Ubuntu 8.04 vs Vista on a Thinkpad X61s

With MS Vista I can run my laptop while drawing about 8.0 watts. I'd prefer to run Linux, but prior versions I tried drew too much power.

I was hoping the new Ubuntu 8.04 beta would help get Linux drawing close to 8.0 watts on my laptop. The tickless kernel should help.

No luck. Even with lots of optimizations, taking out trackerd, and shutting down gdm, I couldn't get the power consumption below 14 watts. With a custom kernel on a 7.10 install, I did have it down to 12 watts. But that is still a lot more than 8 watts. So this Linux fanboy is staying with Vista on the laptop for now. The desktop is still Linux.