X1Extreme's battery life - help please

[fatymid]

43 minutes ago, Ultra Male said:

Click Start > Settings > Privacy > then from the left pane, scroll down to Background Apps

 

Now uncheck all the apps that you don't need to be running in the background constantly, for example, you don't need Mail, Calculator, etc, running in the background, the only ones I keep in the background are system apps that specific hardware needs like nVIDIA Control Panel, Realtek Audio Console, you get the picture

 

Also, in Google Chrome, go to Settings, then scroll down to the bottom and expand Advanced Settings, then uncheck the box which says allow Chrome to run in the background

I did all that (I disabled everything that was running in the background), charged my laptop and restarted. Results are below, battery life is still terrible. 

 

I was running just the browser on external monitor, wifi off, keyboard backlight off

 

[5x5]

That discharge rate is insanity. It should be under 10W. Is the dGPU under load for some reason?

[Super Spartan]

6 minutes ago, fatymid said:

I did all that (I disabled everything that was running in the background), charged my laptop and restarted. Results are below, battery life is still terrible. 

 

I was running just the browser on external monitor, wifi off, keyboard backlight off

 

Can you do me a favor? Uninstall that app, then reboot. Then ensure your laptop is fully charged and start using it as you would normally and see how long it lasts before it dies. Stop depending on these snake oil apps, that's just a BS estimation

[fatymid]

15 minutes ago, Ultra Male said:

Can you do me a favor? Uninstall that app, then reboot. Then ensure your laptop is fully charged and start using it as you would normally and see how long it lasts before it dies. Stop depending on these snake oil apps, that's just a BS estimation

Ok, I am gonna do that. 

 

But HWiNFO shows similar results.

[fatymid]

 

9 hours ago, Ultra Male said:

Can you do me a favor? Uninstall that app, then reboot. Then ensure your laptop is fully charged and start using it as you would normally and see how long it lasts before it dies. Stop depending on these snake oil apps, that's just a BS estimation

Ok, I did the test of normal usage using Chrome and there is no way I am getting more than 5 hours of battery life (obviously its life improved since all the tweaks I have done). I also turned off Thunderbolt  software, deleted battery bar as you advise. 

Below are more detailed stats after the laptop has been running for some time. The discharge rate is still way above 10k. 

 

(current/min/max/average)

[fatymid]

Following advice from Reddit I checked more data from HWiNFO, especially CPU Power Package, Total Sytem Power etc

 

link to HWiNFO with all sensors  after I finished charging the laptop to 99%: https://imgur.com/RABSJXs  

 Is that normal? Is that a lot? I am running only Chrome with Youtube stream and Gmail open.

 

[Super Spartan]

6 hours ago, fatymid said:

 

Ok, I did the test of normal usage using Chrome and there is no way I am getting more than 5 hours of battery life (obviously its life improved since all the tweaks I have done). I also turned off Thunderbolt  software, deleted battery bar as you advise. 

Below are more detailed stats after the laptop has been running for some time. The discharge rate is still way above 10k. 

 

(current/min/max/average)

Would you like me to login to your system using TeamViewer and do my magical tweaks maybe it helps? here are the Ultra Male Tweaks:

 

1- Uninstallation of all the Windows Store Garbage Apps like 3D Paint, Print 3D, Alarms & Clock, Feedback Hub, Maps, Groove Music, News, Weather, etc.
2- Removing all Windows 10 Privacy Invasion stuff like Telemetry, collecting your activities that you do on your computer, sending your keystrokes to Microsoft, automatically installing suggested apps in the background, allowing Microsoft to conduct experiments on your laptop, disabling automatic driver updates through Windows updates, disabling Windows 10 ads, disabling Cortana, Cloud Search etc.
3- Disabling Microsoft Edge from starting up automatically in the background upon reboot.
4- Adjusting a lot of options in PC Settings like disabling Windows Tablet Mode (you have a laptop not a tablet), disabling suggestions appearing in the start menu, disabling automatically connecting to Paid WiFi Hotspots, disabling Game DVR which reduced performance in games, and a lot more.
5- Replacing Cortana with a much better search tool that finds results instantly called Everything which finds any file you want as soon as you start typing even a few letters of its name and it doesn't even rely on the Windows Indexing Service to do this!
6- Restoring the Classic Windows Photo Viewer from Windows 7
7- Restoring the Classic Windows 7 Start Menu
8- Restoring the Classic Calculator from Windows 7
9- Removal of the new and useless 3D Objects Folder that appears when you open "Computer"
10- Completely disabling Windows Defender from its roots (including all scheduled tasks and startup files) for those who want to install their own AV. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is highly recommended if you want the utmost security with the least system performance impact.
11- Updating all drivers to the latest versions in case they weren't up to date.
12- Disabling Windows 10 Power Throttling which limits CPU performance in favor of more battery life
13- Overprovisioning your SSD anywhere between 10-20% depending on how much space you can spare to ensure optimal and consistent performance at all times.
14- Blocking the Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool (which causes a high system load when it is scanning files)
15- Preventing Microsoft Edge from running on startup in the background
16- Restoring the missing default power plans in Windows 10 (ie. High performance, Power saver, and adding the new Ultimate Performance Plan)
17- Creating a system restoration image so that you can restore your computer the way it was after I have tweaked it within a few minutes easily!

[fatymid]

8 minutes ago, Ultra Male said:

Would you like me to login to your system using TeamViewer and do my magical tweaks maybe it helps? here are the Ultra Male Tweaks:

Jesus man, that's so much hassle just to get a normal battery life. It's not even worth it, I am going to have this laptop replaced. If it turns out that they other device also has battery issues I am gonna...actually no idea what I could do....

[Super Spartan]

1 hour ago, fatymid said:

Jesus man, that's so much hassle just to get a normal battery life. It's not even worth it, I am going to have this laptop replaced. If it turns out that they other device also has battery issues I am gonna...actually no idea what I could do....

alright man good luck, let us know how it goes

[fatymid]

I am writing from a new machine. After opening it I installed HWiNFO, deleted OneDrive and did not update anything. Then I disabled all apps running in the background.

Here are the results: [1st image is right after full charge, second and third are made when I was using Edge with video playing and battery save on, wifi on]https://imgur.com/a/ZfHvkZi

 

I am going to update BIOS and Power Managment drivers using Lenovo's software. I am going to leave GPU drivers as they are for now. 

 

EDIT:

Link: https://imgur.com/a/hix5Q5R

First image was made when the laptop was idle for 5 miutes right after the update, second two were made after 5 minutes of playing a youtube video on Edge (wifi on, battery save on)

 

What do you think?

Right now I am going to time my normal use using Edge browser, without playing any games or running demanding software. 

[fatymid]

Just a quick update:

The unit I got seems to be f*cked up for another reason  - the screen is orange. I tried calibrating the colours, it worked for 2 minutes and went back to orange. Obviously I have "night vision" off. 

 

Battery test indicates that battery life is a X1E inherent issue. I've been using it for 2:30h and it dropped from 90% to 46%, so I assume it will be dead in ~5 hours total but I will continue to use it to have an accurate time. Note that it is on extremely light use - Edge, wifi off this time, power settings set to energy save, battery save on. 

[fatymid]

Test done - casual browsing produces 4:55 result (from 90 to 10%). I am not impressed and I am going to update the remaining drivers. The orange screen keeps coming back, hopefully the update will fix it. 

 

EDIT:

Nope, the screen is still orange, even after another calibration. I updated all the necessary drivers and I am going to perform a test during my normal workflow (Spotify, Discord, Opera with few tabs, FoxitPDF, wifi off). The problem is that with orange screen I need to set higher brightness level and thus drain more battery power. How can I fix this screen issue?

Clicking this is a temporary solution, screen reverts to orange in a few minutes

[fatymid]

I am done with all testing

Casual use: 4:55h (Edge) [from 90 to 10%]

Normal use: 3:17h (opera, spotify, discord etc.) [from 99% to 10%]

@5x5 if this is a software issue please tell me what else I can do to improve batter life. 

 

 

[5x5]

48 minutes ago, fatymid said:

I am done with all testing

Casual use: 4:55h (Edge) [from 90 to 10%]

Normal use: 3:17h (opera, spotify, discord etc.) [from 99% to 10%]

@5x5 if this is a software issue please tell me what else I can do to improve batter life. 

 

 

Is your dGPU enabled or in sleep mode (as it should)? That's my suspicion, it's not entering sleep mode

[fatymid]

16 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Is your dGPU enabled or in sleep mode (as it should)? That's my suspicion, it's not entering sleep mode

I have not touched it. How can I check this? (It is enabled in device manager if that's what you're asking).

 

I also noticed that both units are very hot underneath even during light use and fans seem off. Is that normal? (I mean generally the answer is no, but maybe X1E just has it that way?)

[5x5]

2 hours ago, fatymid said:

I have not touched it. How can I check this? (It is enabled in device manager if that's what you're asking).

 

I also noticed that both units are very hot underneath even during light use and fans seem off. Is that normal? (I mean generally the answer is no, but maybe X1E just has it that way?)

Nope, definitely not normal. Look at GPU-Z - is it registering load on the Nvidia card. If yes, the Nvidia driver is not working correctly so you're essentially running in high performance mode

[r2724r16]

@fatymid

 

Lenovo's quality control has gone down in recent years. Modern ThinkPads just aren't what they used to be.

 

I bought two ThinkPad P1 Gen laptops a while back and returned both of them. One of them had a defective keyboard which is really disappointing on a $2000 business laptop. Battery life was also terrible on both of them (was getting 6 hours of normal use IIRC). After returning them, I bought two MacBook Pro 13" laptops and I have to say, I'm satisfied with both of them.

 

The fact that you're getting 5 hours of battery life (or less) during normal use is quite disappointing. I honestly recommend that you return your ThinkPad X1 Extreme and buy something better.

[fatymid]

10 hours ago, 5x5 said:

Nope, definitely not normal. Look at GPU-Z - is it registering load on the Nvidia card. If yes, the Nvidia driver is not working correctly so you're essentially running in high performance mode

First of all, I still have orange screen problem - nothing fixes it!

 

The GPU load jumps to ~20% when watching a video, 

 

 

9 hours ago, r2724r16 said:

The fact that you're getting 5 hours of battery life (or less) during normal use is quite disappointing. I honestly recommend that you return your ThinkPad X1 Extreme and buy something better.

The question is - what would I buy? X1E has no competition: 3 year warranty, dGPU, great trackpad an keyboard and only 1500$. And buying Macbook is just a suicide with the price they charge for repairs and cost to specs ratio (also it has only 1 year warranty so if something breaks on 370th day you are in a deep shit). 

[r2724r16]

3 hours ago, fatymid said:

First of all, I still have orange screen problem - nothing fixes it!

Return the laptop. That'll fix all your problems!

3 hours ago, fatymid said:

The question is - what would I buy? X1E has no competition: 3 year warranty, dGPU, great trackpad an keyboard and only 1500$. And buying Macbook is just a suicide with the price they charge for repairs and cost to specs ratio (also it has only 1 year warranty so if something breaks on 370th day you are in a deep shit). 

This was also my opinion a while back, but that's changed. I'm so happy that I didn't keep my P1 Gen 2. After using a MacBook 13" for a while, I can say that it's a great laptop. It has the best trackpad in the industry, OS X gestures are amazing, the 16:10 screen is amazing, and you'll get used to the keyboard easily. I have Apple Care for three years, and if I "accidently" smash up my laptop at the end of my three years, Apple will give me a new one for like $300.

 

I will admit that for the price, specs may not look appealing. But as a package, MacBooks are great.

[fatymid]

6 minutes ago, r2724r16 said:

This was also my opinion a while back, but that's changed. I'm so happy that I didn't keep my P1 Gen 2. After using a MacBook 13" for a while, I can say that it's a great laptop. It has the best trackpad in the industry, OS X gestures are amazing, the 16:10 screen is amazing, and you'll get used to the keyboard easily. I have Apple Care for three years, and if I "accidently" smash up my laptop at the end of my three years, Apple will give me a new one for like $300.

 

I will admit that for the price, specs may not look appealing. But as a package, MacBooks are great.

Here is the problem: I am just a student. Now is the only time I have that much money to spend. Therefore investing in Macbooks is ridiculous in my case because if they brake I am done. 

 

I started thinking that maybe a better idea is to buy a cheap (1000$) gaming laptop because many of its parts can be replaced easily. And the rest of the money I can save for later, for RAM or SSD upgrades in the future. I thought about Acer Nitro 7 or HP Pavilion Gaming, but here the problem is battery life. 

Dell XPS that would have excellent battery life costs ~1470 and has only 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD which is a bad deal.

[5x5]

6 hours ago, fatymid said:

First of all, I still have orange screen problem - nothing fixes it!

 

The GPU load jumps to ~20% when watching a video, 

 

 

The question is - what would I buy? X1E has no competition: 3 year warranty, dGPU, great trackpad an keyboard and only 1500$. And buying Macbook is just a suicide with the price they charge for repairs and cost to specs ratio (also it has only 1 year warranty so if something breaks on 370th day you are in a deep shit). 

The Nvidia driver is busted. That's your issue. GPU load should be 0%. The card is running in a high power state and draining the battery. Try an older driver. This is what I meant by there is a software issue somewhere. The laptop is basically using more power than you would use while rendering a video because the Nvidia driver is shit and running the dGPU as opposed to the iGPU.

[fatymid]

Just now, 5x5 said:

The Nvidia driver is busted. That's your issue. GPU load should be 0%. The card is running in a high power state and draining the battery.

What is the solution? I just now have updated the drivers using Nvidia Experience (to some game ready drivers or whatever)

[5x5]

Just now, fatymid said:

What is the solution? 

Running an older driver. If that doesn't help, try emailing Nvidia for more information and ask why Optimus isn't working. I assume you have the clean install with no GFE and also have set the preferred video processor for 2D to the iGPU in Nvidia Control Panel

[fatymid]

Just now, 5x5 said:

Running an older driver. If that doesn't help, try emailing Nvidia for more information and ask why Optimus isn't working. I assume you have the clean install with no GFE and also have set the preferred video processor for 2D to the iGPU in Nvidia Control Panel

At first I did not have GFE, now I do. I do not see where 2D options are, I only find 3D. Could you give a screenshot or something?

 

Also, how do I fix orange screen cause by integrated GPU?

Another thing, I noticed that attaching external monitors automatically assigns dGPU to that monitor 

[fatymid]

@5x5 after updating the drivers I did a test of running both Youtube and Twitch, load stays at 0%.

 

I esentially have the same software I had on my previous unit. I do not expect amazing battery life. Should I test it again?

Also, what could fix this f*cking orange screen?

With external monitor attached the dGPU load is back at 20% (note: I did battery tests without external monitor).