It is no secret that Windows Vista has a whole lot of hate aimed at it by its (often unwilling) users. Even "I'm a Mac" commercials put it as the punchline. Windows 7 is Microsoft's answer to the demand for a better operating system, and there is an improvement that makes it way cooler than just a functional version of Vista.

According to Engadget, Micrsoft showed off the battery-saving capabilities of Windows 7, which proved a bare minimum of 11% better battery life thanks to the software, helping users green up their laptop by using that much less electricity for charging.

Read on for how this is, and for a video.

The pre-Beta version of Windows 7 offers better battery life in a few ways. First, fewer services launched at start-up. Also, loading device drivers is done in parallel instead of one at a time. Wireless radios are managed better so they can drop below 100% power draw, and the CPU can sometimes run at a lower frequency and stay idle longer.

All of this results in a minimum of 11% battery life improvement, but can be as much as 15% better. The software is still in pre-Beta, so a lot of improvements can still happen to make computers more efficient just with the OS.

Pretty exciting news for PC users who not only want a better OS, but also a more energy-efficient laptop. While we wait for the new software, you can check out a Windows Vista tweak that gets it to run more efficiently, along with other PC performance enhancing actions.

This demo video at Engadget shows the battery power savings