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+---
+layout: post
+title: "Improving Laptop Battery Performance on OpenBSD"
+date: 2023-06-13
+---
+
+
+It is no secret that OpenBSD has poor battery performance on laptops. Although not as impressive as something like Alpine Linux or FreeBSD, you can tweak OpenBSD *just enough* to squeeze more life out of your machine's battery.
+
+## Our New Best Friend: `ampd`
+
+I won't go into great detail about `ampd` here - that's what the incredible [documentation is for](https://man.openbsd.org/apmd). You'll want to make sure to start it before trying to configure it:
+
+
+    doas rcctl start apmd
+
+
+If already running in a live session, you can default to `-A` (auto) but I suggest setting cpu performance to low:
+
+
+    apm -L
+
+
+To make these changes permanent on boot:
+
+
+    doas rcctl set apmd flags -L
+
+
+Optimizating battery life via `ampd` will have the most noticable impact but you can improve things even further by implementing some extra "small" performance wins.
+
+## Small Performance Wins
+
+1. Reduce your screen's brightness (`xbacklight -set 50`)
+2. Use a lightweight window manager instead of a beefer desktop environment
+3. Enable battery saving options in your system BIOS (if available)
+4. Disable the fingerprint scanner and bluetooth in your system BIOS (if available)
+5. Use utilities such as `mpv` and `ffmpeg` for media consumption
+6. Reduce the number of open applications at any given time