Awkward Linux Power Management With Xen

The next set of Xen power usage benchmarks is from an Intel Clarksfield-based Core i7 notebook. This notebook was tested with not only the Linux 3.0 kernel as shipped in Ubuntu 11.10 but also the latest Linux 3.2 development kernel.

When idling, the Core i7 notebook was consuming nearly 40% more power when the Xen 4.1 support was enabled. Even with the latest Linux 3.2 development kernel, the power consumption remained significantly higher when there was no work going on with the system.