Tips and Tricks to Extend the Life of your Laptop Battery

Laptop BatteriesMaking sure your laptop is ready to run at all times and in any location is important. Help extend your laptop's battery life with these simple steps.

1. Cut down on programs and scheduled tasks running in the background - The harder your computer works, the faster your battery gets drained. Be aware of the workload your laptop is under, especially while running on battery. Chances are, there are programs such as Itunes, and Desktop Search, that you’re not actively using that are running constantly or periodically in the background. Shut them down until your laptop is plugged in to AC power. Schedule tasks such as virus scans, Automatic Updates, Windows Indexing, Consolidator, and scheduled defrag for a time when your laptop is plugged in.

2. Don’t multitask - Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery. Remember, the more you demand from your PC, the faster you drain the battery. Do you really need to play your new music CD and have your e-mail client open while you post in that online forum? Also, remember that activities like e-mail and word processing consume much less power than things like gaming or playing a DVD. Save those for when you're near an AC outlet.

3. Keep operating temperature down - Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler. Here are a few suggestions for keeping your cool.
a. Never store your laptop in a place where the air temperature exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit, such as a hot car.
b. Use a cooling pad when using your laptop computer on your lap.
c. Avoid propping your laptop on a pillow, blanket, or other soft surface that could heat up.
d. Use your laptop in a clean, dust-free environment. If you get dust in the vents, it may clog the cooling fan. Clean out your air vents periodically with a cloth or keyboard cleaner.

4. Turn off non-essential components - When you aren't actively using Wi-Fi (wireless), or Bluetooth, turn them off so they don't keep trying to connect.

5. Cut down external devices - USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery. Remove or shut them down when not in use. Also, don’t charge other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery. Use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB-attached devices only when absolutely necessary.

6. Defrag regularly - This helps make your hard drive as efficient as possible, decreasing its workload, and making your battery last longer.

More Laptop Batteries
7. Change your screen settings - Turn down the brightness of the LCD panel and configure your display to turn off when not in use (as opposed to using a screensaver, which may still require the display’s backlight to be on). Also, lower the graphics use. You can do this by changing the screen resolution and shutting off fancy graphic drivers. Graphics cards (video cards) can use as much or more power as hard disks.

8. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD - Even having a CD or DVD in the drive can be power consuming. They spin, taking power, even when they’re not actively being used. In addition, your processor is working hard to decode the audio and video, sometimes using close to 30% of your overall battery life. If you must watch movies, try to stick with digital content that you download or stream online.

9. Keep the battery in optimum working condition –
a. Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol. This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.
b. Consider taking your battery out when using your laptop plugged into AC power.
c. Don’t leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should use the battery at least once every two to three weeks.
d. If you use a nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery, allow it to fully discharge and recharge about once a month. If you use a lithium-ion (Li-On) battery, It isn’t necessary or desirable to do a full discharge/recharge more than once every 30 charges or so.
e. Only use the power cord that came with your laptop, or an authorized replacement. Don’t take a chance on overloading your battery by using an AC adapter that has a higher wattage than that specified on the laptop.

10. Use hibernate instead of standby - Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it saves far less power than the hibernate function does. Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.

11. Set up and optimize your power options - Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect). High Performance is great if you are encoding video or playing games, but it makes your processor work harder than it has to, which uses more power and puts out more heat. Set the display to go dark after a short amount of time (5 min is good), and put the hibernate setting at no more than 10 min of inactivity.

12. Get yourself a more efficient battery - Don't skimp on your battery. The lowest-cost battery will likely degrade more quickly, and you'll end up buying a replacement too soon. Spending the money now will save expense and frustration down the road. A good indicator of a battery's performance is how far into its product life it is, whether it's used or new. If possible, look at the bottom of the battery and find the manufacture date.

13. Get yourself a more efficient laptop - Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about batteries that last all day! Purchasing a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix. When shopping for a new laptop, consider these features and components to get the most from the battery:
a. An ultra-low-voltage processor.
b. A solid-state storage drive, which requires less power and will suffer less wear and tear than a traditional hard drive.
c. An LED display. LEDs use much less power than LCD, though they’re usually more expensive.
d. A smaller screen. A smaller screen means a smaller backlight, which will also save on battery drain.