The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Author: Samuel Poza

Categories
Operating System Windows

Maximizing your Windows 10 Battery Life

Maximize your Windows 10 Battery Life and Reduce your Device Performance, featuring X1 Carbon 2nd Gen.

Recently I was preparing for a trip to a music festival while taking classes over the summer. I knew that I needed to keep up with my courses but I also knew that I wasn’t going to be able to charge my computer’s battery very often, so I decided to write a short article on how you can maximize your computer’s battery life beyond normal power-saving methods.

After this guide you’ll be saving battery like nobody’s business and your laptop will be significantly less usable then before! Before we get started it’s important that you’re aware of my computer’s specs; depending on your computer’s specifications and application usage, results may vary.

The make of my computer is Lenovo and the model is the X1 Carbon 2nd Gen.

OS: Windows 10 Pro

Version: 1607 build 14383.1198

Processor: Intel Core i5-4300U at 1.90 Ghz – Turboboost to 2.49 Ghz

Ram: 8.00 GB (7.68 Usable) DDR3 at 1600 MHz

Hard Drive: 256GB M.2 SSD eDrive Opal capable

Wireless: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 (2×2, 802.11ac) with Bluetooth® 4.0

Integrated Lithium Polymer 8-cell (45Wh) RapidCharge battery

Also note that the only application that I was using was Microsoft Edge – to save battery over using Google Chrome.

First head over to Device Manager (Note: you’ll require internet for this step). This can be accessed from the Windows Power User menu by pressing the Windows Key + X at the same time. From the Device Manager menu go through every device and make sure that the drivers for each device are up to date. This should ensure that all of your devices are using the best possible drivers that are more efficient for your system’s battery; out of date drivers can adversely affect your systems performance as well.

While in Device Manager we’re also going to make a few more changes. Depending on how you use your machine, you may want to adjust these settings to your needs. Click on the “Network adapters” drop down menu and double click on the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC (this may be named differently depending on your device’s wireless card). Click over to the Advanced tab and change the “Preferred Band” to 5.2 GHz, “Roaming Aggressiveness” to a lower setting (lower is better unless in a congested wireless area). Now click over to the “Power Management” tab and make sure that the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” is checked. Click the “OK” button and move on to the “Intel Ethernet Connection I218-LM (also may be different on your device) and double click on this as well. Make sure that “Enable PME” is set to enabled, “Energy Efficient Ethernet” is set to on and “System Idle Power Saver” is set to enabled. After that, navigate over to the “Power Management” tab and make sure again that the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” is checked again.

After going through your drivers, head over to the Power & Sleep settings for your laptop. This can be accessed by pressing the Windows key, navigating to Settings -> System (Display notifications, apps, power) -> Power & Sleep. I’d recommend setting your Screen to turn off after at maximum of 5 minutes and setting your computer to Sleep after a maximum of 15 minutes. Then, navigate to the bottom of that page and click on Additional power settings. This will bring your to your computer’s Power Options.

You may want to switch over to the Power saver plan, which should automatically drop your computer down to a more efficient battery saving mode, but we want to push that even further. Click on “Change plan settings” to make some changes.

Consider changing “Adjust plan brightness” to the minimum usable brightness, as it’s one of the biggest aspects of battery saving. I however made sure that the computer’s brightness was always at minimum possible level was a must to keep my laptop alive.. Primarily I used the computer in the early morning or late at night so that I could keep the screen at the minimum brightness while still being able to use the laptop.

After changing your brightness to the minimum, click on “Change advanced power settings”. Here’s where you can adjust the fine controls for different hardware and software’s battery usage. Make sure that the top drop down menu says “Power saver [Active]” and move on the the main table of items. I would recommend changing this to your own personal preferences but there are a few major aspects I would recommend adjusting in this panel.

In “Desktop background settings” -> “Slide show” I would recommend setting this to paused while on battery power.

In “Wireless Adapter Settings” -> “Power Saving Mode” switch this over to Maximum Power Saving on battery power as well.

In “Sleep” -> “Sleep after” make sure these are set to the values you set earlier, around 5 and 15 respectively to On battery and Plugged in. Also in “Allow hybrid sleep” is set to off for both options, this is because hybrid sleep is more taxing on the battery. In “Hibernate after” set these to slightly higher values than your “Sleep after” values. This will allow your PC to conserve more battery than typical sleep. Also set “Allow wake timers” to disabled on battery power. We don’t want anything taking your laptop away from it’s beauty sleep.

In “Intel CPPC Energy Efficiency Settings” -> “Enable Energy Efficient Optimization” and make this enabled for both options. Also in “Energy Efficiency Aggressiveness” and set both options to 100%.

In “USB settings” -> “USB selective suspend setting” set both of these options to enabled.

In “Intel Graphics Settings” -> “Intel Graphics Power Plan” set both of these options to maximum battery life.

In “PCI Express” -> “Link State Power Management” set both of these options to Maximum power savings.

In “Processor power management” -> “Minimum processor state” set both options to 5%. This is the minimum percentage that your processor will run at. I wouldn’t recommend setting this to below 5% for minimum operation. Also in “System cooling policy” change both options to Passive cooling, which will slow your CPU before slowing your fans. Also in “Maximum processor state” set this to below 100%. I personally set my computer to a maximum of 50%, but depending on your use case, this will vary.

In “Display” most of these setting we’ve already touched earlier, but in “Enable adaptive brightness” and disable this setting. We don’t want the system to decide it wants a brighter screen and eat up valuable battery resources.

In “Battery” I would recommend just making sure that hibernation comes on in your “Critical battery action” settings and that your critical battery level is set to around 7%.

A couple additional changes that I made is to upscale the resolution on the computer so that it’s not having to display content in native 2K on the X1’s screen. This depends on the machine that you are using however, and your preference of how you want your machine’s screen to look.

Now there are a few things left to be changed, if I haven’t missed anything in Windows 10. For these you’ll want to shut down your computer and enter its BIOS settings. On the X1 Carbon that I was using, this is done by hitting Enter repeatedly after hitting the power button.

BIOS settings user interfaces tend to vary dramatically across computers and manufacturers, but for the X1 Carbon that I was working with it looked something like this

Image result for x1 carbon gen 2 bios(aside from the fact that this isn’t a Gen 2, it’s a very similar interface.)

In the BIOS I was working with, it doesn’t recognize mouse or trackpad input, so you’ll likely have to navigate with arrow keys, enter and escape; bear with me.

Navigate over to the “Config” tab and down arrow down to the “> USB option”. Make sure that the “USB UEFI BIOS Support” is enabled, “Always on USB” is disabled, and “USB 3.0 Mode” is set to auto. Now hit escape and down arrow down to the “> Power” option. Hit enter and I would recommend switching all of the settings over to battery optimized settings. For this X1 specifically, make sure that “Intel SpeedStep technology” is set to Enabled, “Mode for AC” is set to battery optimized, “Mode for Battery” is set to battery optimized. Also, make sure to switch the settings under “Adaptive Thermal Management”, “Scheme for AC” is set to balanced and “Scheme for Battery” is set to balanced. Now under “CPU Power Management”, make sure this is set to enabled, and make sure that “Intel Rapid Start Technology” is set to disabled. After modifying all these settings, hit escape again.

Depending on your personal use, you can head over to the “> Virtualization” settings and disable the Intel Virtualization and VT-d features, although this may adversely affect performance and prevent operating system virtualization entirely, so use at your discretion.

Thanks for bearing with me until now. Now you should have a remarkably effective battery-saving laptop that performs significantly worse than it did before. This worked out great for me working on course assignments while on a camping trip. I hope this works out well for you as well!

Categories
Operating System

How to Import your Academic Moodle Calendar into your Personal Google Calendar

How to Export your Moodle Calendar for calendar subscription
1. Navigate to https://moodle.umass.edu/ and log in with NetID and password
2. Click under your name in the upper right hand corner and click on Dashboard
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Go to calendar… in the bottom right hand corner
4. Switch the drop down menu to specify whether you want a specific class or all of your classes bundled under one calendar this is important later at step 6
5. Click on the Export calendar button in the middle of the page
6. Some settings will show up in regards to exporting your Umass Moodle Calendar
a. I would recommend under the Export* menu choosing All events if you decided earlier to bundle your classes in one export, otherwise if you’re exporting classes individually I would recommend selecting Events related to courses for this option
b.I would recommend under the for* menu to choose Custom range because it guarantees all the events to be added
7. Click on Get calendar URL and *triple click* on the generated Calendar URL (as it may overlap with the Monthly view column)
8. You can now import this calendar into any calendar client that allows for import by URL

Note: This export may have to be updated in the future because it won’t add new events retroactively.


How to Import this Moodle Calendar into Google Calendar
1. Navigate to https://www.google.com/calendar and log in with your credentials
2. On the left hand side on Other calendars click the down facing carrot symbol and click on Add by URL
3. Paste the copied URL, this step may take 20 or so seconds to load the new calendar
a. This step will fail if the generated calendar URL was not copied it its entirety.
4. You can rename this calendar by clicking on the down facing carrot symbol to the right of it and clicking on Calendar settings, then changing the field Calendar Name:
Happy Google Calendaring!

Categories
Operating System

JLab Audio Epic2

After the purchase of my iPhone 7 and the tragic loss of my ability to use my Audiotechnicas’s m50xs, I decided that it was time to go wireless. The use of the 3.5 mm headphone jack to lightning was not something that I wanted to use; it would be too easy to lose and just looks silly. I wanted to get good all around earbuds that I could use while studying, biking and walking around campus, working out at the Rec and going on runs. Some of the potential candidates were the Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless,  JLab’s Audio Epic2, Bose SoundSport Wireless and Apple Airpods.

Powerbeats3 currently going for $149.99 on Amazon and $199.99 from Apple. The Powerbeats have a cable that connects the two  I also didn’t want to get such a lengthy cable, but they’re very good for exercise and have a long battery life of 12 hours. They also have a remote and microphone support to take calls.

epic-2-blue-with-earbuds

JLab’s Audio Epic2 had a more modest price tag at $99.99. They have a cable that connects the two wrap-around inear earbuds and also boast a 12 hour battery life. I’ve enjoyed using the Epic2’s over the last several weeks since my purchase. The wireless earbuds come with seven different size and form factor plastic in-ear pieces so they fit comfortably and the wires wrap around the ear for a light and well secured fit.

My one complaint with the ear pieces is that they insulate from outside noise almost too well so they have to be pushed out whenever you want to have a conversation with anyone or purchase a coffee on your commute to classes.

The JLab Audio Epic2s also perform admirably as wireless fitness earbuds. They’re loud and rarely need to be turned up to the max even in a noisy gym setting. They also feel light and well secured and don’t shift with movement which makes them an ideal running or exercise choice for music on the go. They’re also protected against damage from sweat or splashes so you don’t have to worry about short circuiting them; which was a concern by some of the reviews I read on Amazon.

All in all I would say that these are a solid purchase for wireless earbuds. They come at a low price in comparison to their competition, and although they don’t look as flashy as Powerbeats, they perform just as well with the same battery life. I would strongly recommend these to anyone who is looking to go wireless or made the decision of purchasing an iPhone 7.

Categories
Operating System

PRAM and SMC Resets

Among quick fixes for many issues on a Mac are PRAM and SMC resets.Image result for smc reset

PRAM stands for parameter random access memory, which can contain settings such as speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, and recent kernel panic information. Performing a PRAM reset can fix a number of issues, such as wifi connectivity, drives not showing up or screens not adjusting properly. To do a PRAM reset, all that has to be done is turning the Mac device on and holding Command + Option + P + R until the machine chimes a second time. This process should be done for a longer amount of time on a Late 2016 MacBook Pro because it doesn’t have a startup chime. However, PRAM resets are actually a thing of the past. Today the majority of Macs in use; ones manufactured after 2008, actually primarily use NVRAM to store many of these settings. A PRAM reset and a NVRAM reset are mostly the same, it resets less volatile ram to default factory settings, fixing a number of potential issues. NVRAM stands for non-volatile random access memory and is reset in the same manner as PRAM is.

SMC stands for system management controller, this is only on Intel-based Macs. SMC resets reset this controller which is a part of the machine that deals with hardware and power management. This system management controller reset can fix problems dealing with the fans, lights, power and system performance.. There are a variety of ways to reset the SMC depending on the kind of Mac you’re working with. A desktop mac, such as a Mac Pro, Mac Mini, or iMac requires disconnecting the power cord from the machine, waiting 15 seconds, plugging it back in, waiting another 15 seconds and then turning the Mac back on. With a Mac laptop with a non-removable battery, shut the Mac down connect the Mac to its power adapter. Hold shift, option and control on the left side, then press the power button, release all keys and then turn the Mac on normally. For Mac laptops manufactured 2008 or before with removable batteries, turn the machine off, disconnect the power cable, remove the battery. Press the power button and hold for 5 seconds. Put the battery back in, reconnect its power cable, and turn the Mac back on.

Categories
Operating System

AMD’s Ryzen from Intel’s Shadow

The AMD Ryzen is AMD’s newest processor in the making, scheduled for a Q1 release in 2017.

The goal with their newest chip was to match the performance of Intel’s current flagship i7, the Core i7-6900K, and develop a chip that has 40% more instructions per clock than their own previous CPU. Here’s the line up to compare.

As you can see, the turbo boost and max are currently unknown as of now, as well as the price. The TDP however is 95 watts. Even the base frequency in this picture isn’t set in stone, so it may change before the official release.

AMD debuted their new 8-core chip using Blender’s open source application, which showed that it matched and actually slightly surpassed the performance of it’s Intel counterpart. The builds of the computers housed. However, this is only one benchmark test, and an open source benchmark that would allow for recompilation for greater performance on the AMD chip. To quell doubts, AMD later showed more advanced test such as running Hardbrake encode to transcode video and the ZBrushCore benchmark that supported AMD’s original claim. Surprisingly during these benchmark tests, the boost mode on the Ryzen processor was turned off but it still performed faster than the Intel i7.

Lets talk about overclocking the processor. The Ryzen supports overclocking in increments of 25 mhz, which is smaller than the traditional 100 mhz increment on most processors. This means that the processor can be tuned to much more specific clock speeds. In addition to more smaller increments, the new Ryzen processor comes with Extended Frequency Range (XFR), which allows the processor to sense how efficiently it’s being cooled and further overclock itself. This allows for the processor to surpass regular boost clock speed maxes. Another interesting piece of software that runs on the new processor is it uses Neural Net Prediction which helps the processor predict future pathways an application will utilize based off of learning from past application usage.

All in all, AMD’s Ryzen processor may very much hold the future of AMD in how it does on the market. The engineering team at AMD has finally come up with a truly competitive processor to help gain back the market they’ve been losing to Intel over the last decade. AMD has surpassed even their own expectations in terms of manufacturing but it’s up to the consumers after release to truly determine how well the chip will hold up against Intel. It’s also important to note that the Intel card being tested here is an Intel Broadwell Gen 5, a “tick” in Intel’s CPU fabrication. This chip is a generation behind the current Kaby Lake and will soon be two generations behind with the release of the Sky Lake “tock” chips. Although the current price is unknown, I will definitely be considering switching to AMD because of this new card.