[sclug] Under(re)volting - How does MS do it?

[Pieter Claassen]

Hi Guys, I just got a brand new lenovo X60s from the Uni (which I am now
regretting because it works so badly with Linux).

Many things don't work (most notably switching between external VGA and
the laptop screen, increasing screen brightness, disabling wireless and
bluetooth etc.).

But, what is really worrying is that the battery barely lasts 2 hours on
this thing, even with dual cores (Intel Dual Core 1.66GHz with 2400MB
Cache). The cpufreq governor works fine for both cpu's but only has
three steps (1,1.33 and 1.66 GHz).

So, the question is simply: How come Microsoft manages to get around 6
hours out of this battery (urban legend) while the best I can do (after
manually disabling wireless, unloading USB drivers, enabling laptop
mode) is only 2 hours? Yes, I know P=V^2/R which I suspect that even a
minor drop in board voltage will have significant power gains. However,
everything I read warns me against patching the kernel for undervolting
because of possible hardware damage (motherboard not chip).

So, how is Microsoft doing this? How can I do this?

Oh, I am on Ubuntu Feisty.

Cheers,
Pieter