hey all, i have a compaq c500 presario. 1.72 ghz intel dual core, vista, 1gb of ram. i have been trying to tweak things to get me better battery life for a long time, and im still getting owned by dell's that last more than 4 hours. i think i have squeezed over 3 out of this but it was not easy.
disabled aero, microsoft classic apperance, uninstalled sidebar. i i know how to do msconfig and stop things from booting, and ive done that. the thing i think is killing me is my ram. i only have a gig, and when i have it running like i normally do, with one firefox window open AIM and fanspeed going, im using around 700mgs of ram. which is 7/10ths of my ram.
the fan speed program when i got it i insalled it and opened it, and i watched the normal temps, it would get to about 137, then go down to maybe high 120's. then i messed with it, and i have the target down to freezing, 0c 32f, and it still hardly gets down to the 110 area, it just hangs out in the 120's. i cant get the fan to stay on longer to get me down to the 100's or 110's. is this application killing my battery life? if i turn it off and try my battery out it will be factory settings right, i dont have to uninsall it right?
my power plan is always power saver, with the brightness all the way down (still very bright) processor is limited to 40 percent, everything is turned down.
im thinking of formatting to xp anyways. there is a SP3 coming out eventually and it would use a lot less ram.
my question is about the programs i have running. i want this fan speed application becasue i want to have this laptop for a long time and i know how temperature can do bad things. also i can deal with a darker screen, but i cant find a program to turn it down even more. if i got the temp down to the 100's ish would my battery life be better becasue of the temp, or worse becasue it would have to run the fan more? and if i get xp and load up all the drivers on the hp site for xp, would i still have the power plans where i could limit my processor and all? how much life can i get out of formatting? is this just an uniffecient laptop? i got this for my birthday and want to do the best i can do with it without selling it.
thanks for your help.
disabled aero, microsoft classic apperance, uninstalled sidebar. i i know how to do msconfig and stop things from booting, and ive done that. the thing i think is killing me is my ram. i only have a gig, and when i have it running like i normally do, with one firefox window open AIM and fanspeed going, im using around 700mgs of ram. which is 7/10ths of my ram.
the fan speed program when i got it i insalled it and opened it, and i watched the normal temps, it would get to about 137, then go down to maybe high 120's. then i messed with it, and i have the target down to freezing, 0c 32f, and it still hardly gets down to the 110 area, it just hangs out in the 120's. i cant get the fan to stay on longer to get me down to the 100's or 110's. is this application killing my battery life? if i turn it off and try my battery out it will be factory settings right, i dont have to uninsall it right?
my power plan is always power saver, with the brightness all the way down (still very bright) processor is limited to 40 percent, everything is turned down.
im thinking of formatting to xp anyways. there is a SP3 coming out eventually and it would use a lot less ram.
my question is about the programs i have running. i want this fan speed application becasue i want to have this laptop for a long time and i know how temperature can do bad things. also i can deal with a darker screen, but i cant find a program to turn it down even more. if i got the temp down to the 100's ish would my battery life be better becasue of the temp, or worse becasue it would have to run the fan more? and if i get xp and load up all the drivers on the hp site for xp, would i still have the power plans where i could limit my processor and all? how much life can i get out of formatting? is this just an uniffecient laptop? i got this for my birthday and want to do the best i can do with it without selling it.
thanks for your help.
