T400 and Win7 x64: How Low on CPU Utilization on Battery?

[djshack]

I upgraded my T400 (6-cell battery) to Win7, and for the meantime I'm avoiding using Power Manager (tried it, full of bugs, issues with switchable graphics, etc.), and just using the built-in Windows power settings.

I've configured the Balanced plan to the following CPU utilization settings when on battery: Min 1% and Max 40%. With those, I don't really notice a difference in performance over plugged-in (Min 5%, Max 100%).

Realistically, how low can I set the Max setting before I notice a difference that truly affects usability (primarily taking notes, nothing resource intensive)?

[Faruk]

Best thing to do is keep it the way you have it now. It's been shown that the most battery-effective configuration is to let the CPU finish executing quickly and get back to idle ASAP.

So in reality, it saves more battery power to keep your maximum as high as possible and your minimum as low as possible.