How to Keep Your Laptop Battery Going for As Long As Possible
Unplug the battery after each use., Use the hard drive more than the CD/DVD drive., Clean battery contacts more often., Turn off the WiFi, if you don't need it., Battery care: Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Unplug the battery after each use.
As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives use more power than hard drives.
Even having one in the drive can be power consuming.
They spin, taking power, even when they are not actively being used.
Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives. , Clean your battery's metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol.
This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient. , Usually, there is a switch, but sometimes you have to do it in the WiFi config. , Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two weeks. , Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn't save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does.
Hibernating a laptop will actually save more power as it will completely shut down itself. , The faster your hard drive does its work the less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery.
Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. , All laptops come with the option to lower brightness.
Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. , All these add load to the CPU and cut down battery life.
Shut down everything that isn't crucial when you're on battery. , USB devices & WiFi drain down your laptop battery.
Remove or shut them down when not in use. ,, This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory.
Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. , Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner. , Do one thing at a time when you're on battery, rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background, and listening to music at the same time, which puts unnecessary overhead on your computer's CPU ,, Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about batteries lasting all day long.
Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix. , Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect. , Microsoft Word and Excel autosave functions are great, but because they keep saving at regular intervals, which work your hard drive harder than it may have to.
If you plan to do this, you may want to turn it back on as the battery runs low.
While it saves battery life in the beginning, you will want to make sure your work is saved when your battery dies. , Video cards use as much power today as hard disks. -
Step 2: Use the hard drive more than the CD/DVD drive.
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Step 3: Clean battery contacts more often.
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Step 4: Turn off the WiFi
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Step 5: if you don't need it.
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Step 6: Battery care: Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time.
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Step 7: Hibernating is better than standby mode on a laptop.
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Step 8: Defrag your hard drive regularly.
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Step 9: Lower the brightness of your screen to the lowest level you're okay with.
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Step 10: Do not use background programs.
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Step 11: Cut down on external devices.
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Step 12: Charging devices: If you charge other devices with your laptop you will quickly wipe out the charge on your laptop battery.
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Step 13: Add more RAM memory.
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Step 14: Laptop temperature down: Your laptop operates more efficiently when it's cooler.
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Step 15: Don't multitask.
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Step 16: Reducing laptop demands: Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD.
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Step 17: Buy an Energy Star or other efficient laptop.
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Step 18: Memory effect: If you're using a very old laptop
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Step 19: you'll want to prevent the memory effect will keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two weeks.
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Step 20: Don't use an autosave function.
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Step 21: Less graphics use: You can do this by changing the screen resolution and shutting off fancy graphic drivers.
Detailed Guide
As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives use more power than hard drives.
Even having one in the drive can be power consuming.
They spin, taking power, even when they are not actively being used.
Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives. , Clean your battery's metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol.
This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient. , Usually, there is a switch, but sometimes you have to do it in the WiFi config. , Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two weeks. , Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn't save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does.
Hibernating a laptop will actually save more power as it will completely shut down itself. , The faster your hard drive does its work the less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery.
Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. , All laptops come with the option to lower brightness.
Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. , All these add load to the CPU and cut down battery life.
Shut down everything that isn't crucial when you're on battery. , USB devices & WiFi drain down your laptop battery.
Remove or shut them down when not in use. ,, This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory.
Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. , Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner. , Do one thing at a time when you're on battery, rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background, and listening to music at the same time, which puts unnecessary overhead on your computer's CPU ,, Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about batteries lasting all day long.
Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix. , Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect. , Microsoft Word and Excel autosave functions are great, but because they keep saving at regular intervals, which work your hard drive harder than it may have to.
If you plan to do this, you may want to turn it back on as the battery runs low.
While it saves battery life in the beginning, you will want to make sure your work is saved when your battery dies. , Video cards use as much power today as hard disks.
About the Author
William Hayes
A passionate writer with expertise in cooking topics. Loves sharing practical knowledge.
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