I am running Ubuntu Server 12.04 on an HP Mini 311. It has an Atom 270, 3GB ram, NVIDIA ION graphics. When running windows 7 with the screen off and no programs running the power consumtion from the wall was measured as 7-9W. With Ubuntu server running, with ACPI, powertop options good. the power consumption is 17-20W. powertop reports that speedstep is clocking the CPU at 800MHz instead of the max 1600MHz and that the CPU is idling at least 95%. What other optimizations does Windows do that I can also customize to bring the power consumption down to a minimum?
Some other Details:
Power consumption is key, but I have no problem with the laptop at full power when I am actually running tasks.
I am suspicious that the GPU, even though powertop reports it at 0% usage, is in some non optimized state. I have not installed any nvidia drivers.
The bios has a switch enabled to allow the fan to turn off when consumption is low. The fan turns off if running WinXP and idling but is usually running in Win 7.
