Get-started with PowerTop

Introduction

Powertop is a power usage diagnostic tool by Intel, mainly used to monitor and optimize power consumption on Linux laptops and desktops. It shows real-time statistics for CPU wakeups, device usage, and system activity that can drain battery.

Basic Syntax

sudo powertop [options]

Common options:

• --auto-tune — apply all power-saving suggestions (for optimization)
• --calibrate — calibrate power estimation (needs idle system)

Installation

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt install powertop

Monitoring usage

Run in interactive mode (default):

sudo powertop

Press ESC to exit after current run (20 seconds).

Note

Power usage column will be visible only after 1 hr 30 mins (total, can be quit and restart in between) of running in battery mode.

Non-interactive usage

sudo powertop --html=report.html

Then open report.html in a browser to view power stats.

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References

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Powertop