News.com reports that Windows Vista negatively affects notebook battery life according to tests from an anonymous hardware manufacturer. In its average power mode, the upcoming Microsoft operating system reportedly results in "noticeably lower battery life" than Windows XP. Naturally, the new GPU-accelerated Aero user interface is said to be the main culprit. No actual numbers showing differences in battery life are available, but Microsoft is reported to have acknowledged the problem.

For those who want more battery life than Vista can deliver in all its glory, Microsoft suggests they switch to the "basic" theme in Vista. "Basic" strips out things like the Flip3D feature (for graphically switching among open windows) and the application thumbnails (which make the icon for a file a replica of the picture or document itself).

Another area that holds some promise is Vista's support for hybrid hard drives. These are traditional hard discs augmented by a significant amount of flash memory, which is less power-hungry than a standard hard drive. Samsung, which is building a hybrid hard drive, has said the feature gives notebook users an extra half hour of battery life.

Microsoft executives also said they hope to get better battery life--near Windows XP levels--by the time Vista is completed. However, the company has set itself other goals that have ended up falling by the wayside.