How to Make a Laptop Battery Last Longer

Posted on June 23rd, 2009 by Marck

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Laptops give you all the convenience of a full desktop computer in a portable package. One issue with many laptop users is the longevity of the battery; some users may only get about an hour and a half of power from a fully-charged battery. Here are tips on how you can make your laptop battery last longer.

Adjust Brightness and Volume

Screen brightness and speaker volume can consume a lot of power. One way to conserve battery life is to lower the amount of power consumed by your display and multimedia devices. Here are some ways to do it:

Dim the screen. Most laptop screens have a good level of brightness and contrast even at the lowest brightness setting. If you’re not connected to AC power, it’s best to keep the brightness of the screen as dim as possible, but the text and images on the screen should still be visible.
Use headphones or earphones. The speaker system of a laptop can consume a lot of power. You can lower the volume or set the speakers on mute if you don’t need sound cues or music. You can also use a pair of headphones or earphones, which use a lot less power.

Adjust Power Settings

laptop battery Another way to preserve battery life is to set power settings to optimize battery life and computer performance. Most laptop computers have three power settings:

Performance gives you optimum speed at the expense of battery life. Performance settings are best used when your computer is in AC power.
Balanced settings give you the default configuration, and is a compromise of power and performance.
Power saver is best used when you’re on battery power. Power saver settings make your computer a bit slower, but gives you at least 30 extra minutes of battery life depending on the condition of your battery and the applications you’re running.

Disable Peripherals

Peripherals like wi-fi, infrared, or Bluetooth can drain the battery. External devices like mice and USB peripherals can also consume precious minutes off the laptop’s power supply when not connected to AC power. Turn off network interfaces when not in use to optimize power consumption.

When used economically, a laptop battery can give you up to three hours of usable power. With these tips, every minute of power on the battery will count for a task accomplished.