Windows 7 and Battery performance on MBP

[younker]

I have installed Windows 7 Beta on my Macbook pro (late 2006), with the driver from boot camp and update it to ver 2.1, the display driver of this MBP are used from Windows update as the one in boot camp doesn't work.

But I have a very weired issue, the battery performance is horrible, in Leopard I can use it for almost 2 hours, but on Windows 7 even I didn't do anything, the battery exhausted in half hour.

Anyone has met this problem? is it a driver issue?

 

[Tallest Skil]

No, that's Windows. It can't power manage. You see this in XP and Vista as well. OS X is great at power management.

 

[DoFoT9]

yup yup stupid M$. lucky its a beta otherwise id bash them around a tad more

 

[FX120]

Hmmm... I can't speak for an MBP but on a Thinkpad T60 with XP and ThinkVantage power management on battery I could squeeze about 5 hours out of my 9 cell. On 7 with the default power management I only drained it to 50% in about 2hrs 20 min, it claimed I had 2 hours left. This isn't a scientific test by any means, brightness was default to battery settings on both, wifi on in both, no optical media useage, browsing web and office files were the main tasks.

Is it possible that your power settings aren't configured for a laptop, and are instead set to a desktop profile that would keep your screen brightness and CPU at full power?

 

[DoFoT9]

i daresay that its a bootcamp problem.. beause it wouldnt come with ANY modifications whatso ever.

 

[nishishei]

No, that's Windows. It can't power manage. You see this in XP and Vista as well. OS X is great at power management.

Windows 7 gets about 10-15% better battery life than Vista.

If you want really good battery life on Windows, just download RmClock and undervolt your CPU. I get about an hour longer (30% improvement) when I undervolt.

 

[DoFoT9]

Windows 7 gets about 10-15% better battery life than Vista.

If you want really good battery life on Windows, just download RmClock and undervolt your CPU. I get about an hour longer (30% improvement) when I undervolt.

very impressive, and this can be done on all Intel Macs?

 

[younker]

I choose the power settings as "Balance", I think it should ajdust the power usage when no pluged. But weired result came to me, only half hour battery life as nothing done. I searched from internet and it saids that Windows 7 will gain about 30% improvement on battery life.

Hmmm... I can't speak for an MBP but on a Thinkpad T60 with XP and ThinkVantage power management on battery I could squeeze about 5 hours out of my 9 cell. On 7 with the default power management I only drained it to 50% in about 2hrs 20 min, it claimed I had 2 hours left. This isn't a scientific test by any means, brightness was default to battery settings on both, wifi on in both, no optical media useage, browsing web and office files were the main tasks.

Is it possible that your power settings aren't configured for a laptop, and are instead set to a desktop profile that would keep your screen brightness and CPU at full power?

 

[argos4000]

I have installed Windows 7 Beta on my Macbook pro (late 2006), with the driver from boot camp and update it to ver 2.1, the display driver of this MBP are used from Windows update as the one in boot camp doesn't work.

But I have a very weired issue, the battery performance is horrible, in Leopard I can use it for almost 2 hours, but on Windows 7 even I didn't do anything, the battery exhausted in half hour.

Anyone has met this problem? is it a driver issue?

How did you install the drivers in the first place??? :O

 

[TheLandOfSmeg]

MacBook Pro 15" - Late 2006

I have a Late 2006 MacBook Pro. I installed Windows 7 32-bit, then I installed Boot Camp 2.0 from the Leopard DVD (as the Boot Camp 2.1 update wouldn't run), rebooted, and then I was planning to install the 2.1 update.

After rebooting, the desktop loads for a few seconds and then the whole computer hangs. This only happened after installing Boot Camp 2.0. I have tried booting into Safe Mode and disabling a heap of stuff (Radeon X1600 drivers, Firewire, Ethernet, Bluetooth, iSight, etc.) but it still won't boot.

Did you install the Boot Camp 2.1 update before rebooting from 2.0? Is there another method that I don't know about? I am going to play around with it a bit in Safe Mode and see what I can do, otherwise may have to reinstall and try installing the drivers manually.

 

[younker]

I installed Bootcamp drivers 2.0 first with a modified bootcamp.msi, then reboot, after the reboot, I installed the 2.1 update.

The mobility X1600 driver from bootcamp won't work even you update to 2.1, but fortunatly you can get the network works with the bootcamp drivers.

Then try windows update to find the updated driver for mobility x1600 and the ethernet driver update.

Also for the wireless card driver you can choose it from the device manager and use update driver to update it, then the default windows version will be used, this is also better than bootcamp's, because bootcamp think my wireless card is 11g, but actually it is 11n. Windows driver can recognize it.

Anyway the current issues I have are: trackpad scroll, battery performance.

I have a Late 2006 MacBook Pro. I installed Windows 7 32-bit, then I installed Boot Camp 2.0 from the Leopard DVD (as the Boot Camp 2.1 update wouldn't run), rebooted, and then I was planning to install the 2.1 update.

After rebooting, the desktop loads for a few seconds and then the whole computer hangs. This only happened after installing Boot Camp 2.0. I have tried booting into Safe Mode and disabling a heap of stuff (Radeon X1600 drivers, Firewire, Ethernet, Bluetooth, iSight, etc.) but it still won't boot.

Did you install the Boot Camp 2.1 update before rebooting from 2.0? Is there another method that I don't know about? I am going to play around with it a bit in Safe Mode and see what I can do, otherwise may have to reinstall and try installing the drivers manually.

 

[TheLandOfSmeg]

Thanks for the info, I know how to modify MSI files, what in particular did you modify in the bootcamp.msi?

 

[Quillz]

No, that's Windows. It can't power manage. You see this in XP and Vista as well. OS X is great at power management.

Congratulations, you win my award for today's most idiotic comment. Please take your head our of your ass. It has nothing to do with Windows and everything to with Apple. Blame them for not providing adequate drivers. How long did it take them before they *just recently* released the multi-touch trackpad update for Boot Camp? They had a broken trackpad for close to two years and did nothing abut it. And let's not forget that Apple has (likely intentionally) crippled Bluetooth, as well. I can't even use their damn wireless keyboard in Vista or Windows 7. It simply doesn't connect. If Apple would actually provide updated drivers periodically, these issues could be prevented.

I actually get better battery life on my MacBook when I run Windows 7 than I do when I run Leopard. This is quite amazing, since I'm sure Apple probably provide sub-standard power management drivers, as well.

yup yup stupid M$. lucky its a beta otherwise id bash them around a tad more

True, it's a beta release, but still, it's largely Apple's fault for not caring about their Boot Camp drivers. The latest drivers are 2.1, dating back to April 2008 or so, before Vista SP1 and Windows 7.

 

[DoFoT9]

True, it's a beta release, but still, it's largely Apple's fault for not caring about their Boot Camp drivers. The latest drivers are 2.1, dating back to April 2008 or so, before Vista SP1 and Windows 7.

this is exactly why you cannot possibly expect anything good to come from the beta's, because they are exactly that. how can you expect apple to bring periodic updates to something that isnt even finished?

my opinion is that apple hasnt been providing updates because windows is (currently) all over the place, they have been bringing out updates VERY often, and even the slightest changes can completely stop something from working (as show with your BT keyboard problems). lets not forget that apple is a smaller company than M$, hell they even struggled to bring out the iPhone on time!! they had to bring some coders from a different department! that shows how small they actually are.

give them time and wait for M$7 to become finalised and you will find (finally) an update become available.

hhmm i also thought that power, heat, fan control etc were mainly controlled by the hardware itself. apart from, of course, when the OS forces the hardware to clock down/up etcetc. so its not always the OS that is to blame..

 

[Quillz]

this is exactly why you cannot possibly expect anything good to come from the beta's, because they are exactly that. how can you expect apple to bring periodic updates to something that isnt even finished?

You're absolutely right. I wouldn't expect Apple to support Windows 7, as it's only in beta right now. However, their Bluetooth drivers simply do not work in either Windows XP or Windows Vista, and this is what needs to be fixed. On an Apple iMac, using Apple's Boot Camp drivers, I cannot use Apple's wireless aluminum keyboard. It will be detected but simply won't connect. The fact that Apple's software fails to sync together two pieces of Apple's hardware is what's frustrating, and needs to be fixed.

 

[DoFoT9]

You're absolutely right. I wouldn't expect Apple to support Windows 7, as it's only in beta right now. However, their Bluetooth drivers simply do not work in either Windows XP or Windows Vista, and this is what needs to be fixed. On an Apple iMac, using Apple's Boot Camp drivers, I cannot use Apple's wireless aluminum keyboard. It will be detected but simply won't connect. The fact that Apple's software fails to sync together two pieces of Apple's hardware is what's frustrating, and needs to be fixed.

i know im right, im always right haha jks.

for some reason i dont think its an apple issue that is causing your dilemma, but more a winblows problem... if the KB is being "seen" by the computer then i see no reason why it would not fully connect. the drivers would be no different from apple's previous KB's (which i have).

i have both an older wireless KB, and a new wireless MightyMouse, both initially had errors setting up. but after some tinkering i got them working perfectly, they now even connect by themselves! (wow). so maybe just play around a bit more and see how you go.

 

[Mackan]

No, that's Windows. It can't power manage. You see this in XP and Vista as well. OS X is great at power management.

Stop spreading this crap. Windows is just fine for power management, proven on most PC's out there. The problem is Apple, their provided Boot Camp drivers and hardware. Apple notebooks run EFI, not BIOS like all other PC's. BIOS emulation is used. This will most likely complicate power management measures for Windows.

Linux also gets good battery life on PC notebooks. But not on MacBooks. Go figure.

Apple have very low priority on Boot Camp. The prime example is the trackpad driver. After a long time, they updated the trackpad driver, but the driver still sucks. And no simple right click like on OS X. It's all about providing the "best experience" in OS X. Will always be like that.

 

[Quillz]

i know im right, im always right haha jks.

for some reason i dont think its an apple issue that is causing your dilemma, but more a winblows problem... if the KB is being "seen" by the computer then i see no reason why it would not fully connect. the drivers would be no different from apple's previous KB's (which i have).

i have both an older wireless KB, and a new wireless MightyMouse, both initially had errors setting up. but after some tinkering i got them working perfectly, they now even connect by themselves! (wow). so maybe just play around a bit more and see how you go.

It's possible, I'll continue to give it a try. Of course, Apple proclaims so boldly on their website that running Windows on the Mac is smooth, as they make everything "just work," like on Mac OS X. Clearly, this isn't really the case.

 

[DoFoT9]

It's possible, I'll continue to give it a try.

ok keep trying and see how you go.

Of course, Apple proclaims so boldly on their website that running Windows on the Mac is smooth, as they make everything "just work," like on Mac OS X. Clearly, this isn't really the case.

well, to be honest, to me and a lot of my friends we havent had any problems with bootcamp. it has been very solid and reliable, even with peripherals and add-on type things.

the only real problems ive found have been under windows itself, you know with the whole registry thing and all.. but other then that its nothing.. oh and i need to know how to boot from an external USB drive which used to be the internal drive.. havent found anything yet though haha.

 

[younker]

ahh, I think the emulated BIOS is the problem of windows power management. but 32bit edition of windows 7 doesn't support EFI that Apple used, and I think the 64bits edition uses another version of EFI.

Maybe this is the problem.
To run Windows7 I think it is better to always have plugged in.

Stop spreading this crap. Windows is just fine for power management, proven on most PC's out there. The problem is Apple, their provided Boot Camp drivers and hardware. Apple notebooks run EFI, not BIOS like all other PC's. BIOS emulation is used. This will most likely complicate power management measures for Windows.

Linux also gets good battery life on PC notebooks. But not on MacBooks. Go figure.

Apple have very low priority on Boot Camp. The prime example is the trackpad driver. After a long time, they updated the trackpad driver, but the driver still sucks. And no simple right click like on OS X. It's all about providing the "best experience" in OS X. Will always be like that.

 

[Nermal]

Thanks for the info, I know how to modify MSI files, what in particular did you modify in the bootcamp.msi?

I have the Late 2006 model and didn't have to modify anything.

Win 7 32-bit -> Windows Update for Radeon driver* -> Boot Camp 2.0 -> 2.1 Update.

Worked straight off for me.

* I didn't even know that this was necessary; I just ran WU straight off to see how much it would pick up. When I found that there were still a lot of drivers missing, I installed the unmodified Boot Camp drivers.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Really? Only like half an hour? I always get 3 hours and my battery has a smaller capacity than any MBP.

 

[amt2002]

I'm getting max of 2hrs out of win 7 on my alu macbook vs 4-5hrs on leopard.

One reason why i won't be converting!

 

[nishishei]

I'm getting max of 2hrs out of win 7 on my alu macbook vs 4-5hrs on leopard.

One reason why i won't be converting!

It's not Win7, it's the Macbook on Bootcamp.
Most PC laptops pass 4 hours easily in Windows.

 

[DoFoT9]

It's not Win7, it's the Macbook on Bootcamp.
Most PC laptops pass 4 hours easily in Windows.

baha thats debatable.