Laptops are essential to many people in the business world and in everyday life as a way for people to stay connected and complete their work and other tasks. They make great traveling companions because they are portable, convenient, and simply make our lives better, that is, until the battery dies on you.
Nothing is more frustrating than having your laptop battery fail, especially when in the middle of something important. Here are some tips for maximizing battery life when you are without access to other power sources.
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1) Use An AC Outlet When Possible To Maintain Battery Charge
Always carry your AC adapter with you, especially when traveling and taking your laptop with you. This will allow you to charge the laptop whenever possible to keep the battery juiced up and ready to go when needed. Make sure your laptop battery and AC adapter are purchased from a reputable retailer such as, so that your laptop is supplied with the right power and voltage. When the Lithium ion type batteries reach a full charge, they will automatically stop charging in modern laptops. This may not be the best solution for long term use to extend battery life, as it means a lot of charges and discharges, this is more in reference to times when you are out and about and need to depend upon the laptop battery when it matters most. For long term battery life, you may wish to remove the battery after fully charging, and then use an AC power source when available so that you’re only using the battery when necessary.
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2) Lower The Brightness Level Of The Screen
The displays of modern computers contain LED backlights, which consume a great percentage of power in the system. By lowering the brightness setting on the screen, you can significantly reduce the amount of power the battery consumes, conserving battery life and making it last longer. You also have the option of going into your computer’s control panel and adjusting your computer’s power options in the Hardware and Sound category. Here you can make specific adjustments that will save your battery life. Also, selecting the advanced power settings option will allow you to choose a minimal level of brightness for your laptop when in the dimmed state, conserving battery power. Alternatively, you can enable dark mode on the particular websites you are visiting if available.
[Read also: How to Take Care of Your Laptop Battery]
3) Look For Power Draining Applications
Sometimes there are utilities running in the background of the computer that are doing nothing more than draining power. This could be a web browser or a hanging app of some kind. To check out what is going on with your computer system and to look for any errant apps, press the Ctrl/Alt/Del keys together and proceed to start Windows Task Manager. Look for anything that may show a high usage of power and exit out of the program. If the program fails to discontinue normally, right click on it and choose the “kill process” option. Alternatively, you can use a third party tools to help keep an eye on your battery’s usage at all times.
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4) Don’t Run Background Apps That Consume A Lot Of Power When Using The Battery
Certain software can really make the processor work intensely, eating up precious battery life. When relying on battery only mode, disable intensive apps in the background, such as BitTorrent, as well as Windows Updates and other software updates. These can kick in and attempt to download large patches in the software while you are solely running on battery life. Check your network usage from time to time to make sure there are no noticeable spikes in usage while you’re using the battery. If you notice a large file transfer in progress, stop the action until you can plug in and recharge.
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5) Disable Devices Not Currently Being Used
Disabling such things as WiFi and Bluetooth radios when not in use, as well as unneeded ports and devices, will conserve battery life. Remove any DVDs or Blu-ray discs that may be in your DVD drive, because the optical disc drive will consume power even when not being actively used.
Keep in mind, the tips above are meant for short term battery life, not for maximizing the overall life of the battery. When you are out and about and need to depend upon the battery in your computer, these tips will help ensure that you can squeeze a few more minutes out of the battery. By dimming the background lighting and disabling certain programs that you are not currently using, it can go a long way toward making sure you have the battery power you need to complete your tasks. Remember to plug in here and there when you have access to an AC outlet on the go, to top off the battery so you’re functioning on a full charge when possible.
[Read also: How Much Have Batteries Improved Over Time?]
[Image credit: marcopperman, Flickr]
If you apply all of the steps, you surely can keep your laptop battery alive a little longer, so thanks for this post. On the other hand, the biggest impact on battery life have laptop manufacturers and we can not do anything about it. Luckily, it seems like they are trying to do better in this field. Just look how Microsoft has improved this factor in the latest Surface Pro 2.
Hi Peter,
Battery power is something that I am always trying to improve on my laptop, but I never seem to get it to last as long as what the package says it should last. Using these tips, I think I can improve my battery greatly, since I always do try to make push my laptop to its maximum. Thanks for sharing,
Andrew
Loved your tips but honestly telling you I always higher the brightness rather than lowering that. I agree that we have to follow these tips in order to maximize the run time but as human being most of us failed to do the same. Thanks for the alert post.
Hey Peter,
I knew some of these tips.
Just bought a new evny 4 has a pretty good battery life but I think it’s only when it used it as mentioned in your post.
thanks
happy holidays!
Akos
Peter, thank! You’d think computer manufacturers would tell you these things. Of course, they’re also in the business of selling new batteries! 🙂
Can I also mention a lot of laptops had loose-fitting power plugs that are easily pulled out. Sometimes you think you’re plugged in but the computer is actually running off the battery because your power cable isn’t making contact even though it looks like it’s plugged into you computer.
I have been told not to keep my laptop plugged in while I am using it – full charge it and then use it on battery until it is almost dead, then fully charge it again. Is this not the case?
I have found that lowering the brightness of the screen has helped me out great;y in preserving battery power. Also, I’m no stranger to the Ctrl/Alt/Del function but get concerned when doing that because I can’t always tell what needs to be running. The same thing goes for quitting or disabling programs that run in the background. The last time I disabled some of those things, I ran into problems when I couldn’t use certain apps. Is there a way to tell which things need to be left on?
Normally you wouldn’t want to touch any programs that are related to your processors, graphics, audio, ethernet, and any other fundamental functions of your computer. If the process doesn’t eat much memory, you can just ignore it if you are unsure.