Winbook XP - Power Management Features; Setting Up Power Management

POWER MANAGEMENT
Power management can be divided into two categories, the part the computer manages and the
part you take care of. First we’ll take a look at how the computer’s end of it works, then talk a
little about your end.
Hint
You can tell at a glance if Power Management is turned on because the faucet icon on the LCD
indicator panel displays.
Setting Up Power Management
The WinBookXP uses power management software permanently stored in the computer to
conserve power in a variety of ways. You use Page 2, Power Management Setup, of the system
Setup program to set up the power management features. We’ll explain how to use Page 2 in this
section. For information on how to use the other two Setup pages, refer to Chapter Six.
The basic idea behind power management is to reduce the time the system’s most power-
consuming devices operate at full power. This is accomplished in several ways. The hard disk
drive, the LCD display panel and its backlight, and the microprocessor (CPU) consume the most
power of any component in the computer. The floppy disk drive also uses a lot of power, but
since it isn’t generally in constant use, and you have more control over it, we won’t consider it
here. The innards of the computer use power in a variety of ways, too.
The power management scheme automatically reduces power consumption of major components
when they are not actively in use. This means, for instance, that the CPU will slow down or
suspend processing temporarily, or the hard disk drive will stop spinning for a while. They then
return to full activity when needed.
Power-Hungry Devices:
In order of the amount of power they consume when active:
1. ) Display
2. ) Hard Drive
3. ) Floppy Drive
4. ) CPU
5. ) PCMCIA Cards (if installed)
Accessing Power Management