Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Battery drain and Windows

entatlrg

entatlrg

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
3,385
6
Waterloo & Georgian Bay, Canada
I've noticed the Battery on my 13" MBP drains much faster when using Windows in VMfusion, makes sense running two OS's.

Question:
If I installed Windows via Bootcamp instead of VM would my battery last 'much' longer? I'm only running one OS so it should.


What's the best way to run Windows so I can get the most from the battery, is there any way to get the battery to last as long in Windows as it does in Mac ...

Running OS X goes an incredibly long time compared to Windows.
 
ayeying

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
Not entirely. Windows power management is not as good as OS X's variants on these systems. You'll probably be looking at maybe 60% of the battery life in Windows vs OS X. However, with more advanced and optimized drivers, it seems (at least for me) that battery life seems to be better.

I get 1.5-2 Hours in Windows 7 Ultimate under gaming. 2.5 Hours with regular use. In OS X, when gaming (CoD4 for Mac), I get about the same 1.5-2 Hours but I get close to 4-4.5 Hours with regular usage. Not sure why this is, seems that Windows just keeps the entire system at a higher power usage when OS X lets the hardware power down during regulars.
 
entatlrg

entatlrg

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
3,385
6
Waterloo & Georgian Bay, Canada
ayeying said:
Not entirely. Windows power management is not as good as OS X's variants on these systems. You'll probably be looking at maybe 60% of the battery life in Windows vs OS X. However, with more advanced and optimized drivers, it seems (at least for me) that battery life seems to be better.

I get 1.5-2 Hours in Windows 7 Ultimate under gaming. 2.5 Hours with regular use. In OS X, when gaming (CoD4 for Mac), I get about the same 1.5-2 Hours but I get close to 4-4.5 Hours with regular usage. Not sure why this is, seems that Windows just keeps the entire system at a higher power usage when OS X lets the hardware power down during regulars.
Click to expand...

Do you do all that on your MacBook Air? If so, doesn't it get real hot with fans at full speed? Your in Bootcamp obviously?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom