VOL 24
Issue 5v15
Str Date: 2024.136.

How to Optimize Laptop Battery Life: Practical Tips

How to Optimize Laptop Battery Life:

Practical Tips

It’s 2023, and modern laptops are more powerful than ever.  However, one area where they still struggle is the battery life.  As Laptops are compact computers, you just can’t put bigger batteries in them, so if you want to increase their battery life, you will need to tweak some things.  This comprehensive guide will share practical tips to increase your laptop’s battery life.  So, without any further delay, let’s get started.



Eight Tips for extending the battery life of your laptop!

You must tweak some settings to get better battery life out of your laptop.  This section will share the eight tips that will extend your laptop computer’s battery life.  These tips are equally effective whether you have a gaming laptop or a simple work laptop.

1.    Adjust the Screen Brightness

Modern laptops come with high-resolution displays and very high brightness levels, which undoubtedly look good but consume tons of battery.  So, if you want your laptop to have a good battery life, then you must use your laptop’s screen at low brightness.

It may be difficult for you if you habitually use the display at full brightness, but this change will improve your laptop’s battery life and reduce carbon emissions.

2.    Use Dark Wallpapers & Dark Mode

Colorful & Live wallpapers look cool but draw a lot of power.  So, we recommend switching to darker wallpapers because they will draw less energy and be easy on your eyes.

Similarly, try using a dark mode on your laptop, and you will see significant improvement in the battery life.  Also, we assure you that once you switch to dark mode on your laptop, you will never be able to go to light mode.

3.    Adjust the Power Settings

High-end laptops these days come with powerful configurations, and unless you are doing resource-intensive tasks such as editing or gaming, you won’t need that much power.  So, you can optimize power usage by using the power-saving modes on your laptop.

So, go to your laptop’s settings and search for Power Saver Mode.  Once you enable it, your laptop will start using low power, ultimately increasing the battery life.

4.    Turn off Bluetooth & WiFi

Bluetooth & WiFi are two technologies that require a lot of power, and they keep using the power even when they are not in use.

So, turn off the WiFi when you are not using the internet.  Similarly, if you are not using Bluetooth, turn it off, and you will see a significant boost in your laptop’s battery life.

5.    Use Wireless Peripherals

If you use a wired external keyboard or mouse, then we would recommend that you should switch to wireless peripherals.  As wireless peripherals come with their own batteries, they won’t draw power from your laptop’s battery and will boost the battery life.

Also, make sure you buy peripherals from good brands such as Logitech, SteelSeries, or Razer.  Their products come with wireless USB dongles, which are usually more power efficient than Bluetooth.

6.    Disable Startup Apps

Startup Apps are the ones that start when you turn on the laptop, and they keep running in the background even if you are not using them.

So, go to Task Manager and Startup Apps section, where you will find all the apps which start when you turn on the laptop.  Analyze them and disable the ones which you don’t regularly use.  Once you turn off the useless startup apps, you will notice an improvement in your laptop’s battery life.

7.    Make sure that your laptop is Well-Ventilated.

Ventilation is one of the major problems on modern laptops, especially the ones with slip chassis.  If your laptop is getting overheated, it can affect the overall health of your battery and shorten its life.

We recommend investing in a cooling pad for gaming laptops because it will come with additional fans, increasing the airflow into the laptop.  However, if you have a simple work laptop, you can invest in a simple stand that should lift the laptop a few inches above the desk.  In this way, your laptop will get more room for airflow, reducing the chance of getting your laptop overheated.

8.    Change the Battery

You may need to change your laptop battery if you have tried the above fixes but are still not getting good battery performance.  If you are on Windows, you can quickly generate the Battery report, which will tell you about its health and capacity.

So, if you want to generate it, just search for Command Prompt and run it as Administrator.  In the Command Prompt, type powercfg/batteryreport and press enter.

Once you enter it, the battery report will be generated and show the folder where it’s generated.  Now open the battery report and analyze the history.  If you notice that the battery capacity or time is decreasing, you may need to change the battery life.

Hold the Option Key on MacBooks and click on the battery icon to reveal whether you need to replace or service your battery.



FAQs

Is it OK to keep the laptop plugged in all the time?

No, if you keep your laptop plugged in all the time, it will overcharge the battery, reducing its life span.  So, if you want to get better battery life and want the battery to live longer, then don’t overcharge it.

At what percentage should I charge your laptop?

You can usually charge your laptop to 100%, and it will be fine.  However, some studies show that Lithium-ion batteries perform well when charged between 40% to 80%.  So, if you want your laptop to have a long lifespan, keep the charge level between 40% to 80%.

How many hours should a laptop battery last?

It varies depending on the size and your usage of the laptop.  Gaming laptops usually last 2-3 hours under full load, and you can get around 4-5 hours of battery under moderate load.  On the other hand, work laptops usually offer 6-10 hours of battery life under regular use.

 

Final Thoughts

Getting good battery life on laptops isn’t impossible; with some management, you can easily achieve good battery life on your laptop.  This guide has shared eight practical tips to prolong your laptop’s battery.  We hope you found this helpful guide and helped you extend your laptop’s battery life.  If you also have some tips that worked well for you, please share them with our community in the comment section.

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