Linux (fedora) battery issue

I just started using linux (want to learn more about it and get used to using the terminal and connecting and using my schools servers through ssh)

so i made a 50GB partition on my laptop's SSD and it works great, but the only problem i'm having is that its eating away at my battery life

just simple text editing in class on windows 7 i can get anywhere from 7 to 8 hours on a charge, but when running fedora i get 2:30 to 3 hours on a charge..... Why is there such a big difference? I previously believed that most linux distros use less resources then windows (so i assumed better battery life, not worse).

any one know any tweaks i can try? or maybe a different distro that is better in battery life?

usually background processes that use CPU time will make the laptop draw more power from the battery.

perhaps there's some power management features you have not found yet.

Look for fedoras power manager...but I suspect a its summit else thou you should get the same battery life as windows 7 some times longer since (depending on distro) linux is less demanding

On laptops I tend to use lxde versions such as ultimate 3.0 lite or gamers edition.

i've tried Fedora (gnome3), mint12(gome3), fedora(kde), i should try some other "lighter" distros, i'll report back with any info

i run ubuntu 10.04 on my netbook. it works well but battery sure does not last as long as when i run windows....sadly.

i've been reading online and a lot of people claim that they get nearly the same battery life and some even say that they get better battery life :S ? but i can't really find out how (and it also seems there are a lot of people like me because i also saw other complaintes about battery life....) need to find someone with more linux experience and see if they can help me/shed some light on what i'm doing wrong.