A battery for a laptop is like oxygen for human beings. And why not, since you bought a laptop just so you could use it while you are traveling but if its battery conks out in the middle, won’t you be frustrated? There are some ways to avoid that happening to you only if you read these tips on how to increase your laptop’s battery life.
1. Use hibernate instead of sleep mode
You may think there’s no difference between these two. But mind you, there is. In hibernation, your computer saves the work as is and then shuts down automatically. This technique saves power as well as has a long lasting effect on your battery. What sleep mode does is, it only switches off the hard drive and display and slows down the CPU. But, the memory still remains active thus drawing power from the battery.
2. Cut out on unnecessary programs
Unnecessary programs come in the form of those icons at the bottom right of your taskbar which start up when you switch on your laptop. They simply add to the CPU load, thus you should uncheck all those programs that you don’t want to run on startup.
3. Pull out external devices when not in use
External devices such as external speakers, mouse, iPod, bluetooth dongle, etc. cause drainage of battery. The best thing to do is to remove all these devices whenever you are not using them.
4. Don’t keep the CDs/DVDs in the drives
Another way to increase your laptop’s battery life is not to leave those CDs or DVDs in the drives.
5. Diminish the brightness of your screen
As it is, having a really bright screen in front of your eyes all the time is not a good idea. What you should do is lower the brightness of your laptop screen. You can do this by going to the display settings. Just set the brightness to the lowest level which you can manage with and this will increase your battery life.
6. Store the battery in a cool place
Every time you don’t need the laptop or have plugged it in, remove the battery and keep it in a cool, dry place. It’s also necessary for the battery to rest after running for so long, isn’t it?
7. Avoid using the screensaver
A screensaver might look very fancy and stylish to use. But you should keep in mind that it also sucks out your battery power. So just turn off that screensaver and let your laptop screen be as it is.
8. Use an appropriate power option
There are options available that allow you to shut off your display, hard drive or put your laptop to sleep after some time of non-usage. This way your laptop’s battery life is saved.
9. Defrag your hard drive
The basic rule is that the lower your CPU and hard drive load, the longer your laptop’s battery runs. Defragmenting the hard drive will lead to a lesser load and your laptop will run faster. This will also give your battery a longer life.
10. Run media on your hard drive
When you are traveling, you might want to watch a movie or play songs. In this case, it’s better to first transfer media from the DVD or external drive to your laptop. This is because running a DVD or external drive requires a lot of power and this power and battery life can be saved if you just transfer stuff from your external drive or DVD to your laptop.
11. Switch off Wi-Fi
If you are not using wi-fi, turn it off since it uses a lot of battery power.
A laptop’s battery is its life. These tips will help your laptop’s battery life to increase.
