Installation

Does TLP conflict with other power management tools?

In principle, yes.

Simultaneous use of another tool means that TLP’s settings will be overwritten by the other tool’s settings (and vice versa), making actual power savings unpredictable. The individual tools are discussed below.

auto-cpufreq: only impacts CPU settings that are not active in TLP’s default configuration. There will be no conflict as long as these remain deactivated. Please note that auto-cpufreq is intended to improve power consumption only when the CPU is under load. However, TLP also takes into account low load and idle states, such as when there is no user input.

GNOME and KDE Desktop: usually include power-profiles-daemon, see below.

power-profiles-daemon: check power-profiles-daemon.

Powertop: please refer to Powertop.

Slimbook Battery: uses TLP as a backend to apply power saving measures. However, it continuously overwrites your TLP configuration. If you wish to configure TLP individually, you must first uninstall Slimbook Battery.

system76-power: works on the same set of kernel settings as TLP. Do not use together with TLP.

thermald: limits power dissipation to prevent the laptop from overheating. It does not provide power saving functionality for other situations and therefore does not conflict with TLP.

throttled: only throttled’s dynamic HWP_Mode setting interferes with TLP’s actions. If you want to use it, disable the feature in TLP by configuring CPU_ENERGY_PERF_POLICY_ON_AC=””.

Must I enable TLP’s systemd service unit?

Symptoms: tlp-stat -s shows

Error: tlp.service is not enabled, power saving will not apply on boot.
>>> Invoke 'systemctl enable tlp.service' to correct this!

Answer: yes, the service unit is indispensable for correct operation - tlp.service applies power saving settings and charge thresholds as well as switching radio devices on system boot and shutdown.

Note

Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu enable the service by default as part of the package Installation, others such as Arch Linux don’t. If unsure check the output of tlp-stat -s for corresponding notes.

Does TLP run on my laptop (not a ThinkPad)?

TLP runs on every laptop brand. A few features are available on IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads only.

Does TLP make sense on newer laptops / with newer Linux versions?

Yes, of course.

The Linux kernel has accumulated many power saving features over the years, but not all are enabled by default. It seems to be really hard for the kernel developers to fully debug power saving on all possible hardware, so power saving stays disabled for many drivers and it’s up to the user to enable it.

Conclusion: a userspace tool like TLP is still needed to enable power saving globally.

Should I install TLP inside a virtual machine?

No. It is not effective to run a power management tool inside a virtual machine guest. Install TLP in the host operating system instead.

Ubuntu/Debian: I do not use Network Manager, how do I install tlp without tlp-rdw?

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends tlp

Ubuntu: How do I prevent the installation of postfix as a dependency?

The package tlp recommends smartmontools which pulls postfix (via recommends too). Use:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends tlp tlp-rdw ethtool smartmontools

My Linux distribution does not provide a TLP package, how do I install it?

See Other Linux Distributions.

How do I install TLP on a development release of my distribution?

TLP packages for new distribution versions appear in due time for the release. If you want to use TLP with alpha or beta releases, download the packages for the predecessor and install them manually with your favorite package manager.

What if I want a GUI?

Get TLPUI.