using a

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)

2,2 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

256GB SSD

Not sure about it's power policies on batt.

TEST

idle is 10watts for both computers without any programs loaded. Will go down to 8-9 when not used for a couple of minutes.

I was expecting much less draw on the x1 because of the smaller & less resolution screen + more efficient CPU.

Questions

What do you think is a normal idle watt consumption for the x1?

How can I go further in finding what could be wrong or improved for longer battery life.

#TODO

Will put some stress test results.

Will try to disable 2 of the CPUs at idle or low stress tasks.

Maybe try lighter Desktop Environment

Thanks!