Linux on Dell XPS 14z

[Colemac]

Hi,

I'm very new to Linux and wanting to develop my skills on it but since dual booting my machine the battery life differs massively when in windows 7 to Linux.

In the windows environment light basic use will give anywhere between 5-6 hours, in Linux I'll be lucky to get 2.5hrs.

Can anyone please help as this is hindering my use of it as battery life is vital to me.

Thank
Craig

[xenopeek]

This problem occurs if you are using a kernel from version 2.6.38 to version 3.2, which has a power saving bug. It is finally fixed in kernel version 3.3. You can also apply a patched kernel, that has the fix from kernel version 3.3 backported. For Linux Mint 12 you can read here how to do this: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=91194#p524227

If you have an Intel Sandy Bridge processor (recent Core i3, Core i5 or Core i7) you can also read up here how to work around the problem by adding boot parameters to force enable power saving: http://foolcontrol.org/?p=1511

[Colemac]

Hi,

im about to dual boot my laptop again and i wanted to know if anyone has successfully implemented Linux Mint on to a Dell XPS 14z laptop without any issues?

I still have major concerns around this but im very eager to understand/learn more about linux but this issue is seriously concerning me? Should i consider Ubuntu or will i suffer the same issues?

[xenopeek]

I found this review in the hardware database: http://community.linuxmint.com/hardware/view/10390

Doesn't share what the minor problems are though