Linux Mint Forums

I just switched over to Linux Mint KDE 2 days ago and I have noticed that my battery loses power at an alarmingly faster rate than it did under Ubuntu with the Unity interface. I was wondering what would cause that and if it would be wise to go back to Unity and Ubuntu as I can't risk having my computer die in class. Thanks.

Disable all the fancy effects of KDE. Many people have been complaining about this issue.
If you're worried about the battery, you should get LXDE. This environment uses the least amount of resources and battery power.
Open terminal and type "sudo apt-get install lxde". When you want to switch to it, logout and select LXDE and login.

sagirfahmid3 wrote:Disable all the fancy effects of KDE. Many people have been complaining about this issue.
If you're worried about the battery, you should get LXDE. This environment uses the least amount of resources and battery power.
Open terminal and type "sudo apt-get install lxde". When you want to switch to it, logout and select LXDE and login.

I don't like any of the lighter DEs. Just that a very good chunk of my battery just isn't there anymore. For example, with Ubuntu's Unity I would have roughly 2:30 to work with on my computer, with KDE its more like 1:45. Thats a lot of battery life going towards effects no?

Or consider going mint 12 main edition with Cinnamon...you probably won't have any battery problems with that
I doubt that Cinnamon would take much more power (if any) then unity since Cinnamon is a shell modification much like unity is also...just a different kind...

You don't LIKE light DEs? Why not? You can customize it like I did with Compiz, Emerald, and Docky. I have the cube and all Compiz effects in LXDE as well.
I know why the battery drains faster: it's set to the maximum processor frequency. In Gnome, you can add an applet called "cpu frequency scaling monitor" that allows you to change the frequency. I have't used KDE much, but it should be there in the widgets menu. Look for it. Unity is different from KDE; it's Gnome.

sagirfahmid3 wrote:You don't LIKE light DEs? Why not? You can customize it like I did with Compiz, Emerald, and Docky. I have the cube and all Compiz effects in LXDE as well.
I know why the battery drains faster: it's set to the maximum processor frequency. In Gnome, you can add an applet called "cpu frequency scaling monitor" that allows you to change the frequency. I have't used KDE much, but it should be there in the widgets menu. Look for it. Unity is different from KDE; it's Gnome.

Yeah I don't like light DEs because to me they just don't compare to KDE and GNOME. I also have KDE on Powersave and turn it to aggresive Powersave when the battery gets low, and I still don't notice the difference. Never once touched the processor frequency settings on GNOME or Unity though, I never had to.

Which is why i recommended Mint 12 main edition (gnome) with Cinnamon session added on... Gets you a more conventional desktop with the much less power consumption of gnome...KDE does tend to be power hungry (even with effects turned off)...up to you...but i'd give it a shot...i use it and love it

What I may do instead is have a dual boot of Ubuntu and Mint KDE instead. gives me the best of both worlds!

I would suspect there is something hammering your system. I'm running Mint 12 KDE on a 64 bit laptop with desktop effects enabled and I easily get over 3.5 hours of battery before having to recharge..

Instead of trying to analyze and fix the problem you guys are all just suggesting different alternatives. Not very helpful. I think I'm facing the same problem. Anyone with some real insight? Thanks

colyn wrote:I would suspect there is something hammering your system. I'm running Mint 12 KDE on a 64 bit laptop with desktop effects enabled and I easily get over 3.5 hours of battery before having to recharge..

I thought so too. There's absolutely no way that desktop effects would account for 45 minutes of my battery being wasted as opposed to Unity... Is there a way to check what it may be?

You might try this:
Open up the system monitor app & click the process table tab.
click on the CPU % bar and watch what process is eating up your CPU %
I have found that two programs are often to blame-- Xorg and/or Nepomuk.
If Xorg is working heavy say 40% or more then something on your desktop might
be to blame, such as the Bubblemon applet or some hardware monitor applet,
Kind of a seek and destroy mission there.
As for Nepomuk try disableing file indexing or reconfigure file indexing in system settings,
the more files Nepomuk needs to index the more battery it will eat.
So if you have a large amount of files in your home folder there could be your problem with Nepomuk.
hope this helps someone.
PS:
this post might also help:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 97#p537188

Hmmm... that's odd! I usually get around 2.5 hours with Mint 14 KDE. I've even tried running just in console mode and completely stopping KDM, but my battery usage is about the same. When I had Windows Vista, I easily got 5 hours with full Aero enabled and running about 3 applications at the same time.