For most of us, the daily driver that keeps us going at the workplace is a laptop. But, how often are you able to use your laptop all day without having to charge it? Not much. This is because laptop battery life is a serious issue these days. Especially if you need to use it all day long whether it’s for your work, studies, or entertainment. The battery life of any gadget should be taken seriously since it only deteriorates with time and uses and a laptop is no exception. Therefore, this article is all about how to increase laptop battery life. The following tips and tricks will actually help you improve your battery life and are not just gimmicks. You can try them out and see the results yourself!
Top Tips & Tricks To Increase Laptop Battery Life
Use The Windows Performance Management Tool
The Windows Performance Management Tool is a dedicated tool to optimize battery level as per the type of performance you want from your device. There are typically three options available-
- Best Performance: This mode is for when you need your laptop at its peak performance to carry out intensive tasks without caring about battery life.
- Balanced: This mode aims to strike a balance between battery efficiency and performance. For example, limiting apps that run in the background.
- Best Power Efficiency: This is the mode you want to be in if maximizing battery life is your topmost priority without laying emphasis on performance.
You can switch between the three modes by going into Settings->System->Power & Battery->Power Mode.
Reducing Brightness To Increase Laptop Battery Life
This might seem like such a small thing to do, but reducing the brightness level can actually make a significant impact on battery life. Since the laptop screen consumes a lot of battery, keeping the brightness low, especially in indoor conditions, is a great idea. You should be able to hit the sweet spot somewhere between 50-80% brightness and hey, it’s good for the eyes too.
Turn Off Unused Apps
Instantly closing the apps when you’re done using them is a good practice to adopt if you want to save up on battery life. It’s somewhat like switching off the lights when exiting a room. If you have a habit of opening multiple tabs and programs only to leave them running in the background, it’s time to change that habit. All they do is eat up the laptop’s resources in the background.
Disconnect Wireless Devices
A lot of times what we do is connect wireless devices to our laptops such as earphones or speakers but forget to disconnect them. The battery life of the laptop takes a hit since the Bluetooth is on and actively connected to one or more devices. The same also applies to wired devices such as webcams, mice, or keyboards. If you are done using it, make sure to disconnect them. Also, turn off Bluetooth and WiFi whenever it’s not needed and switch to Airplane Mode instead.
Wireless black headphones, mouse, and keyboard on wooden desk
Ensure Proper Ventilation
In a country such as India where temperatures are usually high, laptops tend to heat up even more easily. Furthermore, habits such as using the laptop on a pillow or the bed not only blocks the rear vents but also retain the heat inside the system. To ensure proper ventilation you should use your laptop on a solid surface such as a flat table and invest in a cooling pad. Periodically, clean up the vents on the back and use a can of compressed air to get rid of the dust.
Don’t Keep Your Laptop On Charge 24×7
It’s a bad habit of many people to keep the laptop on charge even after the battery is full. If you keep the laptop on charge all the time then it won’t take much for it to go from being a laptop to a desktop. You will not be able to run it without charge for more than an hour. If you want to increase laptop battery life, you must optimize charging and try to keep the battery percentage between 40 to 80 at all times.
So, these were some of the tips and tricks you can follow in order to increase laptop battery life and squeeze some extra juice from your device. For more such interesting articles, make sure to check out TechBurner!