Ten Simple Tips For Making Your Laptop Battery Last Longer

Ten Simple Tips For Making Your Laptop Battery Last Longer

The best performance is for some reason an enemy of the longest battery life which is why your battery saving mode will limit your computer’s performance. The one thing you need to remember is that your laptop battery, whether inbuilt or removable has a number of recharge cycles mostly 500 or more and after each recharge cycle, your battery’s capacity is reduced. You still need to make your battery last as long as your laptop does and that will involve some discipline that your full performance mode may not allow. The most important thing is to set in your battery saver mode once you switch to battery power but these 10 will also help save you the cost of a new battery.

Keep It Plugged In When Running High-Power Applications

Some publications will advise you to remove your charger as soon as your battery is full but that is not a problem with most modern computers and lithium-ion batteries. They automatically stop charging once full and so you can enjoy full performance when plugged in which reduces the strain on your battery. Gaming laptops and regular home and work laptops that run heavy-duty applications and long hours of browsing are supposed to stay plugged in during performance because they also save your battery. Keeping it plugged in will save your battery a lot of recharge cycles that would happen if you used battery power to run the power-intense apps.

Try A Less Power-Hungry Bowser

When Microsoft released Edge, they advertised it as a power-saving browser that will help your battery lasts 35 to 50% longer which is very smart. When you check the power consumption per app on your computer, you will realize that the browser, especially chrome uses up a lot of it. That is because it is a data-hungry browser that syncs emails frequently and also runs too many apps in your background. If you can afford it, you could try edge or another browser when using battery power to reduce consumption and strain.

Avoid Leaving Your Laptop In non-ambient temperatures

You may not know it but your battery really suffers when it is overheated. The same goes for when it is being used in frozen conditions which is why you should ensure that your laptop is at room temperature. You should therefore avoid leaving your laptop in places that might get very hot including direct sunlight, your car under the hot summer sun, under a window facing the sun or near a place that might overheat or freeze in the house.

Unplugging Your Battery When It Heats

Your battery only charges after it cools to a certain temperature which is why when your laptop is heating, there isn’t much juice going into the battery. When you notice that your computer or the battery is overheating, chances are there is poor ventilation and your computer is overheating and that takes a toll on your battery. You should turn off the computer and unplug the battery for as long as it takes for it to cool down. You should also avoid keeping the laptop on your lap all the time because that doesn’t help with ventilation and cooling.

Unplug All Hardware You Are Not Using

One thing you should know about the cables that connect to your computer is that they draw power while also transferring data. Peripheral devices like USB drives, webcams. Power banks and other items draw more power from your battery and that means you lose your recharge cycles faster than you would when they aren’t plugged in. You should therefore unplug any of them that you are not using and be more generous to your battery.

Ten Simple Tips For Making Your Laptop Battery Last Longer

Keep A Charge Over 50% Before Storing The Laptop

It is very dangerous to store any electronic device with a fully discharged battery. It increases the chances of the battery dying completely. Modern laptops will naturally hibernate when the power is about 10% which will save your battery until your next recharge but you should never let it get there if you are planning to store it for a long time. The battery continues to discharge when stored and if the battery is too low, there might be nothing to recharge when you switch it back on. You should therefore ensure that you have a minimum of 50% battery power before putting your laptop into storage.

Plug In Your Charger Before It Hits Zero

Research by PC Mag concluded that laptops that are plugged in while between 20% and 80% of charge last longer than those that discharge to zero. You should therefore plug in your charger before the battery goes below 20% if you are to reduce the number of cycles your battery uses up each time you recharge.

Increase Your RAM If You Can

Your RAM is also your laptop’s speed dial where everything can be accessed quickly without using up too much energy. If you have a small RAM, then your hard drive will have to be accessed a lot more frequently which means that your battery will be forced to discharge faster.

Reduce Your Screen Brightness

This is part of the battery saver settings but even before battery saver kicks in, you can save your battery by opting for less brightness. The high brightness requires more pixels to execute which means more energy. If you can, you should use the dark mode on your computer or a darker theme and image.

Utilize Your Battery Saver Settings

Thanks to upgrades to operating systems including Windows and MAC, you can choose between longer battery life and high performance right from the battery icon in the taskbar. You can slide the icon to the side you need the most and if you want your battery to last longer, you should opt for higher battery life. You should also tick for shorter periods before sleep and hibernation kicks in when your laptop is idle.

Do you have any other tips for making your laptop battery last even longer? Do let is know in the comments below.

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