TuneUp Economy Mode: Benchmarks, Benchmarks, Benchmarks

A few week’s ago we had a blog post, in which we explained the reasoning behind developing our power-saving feature, TuneUp Economy Mode (part of our TuneUp Utilities 2012), and how it works. But in the end, it all boils down to one question: How much battery life can I really save? Today, we’ll put that question to rest, and not just rely on our own lab tests, but also show you two independent benchmarks that substantiate our claims.

Benchmarks confirm: Up to 30% increase in battery life

By both enhancing power management and turning off power-draining applications, TuneUp Economy Mode achieves what Windows can’t achieve alone. Using PCMark 7, we simulated a heavy workload on a laptop, tablet, and netbook that would normally run the battery dry very quickly. This test simulates both excessive hard disk, RAM, GPU, and CPU activity, coupled with minutes of idle time.

PCMark 7 simulates typical workload (video playback in this example). This is a perfect way to compare how both power management systems (Windows Power Saver and TuneUp Economy Mode) fare against each other.

First, we used Windows’ own Power Saver mode and ran PCMark 7 in a loop using a stopwatch to determine when the laptop went dark. This test was repeated test three times to ensure accurate results. Then, we enabled TuneUp Economy Mode and repeated the same steps.

versus

The difference is clear:

Core 2 Duo MacBook Air running Windows (2009)

Using Windows built-in Power Saver mode, the laptop went dark after 2 hours and 5 minutes of heavy workload and just a few pauses in-between. TuneUp Economy Mode was much more efficient. By throttling the CPU, reducing display brightness, and reducing background activity, testers noticed a remarkable increase in battery life. The laptop lasted for as long as 2 hours and 45 minutes. That’s – an increase in battery life by a total of 37 minutes just by pressing a button.

Energy consumption dropped, as well. Whereas the laptop consumed 51 Watts under Windows Power Saver, TuneUp Economy Mode reduced that number to 31 Watts.

Samsung Netbook NC10 (mid-2010)

Running PCMark 7, our trusty netbook ran almost an hour longer with TuneUp Economy Mode enabled. While battery life was quite good at 5 hours and 15 minutes, we managed to get it up to 6 hours and 10 minutes.

Asus Tablet EP121 (mid-2011)

On our Windows 7 tablet from Asus, battery life clocked in at around 2 hours and 14 minutes using the Power Saver mode and bombarding the tablet with PCMark 7. Once we activated TuneUp Economy Mode, battery life increased to an impressive 2 hours and 54 minutes!

Independent benchmarks

Offering third-party validation popular Windows-Expert “Rich Robinson” from MintyWhite.com had similar results. Rich received the Microsoft MVP award for his technical expertise and community engagement around Windows and its ecosystem. He tested TuneUp Utilities 2012 and compared our TuneUp Economy Mode against Windows’ Power Saver feature.

Rich stated,“TuneUp Economy mode changes system settings, disables hardware, and helps your PC run more conservatively to help save battery life. If you’re someone who is on the go all the time, you know how much an extra 20 minutes of battery life can help when you’re, for example: stuck on a plane; finishing a report just before class; or cramming a revision session in outside the exam hall. Economy Mode can be accessed with just two clicks (click TuneUp in the system tray and click Economy Mode) and it will instantly start saving you power.”
Rich tested TuneUp Economy Mode on his wife’s netbook with Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 running. He played a 720p HD video clip in a loop until the battery ran dry, performing this twice, once running Windows Power Saver mode and once with TuneUp Economy Mode. The results speak for themselves:

Standard Mode: 2 hours and 15 minutes
Windows Power saver mode: 2 hours and 23 minutes
Economy Mode: 2 hours and 53 minutes (a 28% improvement over standard mode)

Rich goes on to state, “The results of this test are fairly significant; use of Economy Mode is a far better option than Windows “Power Saver” mode or no power savings.”

System-Log.com also did a massive benchmark which focused on our Economy Mode: They, too, compared Windows 7′s “Balanced” and “Power Saver” settings with TuneUp Utilities’ Economy Mode. Here’s what System-Log found:

“I think the chart talks for it self. If it doesn’t, here are my thoughts. TuneUp 2012 goes one (or two) steps beyond what Windows does. You can see this when activating the power modes. Windows changes, shutting down services, changing the look and feel to give you more battery-life or more power to applications. In my test, Economy Mode left only 51 min of battery power when ending the PCmark Benchmark, while the Windows Power Saving mode only had 42 min left. This is just 9 min more, but this is on a battery that would only leave about 80–90 minutes of PCmark. What if this machine was a computer that could give 5,6, or 7 hours of battery life? Think of how much battery life you could save by using Economy Mode. Yes you would lose some PCmarks, but writing a document or presenting your latest PowerPoint presentation would not need many PCmarks to run. Just the same, – Turbo Mode gives great results in PCmarks, but of course drains the battery fast, really fast! But who would run Turbo on battery anyway?”

Of course, your mileage may vary, but in our tests we significantly reduced power consumption and increase battery life on our devices – just by clicking a button!