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Vista: Power Options

post #1 of 6
3/13/07 at 12:57pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I have been playing around with Vista for a little over a month now and my experiences so far have been pretty positive.

I am, however, a little confused with the power options settings. I have gone into menus and submenus trying to have my laptop automatically switch from "Balanced" when on A/C power and "Power Saver" when on battery. I have gone to the advanced menus in the power options section and have set for this to happen. However, whenever my laptop is undocked, it remains in "Balanced" mode. I gain almost one full hour setting it to "Power Saver" so it is essential that I do so. Manually setting it to do so isn't too much of a hassle, but I don't know why it wouldn't do this by itself.

Any help is greatly appreciated...
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post #2 of 6
3/13/07 at 2:25pm
In the sub menus of the power settings, for each option you can select "when on battery" and "when plugged in" You need to set these. For instance,

for my laptop I have it on balanced. My settings for it to turn off the screen are,
on battery - 10 mins
plugged in - 20 mins

when I select Power Mode I have set to,
on battery 25 mins
plugged in 25 mins.

If you are still confused let me know. The three of these power options just are names basically because inside of them you set all of the options for on battery and plugged in. This, you do not have to switch between Power savings and Balanced as long as you make your settings the way you would like by using the advanced settings.
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post #3 of 6
3/13/07 at 2:36pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, I opened Control Panel>Power Options>'Balanced' Change Plan Settings>Change Advanced Plan Settings.

Then I went to Search and Indexing>Power Savings Mode and set:
- On battery: Power Saver
- Plugged In: Balanced

Isn't that where you specify what mode to go to when on battery/plugged in?
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post #4 of 6
3/13/07 at 2:52pm
No, thats just where you can tell the Searching and Indexing tools how to perform. Each power option in a since has two seperate options. There is no need to have the computer to go to a differnt power mode when you unplug it because each power plan has multiple options for "when plugged in" and "when on bettery". If you are using the BAlenced Power plan you can have it perform at its best when plugged in but when you unplug it, it will nto switch out of the Balenced Plan but it will act on the options you selected for "on battery" within the advanced options of the Balenced Power Plan. This is all very onfusing I will admit, I am confusing my self trying ot explain it haha.
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post #5 of 6
3/14/07 at 1:56pm
how bout graphics card? On XP my graphics card is set to max power savings when on battery (and then i usually dim the screen as low as I can). I can't find a powermizer or somethin in vista
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post #6 of 6
3/14/07 at 2:08pm
Thread Starter 
I just matched the Power Saver settings to my Balanced On Battery settings as you recommended. I'll let you know if there is any difference in battery life between the two next time I take my laptop to class.

I really appreciate your help in this matter. I'm sorry for confusing you while trying to clarify things.
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