What happened to Intel Speed Step?

We've got a bunch of Lats D800, 810, 820, 620, 630 and 420.

Recently a guy asked me how he could conserve battery on a plane and
reviewing the Windows XP power and Quickset controls it seems I can control
when the machine shuts down the video and hard drive but beyond that it's
only the screen brightness. Then I remembered the old Intel SpeedStep, for
controlling the CPU, but I could find nothing on the Dell support download
site.

So the question is, whatever happened to Intel Speedstep, and do we no
longer have a method for throttling back the CPU and other features to save
battery?

Ah, I also just remembered the newer machines also shut down the Ethernet
port on battery - annoying but if it works, great!

Hi!

So the question is, whatever happened to Intel Speedstep, and
do we no longer have a method for throttling back the CPU and
other features to save battery?

For those machines that shipped with it (and the D800--at least the
unit I have--did), the SpeedStep support is in the hardware and will
always be there. If nothing else, you can adjust it from the system
BIOS setup utility.

As far as software goes, I'm not sure what to think. I could swear
that I once downloaded it from the Dell site, but it's not obviously
there now for my D800.

Maybe this link would help?
http://support.dell.com/support/down...7&fileid=67673

Ah, I also just remembered the newer machines also shut down
the Ethernet port on battery - annoying but if it works, great!

This is optional and can be configured via QuickSet. The "turn the
ethernet port off when on battery" option has always worked for me.
It's a bit more of a trick to turn the port back on without the AC
adapter if you suddenly need it. To do that I usually disabled and
then re-enabled the ethernet adapter in Device Manager.

William

"just bob" kilbyfan@aoldotcom wrote in message
...
We've got a bunch of Lats D800, 810, 820, 620, 630 and 420.

Recently a guy asked me how he could conserve battery on a plane and
reviewing the Windows XP power and Quickset controls it seems I can
control when the machine shuts down the video and hard drive but beyond
that it's only the screen brightness. Then I remembered the old Intel
SpeedStep, for controlling the CPU, but I could find nothing on the Dell
support download site.

So the question is, whatever happened to Intel Speedstep, and do we no
longer have a method for throttling back the CPU and other features to
save battery?

Ah, I also just remembered the newer machines also shut down the Ethernet
port on battery - annoying but if it works, great!





My short answer would be that the newer CPUs/systems are designed to consume
substantially less power and produce much less heat which should (in theory,
anyway) reduce if not eliminate the need for SpeedStep in earlier and more
battery-thirsty systems.

*This is a very generalized statement but is particularly true in the case
of P4 desktop chips in mobile systems with larger (15") LCD displays.

There have also probably been at least slight improvements in battery
technologies also in the last 2-3 years.

That's all I got.

-Stew

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 10:59:31 -0700, "just bob" kilbyfan@aoldotcom
wrote:

We've got a bunch of Lats D800, 810, 820, 620, 630 and 420.

Recently a guy asked me how he could conserve battery on a plane and
reviewing the Windows XP power and Quickset controls it seems I can control
when the machine shuts down the video and hard drive but beyond that it's
only the screen brightness. Then I remembered the old Intel SpeedStep, for
controlling the CPU, but I could find nothing on the Dell support download
site.

So the question is, whatever happened to Intel Speedstep, and do we no
longer have a method for throttling back the CPU and other features to save
battery?

Ah, I also just remembered the newer machines also shut down the Ethernet
port on battery - annoying but if it works, great!

I realize you asked about XP. Because it's related, to processor
power management, I thought I'd post what I have learned in Vista,
esp. because the settings are hard to find.

On Vista for a power scheme there are advanced power settings. Right
click the power icon in the tray, select Power Options, choose Change
Plan Settings for a power scheme, and then choose Change Advanced Plan
Settings.

This brings up a lot of power options, one of which is Processor Power
Management. You can select the minimum and maximum power states for
both battery and AC.

There are many other settings there that can conserve power.

To conserve power I also:

- Dim the display. Obviously this is probably the best way to
conserve power.

- Put a shortcut to the blank screen saver .scr file on the quick
launch toolbar, and if in a meeting and there will be a delay before I
need my laptop I just click that shortcut.

- Change the background image on my desktop to black (this might not
do anything, I have no idea if lit pixels on a laptop take up more
energy than black ones).

- Set a blank screen saver to start after 1 minute of inactivity on
battery.

- Change the power settings so that shutting the lid of the laptop
does nothing. I can fully turn off the screen by shutting the lid of
the laptop.

- Use the Fn key combination to turn off wireless and bluetooth if I
am not using them.

- Turn off everything in the bios that I don't need -- modem, LAN,
firewire, card reader ... just go through all the settings and turn
off what's not needed.

- Stop all drive indexing.

- Stop all processes that aren't needed (Codestuff Starter, other
utilities, or msconfig can do this). Of course, look at the startup
folder and remove anything not needed.

- I delete Google Desktop on my laptops or any other such software
even if they can be turned off. I don't need them.

One setting that I am unsure of is the one for turning off the hard
disk after a set number of minutes. I usually have that set for 5
minutes, but maybe I could set it for a lower value. I don't know if
the process of shutting it down and starting it up uses more power
than just leaving it run (like flourescent lights in the past).

By doing these things I can come out of a 2 hour meeting with numbers
like 83% of battery life left (on my 640m).

Hi!

There have also probably been at least slight improvements in battery
technologies also in the last 2-3 years.

That's all I got.

I'm sure there have been. My 2005-era Latitude D800 (which is a *great*
machine) does seem to benefit from the Centrino and SpeedStep power saving
measures. It will run for four and a half hours from the internal battery
and a little over 8 with both the modular bay and regular batteries fitted.
Either time is better than my Core Duo based Macbook can manage (about 3 or
3/12 hours so far).

(Yes, I do realize that the batteries and systems are quite different. My
brother's newer Macbook with a Core2 Duo can match the Latitude and in some
cases beat it on the primary battery only.)

William

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:35:54 -0500, Journey wrote:

- Set a blank screen saver to start after 1 minute of inactivity on
battery.

Correction: Set the display to turn off after 1 minute in the Power
settings. A turned off display is probably different than a blank
screen saver.

Closing the lid and having it do nothing is also a way to turn off the
display.

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 05:41:46 GMT, "William R. Walsh"
m wrote:

Hi!

There have also probably been at least slight improvements in battery
technologies also in the last 2-3 years.

That's all I got.

I'm sure there have been. My 2005-era Latitude D800 (which is a *great*
machine) does seem to benefit from the Centrino and SpeedStep power saving
measures. It will run for four and a half hours from the internal battery
and a little over 8 with both the modular bay and regular batteries fitted.
Either time is better than my Core Duo based Macbook can manage (about 3 or
3/12 hours so far).

(Yes, I do realize that the batteries and systems are quite different. My
brother's newer Macbook with a Core2 Duo can match the Latitude and in some
cases beat it on the primary battery only.)

William

The modular battery bay option is a great feature of the Latitudes.

The Mac laptops run way too hot. Initial ones had problems with some
components not working after a certain amount of time.

I have seen many posts (which can be Googled) of MacBooks reaching 140
degrees F or more.

I had a Mac laptop for a very short time and returned it because it
got _really_ hot.

Because my Core 2 Duo systems can easily run at lower clock speeds I
turn the max system performance down to as low as 25%, and they do not
get very warm at all. Even at full speed they never came close to the
heat level of the Macs.

I hope Apple will release notebooks with better heat handling. Apple's
response has been to put the notebook computer on a desk and not on
your lap. (this is especially important for men who want to have kids
someday)

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:53:58 -0500, Journey wrote:

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:35:54 -0500, Journey wrote:

- Set a blank screen saver to start after 1 minute of inactivity on
battery.

Correction: Set the display to turn off after 1 minute in the Power
settings. A turned off display is probably different than a blank
screen saver.

Closing the lid and having it do nothing is also a way to turn off the
display.

ALSO

Some devices can be turned off and on in the System Device Manager
rather than the bios.

The M1210 webcam, once used after a reboot, continues to draw power
even when not being used. To avoid this, if not using the webcame, it
can be disabled in device manager.

"William R. Walsh" m
wrote in message news:uIcui.54389$Fc.25252@attbi_s21...
Hi!

There have also probably been at least slight improvements in battery
technologies also in the last 2-3 years.

That's all I got.

I'm sure there have been. My 2005-era Latitude D800 (which is a *great*
machine) does seem to benefit from the Centrino and SpeedStep power saving
measures. It will run for four and a half hours from the internal battery
and a little over 8 with both the modular bay and regular batteries
fitted.
Either time is better than my Core Duo based Macbook can manage (about 3
or
3/12 hours so far).

(Yes, I do realize that the batteries and systems are quite different. My
brother's newer Macbook with a Core2 Duo can match the Latitude and in
some
cases beat it on the primary battery only.)

William



Sorry, William - if I came across wrong.

Since the SpeedStep option is rarely discussed anymore - but is occasionally
still seen even in some desktop BIOS options, I was merely speculating.

As you've pointed out, the newer HW seems so much more effective regarding
length of battery life I just came to that (possibly incorrect) conclusion.

It seems SS is almost a non-issue anymore.

-Stew