I'm really disappointed with the battery performance of Linux on my T14s laptop with a Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U. On Windows, I can get about 15 hours with light use, but on Linux, I'm struggling to get even 7 hours. I've tried multiple distributions including Pop!, Arch, and Fedora; my best results were with Fedora and Arch, but still no better than 7 hours. I couldn't get amd-pstate to work, which I suspect is a BIOS issue, leaving me with the less efficient acpi-cpufreq driver instead. I've tried various tools and programs like TLP and power-profiles-daemon but they haven't really helped reduce battery drain. I'm lost and would love any tips to get my Linux battery life closer to what I had on Windows without sacrificing performance. Anyone experienced similar issues or have suggestions?
5 Answers
Lenovo officially supports Ubuntu on many of their ThinkPads. You might want to look into that and see if your T14 is certified. Sometimes going with a certified distro solves a lot of compatibility issues. Check out their forums too!
I get your frustration; power management on Linux can sometimes feel less optimized than on Windows. Have you tried adding options like `amd_pstate=active` to your GRUB boot parameters? It's a common fix for better CPU power management on AMD systems. You could also check `cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_driver` to see if it’s using amd-pstate or still on acpi-cpufreq.
I don't have a direct answer, but did you update your BIOS/firmware? Some distributions, like Fedora, can handle firmware updates for your ThinkPad, which could potentially improve battery life. Just checking if everything is on the latest version may help!
Thanks for the suggestion! I did update everything, my BIOS version is from May 2025.
It's possible that you're using an outdated kernel with your Linux distro. A lot of LTS versions still have older kernels that don't fully support newer hardware like yours. Make sure you're running at least kernel 6.12.2 or higher, as that’s where many fixes start to kick in. You may need to switch to a rolling release to get those updates more quickly.
So, you're saying I should let the BIOS handle it? I know my BIOS has certain options for power management but thought I needed to force amd-pstate.
Have you checked what `powertop` says about your power consumption? It can really help identify which processes are draining your battery the most. Sometimes, there are background processes that you might not even notice!
I skimmed through it quickly, but didn't find anything specific. My laptop runs cool and everything looks good, yet the battery life is frustrating.
I already tried using `amd_pstate=guided`, but it didn’t seem to work. I assumed my CPU wasn’t compatible, though I might try again.