I've got a Thinkpad X395 with a Ryzen 5 3500U, and I'm trying to maximize battery life. I mainly use it for web development and browsing, not gaming. When on battery, I'm using the Powersave governor to keep frequencies locked at 1.4GHz, but I've noticed my power draw fluctuates between 4.5W and 18W. I'm interested in undervolting to see if I can reduce the temperature and power consumption even more. Is undervolting feasible on my setup?
3 Answers
Be careful not to overdo it. Sometimes, trying to extend battery life by undervolting can backfire. Modern CPUs and operating systems manage power wisely. It might actually be better to keep certain apps closed—like Teams and Thunderbird—rather than focusing too much on tweaking voltages, which can only save so many watts.
You might want to check out TLP or Power Options. They can help optimize power settings for better battery life without needing to undervolt right away.
For better battery life, consider lowering your screen brightness, as it can consume a lot of power. Also, turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you don’t need them, since they can each draw about 1W.
I already have TLP set up, and I ran sudo powertop --auto-tune. I also disabled some unused Systemd services and background KDE processes.