If there is anything that defines a laptop, it is battery life. The best modern laptops have battery life ranging from a several hours to ten or more.
However, laptop battery life is contingent on laptop use, as is the case with any other piece of electronics. If you feel that you’re not receiving quite the endurance you were expecting then try the three suggestons below. These should help extend your laptop’s battery life, giving you the performance you were expecting.
Use Power Management
The power management schemes which ship with laptops are, unlike most software placed onto consumer PCs, really quite good. These power management schemes automatically manipulate a laptop’s performance, screen brightness, and other features.
It is incredibly easy to use them. Usually only one or two clicks can change a laptop to a low-power mode. The problem, then, is simply remembering. Getting into the habit of setting a laptop into a low-power mode whenever it is away from a power outlet is absolutely crucial to extending battery life. The difference between a maximum performance power management setting and a maximum battery setting can be several hours on machines with large batteries.
Minimum Use, Maximum Result
A device which isn’t turned on will, of course, use no power. And while you might think of your laptop as its own entity, it is really a combination of hardware. Power management software works with this fact by reducing the performance of certain components – usually the processor – in exchange for lower power consumption. You can take this concept further by turning parts of your laptop off or minimizing their use.
The most obvious candidate for this is your wireless radio. Even when not browsing the internet the wireless radio will typically be functioning, either hunting for an active wireless network or sending information related to background information like Skype and AIM. Turning it off can extend battery life by a half hour to an hour.
Battery life can also be increased by avoiding asks that might require the efforts parts of the laptop which would normally not be heavily used. The integrated graphics processor is a good example, as is the hard drive. In other words, it is best not to play 3D games or high definition movies while on battery power, and it is also best not to move files around frequently.
Upgrade the Operating System
Older operating systems like Windows XP are perfect for laptops in many ways, but in others their age is starting to show. One area where Windows XP is far from the best is power management. Vista main gains over XP in that area, and Windows 7 is better still. As a result, upgrading to Windows 7 from XP can yield a generous increase in battery life. At least thirty minutes extra can be expected, but those with particularly large batteries may gain over an hour.
If you’re currently using Linux those gains might even be double those of upgrading from Windows XP. While Linux has certain advanatages, its power management is generally very poor. Choosing Windows 7 as an operating system over Linux can result in instantly apparent battery life increase.
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