I've used both drivers from ATI and the open source radeon driver, with similar results for power. So unless ATI makes their proprietary linux driver worse than the xp one, that might not be the issue.
-- [Dapper, Edgy, Feisty] Battery Life Low (half of XP) on Inspiron 9300 https://launchpad.net/bugs/97627 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs