Try the jupiter power management applet. I'm getting ~4 hours.
http://www.webupd8.org/2011/09/jupiter-applet-finally-available-for.html
It says you need to use a hack or something in the instructions, but I just added the ppa, updated, installed, and restarted unity or logged out and in again (I cant remember which), and I'm pretty sure it just worked.
If not, you may have to whitelist it, but it should do that on its own I believe.
I have almost the same machine (730U3E-S02PL, some slight differences in spec), so I can share my experiences with you. Hopefully it will help you to fix the problems with energy drain.
The main reason for the unnaturally high power consumption is that your discrete graphic card (Radeon) is constantly on. To switch it off, you will have to install the official AMD drivers from:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Linux+x86#amd-catalyst-packages
You can try using beta drivers, but I have found them unstable, so I do not recommend them. Unpack the downloaded file and run amd-driver-installer-XXXXXX.run
(with root privileges).
After having installed the drivers, reboot your machine. Run the Catalyst Control Center:
sudo amdcccle
and under the "Graphics switching" or whatever (I've got it in Polish...), choose your Intel card. You will have to reboot your computer again. If you see a window informing you that your computer is running in low graphics mode, do not worry. Click cancel
and reboot it again. If unity does not start - power your computer off (by pressing and holding the power button for a few secs) and then on again.
Performing these steps alone improved my battery life from like 2 hours to 4+. It also helps with the fan spinning constantly at high speed.
Next thing you can do is to enable intel_pstate (a new power scaling driver used for modern Intel CPUs):
gksu gedit /etc/default/grub
change the line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_pstate=enable"
Save the file, and run these commands:
sudo update-grub
sudo reboot
Install TLP (tool for setting and managing your power-saving options):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw
Install thermald (a tool developed by Intel's Open Source Technology Center which monitors and controls the CPU temperature, preventing it from overheating):
sudo apt-get install thermald
To be able to switch the CPU scaling driver easily, you can use the cpufreq indicator. Install it by using this command:
sudo apt-get install indicator-cpufreq
You can find more details here:
- http://www.webupd8.org/2014/04/prevent-your-laptop-from-overheating.html
- http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-configuration.html
Best Answer
Kubuntu Netbook Edition, running on my Asus eeePC 1000H is flat out unusable. The interface is so slow, I can sit and wait for 30 seconds for a button to press, or the task switcher to come up. I've switched off all graphic enhancements, and I still can't see me using this thing. Makes the whole battery issue moot. Next up: Jolicloud!