When there are no power outlets there's nothing more frustrating than a dying laptop battery. We have all in that situation where we have a couple hours of work left to finish but our battery life is only estimated to last one more. Good news. Often times these situations can be avoided by optimizing the battery performance. Here are the 20 tips that helps your laptop battery last longer.
Use Antivirus
Most laptops ship with at least some sort of anti-virus software like Norton or McAfee, but these frequently expire after a short time. Viruses and spyware can be crippling to a computer, and have a tendency to build up over time and get worse. Running weekly scans can nip these problems in the bud. If you don't feel like ponying up for a paid subscription service, there are plenty of free ones, such as AVG.
Calibrate
Calibrate your battery - Most laptop batteries these days have internal processors that provide an estimate of your battery life. Calibrating your battery so it shows the correct battery time and percentage is the first step in getting the most performance out of your laptop battery. Ideally, you should do this 3-4 times per year and should consult your owner's manual for instructions.
Charging
Charge Fully, Your First Time And Every Time. Store the Battery partially charged.
Battery memory effect is what causes your laptop to stop charging before the battery reaches 100%, or to turn off before it reaches 0%. This is caused by not charging your battery fully or not discharging it fully – the battery "remembers" where it stopped charging/discharging and doesn't go any further. Modern Li-Ion batteries are thankfully not subject to this, but if you've got an older battery avoid this effect at all costs. It can render a battery frustratingly useless. It's important to keep your battery in good condition through occasional use. If you typically use your laptop plugged in, you are not using your battery, and this can cause the capacity to shrink.
At least once a month, your battery will benefit from a full charge/discharge cycle. This keeps the battery stronger, the capacity fuller, and helps its overall longevity. When you open your new laptop for the first time, it's always a temptation to turn it on and begin playing with it. Resist this temptation!
Proper conditioning of your battery by charging it fully before its first use and then discharging it completely and repeating once or twice ensures that your battery's capacity starts at its highest. Your battery also has a preset number of charges/discharges, so it's important to charge/discharge fully to extend the life of your battery too.
Buy the Right Processor
The type of CPU can have a huge impact on how long your laptop will last on a full charge, Newer CPUs even shut down parts of the chip to conserve power. Intel chips tend to be more powerful than the AMD ones with their larger L2 cache but use more power, but you can get your work done faster so the total power used is about the same either way. The newest 65nm Memrons by Intel are extremely powerful and power efficient. Dual cores with 4MB cache and low power. The AMD Turion 64 line when they come out will compete with the Intel Memrons as they will have chips that are even more power efficient. The Pentium M chips use even less power but not as powerful since they are not dual core.
Defragment
Defragment Your Hard Drive. Decrease hard drive activity - When your hard drive spins it uses power. Defragmenting it regularly will put less demand on it because data is found more quickly.
Hard Disk
Keep 5-10% of Your Hard Drive Empty. By the time you've had your laptop for a few years, your hard drive will seem impossibly small. It's important, however, to keep at least a small percentage of your hard drive empty at all times. Operating systems use a portion of your hard drive space for Virtual Memory, and if you don't leave them any room your computer will slow down tremendously, potentially overheating or crashing under the stress. Key life-extending features like System Restore require empty space to function as well. When you save something on your computer, it gets physically written on a portion of your hard drive. As time goes on and your hard drive fills, this storage becomes somewhat disorganized, and your hardware must work harder and spend longer to find data. Defragmenting your hard drive rearranges the data into an organized structure. Defragmenting regularly will extend the life of your hard drive as well as make everything on your computer run just that much smoother.
Hibernate
Don't standby, hibernate - Not only does using hibernate instead of standby conserve battery power, but it also automatically saves and shuts off your laptop. Standby mode still uses power.
Jolts
Protect Your Laptop From Jolts With a Case
Keyboards
Like the displays, with proper care a keyboard should easily outlast the life of the laptop, but a silly accident can render it useless. Many laptops today are "spill resistant", but I wouldn't recommend testing it – don't drink around your laptop. Don't eat around it either, as crumbs or grease can fall between the keys and cause malfunctions. Hit the keys gently and dust them once in a while and your keyboard should last year after year.
Take Care of the LCD.
Less is more - Next time you're in the market for a new laptop, think twice about that 17in widescreen. You'd be much better off opting for a smaller machine that won't devour half of a battery just to power up.
Dim your screen - One of the fastest ways you can kill your battery is by leaving your screen brightness high. Dim your screen to the lowest level you can possibly manage.
LCDs on laptops are designed to outlast the usefulness of the laptop they're connected to, but can be easily damaged by a simple careless mistake. Don't lift the laptop up by the display (it will bend) and be easy on the hinges. Only clean the display with something soft and never store anything under the LCD when its closed. These precautions seem obvious but you basically need only treat the LCD with care and it will last for as long as you need it to.
Power Saving Options
Adjust your settings - Just about every new laptop will have some kind of advanced power options settings. Optimize these settings for maximum performance. Go to Control Panel > Power Options. Now adjust the power schemes according to your need, like if you are using the laptop for presentation, used Presentation Mode.
Use a Surge Protector When Charging
Spare Carry a spare device or battery - This seems like a common sense thing to do, but make sure you always carry a spare device or battery. It will come in handy in case of an emergency or long stretches between power outlets.
Temperature
Keep a watch on temperature of the laptop. Don't leave it in sunlight - Batteries are sensitive and exposing them to extreme temperatures can cause major damage. Not only can it completely ruin them but it will also suck the life out of them. Avoid placing your laptop in direct sunlight. Watch Your Fan.
Avoid Extreme Temperatures
Keep operating temps down - Batteries perform better when they're cool. Clean your air vents and avoid placing your laptop in a position that will restrict airflow (such as your lap).
Extremes in temperature can be extremely dangerous for a laptop. I mentioned that heat is a battery killer, but the display can be damaged by extreme conditions as well. Using the laptop when the environment is too hot can cause failures from overheating, and using it in an environment that is too wet and humid can cause similar malfunctions. Modern rugged laptops excluded, your laptop is meant to be used on a desk in your home or office. Keep it somewhere temperature controlled and this will never be a problem.
Your battery was designed to work at a certain temperature, and it's completely normal for it to heat up a little during use. Subjecting your battery to extreme temperatures it's not prepared for can damage its life. Cold temperatures are not good for it, but excessive heat is the real battery killer. Simply making sure not to leave your laptop in your car during the summer could save you from buying a new battery the next day.
Fan is responsible for cooling your CPU so that it doesn't overheat in normal conditions. A large number of problems related to overheating are solved simply by moving the laptop to a new position where the fan's exhaust is not blocked. Even if there is nothing large obstructing it, it's important to make sure dust doesn't build up in the fan as that can cause overheating too. Make sure your fan is clear to fan away excess heat and your laptop will live longer, guaranteed.
Travel
Laptops are sensitive instruments, and they are never more vulnerable than when they are traveling. Constant bumping and shaking can cause parts to shift and can permanently damage the laptop. Using a cushioned laptop bag will preserve it from the shocks of travel, and storing it in a laptop bag when not in use can help prevent any number of accidents. This is virtually the only item in the list that isn't free, but it's a small price to protect your computer and the bag can last for a lifetime of laptops.
Avoid Un-necessary Hardware
Avoid using the CD/DVD player - Using the CD/DVD drive on your laptop should be avoided at all costs. Even having a disk in the drive uses power. Try copying what you need from a disk to the hard drive before hand. Don't watch DVDs or play games - If you're going to be away from a power source for more than a couple hours it's a good idea to avoid watching DVDs listening to music, or playing games. These can be serious drains on your battery.
Turn off wireless and Bluetooth –Turning off your Bluetooth and wireless won't save you a whole lot of power but in certain situations every bit counts.
Turn off speakers - If you must listen to music use your iPod instead, just make sure it's not plugged into your laptop.
Limit external devices - USB devices or anything else you have plugged in uses battery resources even when they're not in use. Now is probably not the best time to try out your new USB hand warmer.
Using external hardware, such as a monitor, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc., can help extend the life of your internal hardware by preventing wear and tear. At the same time, it can provide a more comfortable experience at home. While this can be expensive, if you regularly use your laptop you may find the investment worth your while.
Avoid Un-necessary programs
Use Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware Software
Be selective with software - Some software programs suffer from bloatware and will eat your battery super fast. Avoid using things like Adobe Photoshop, your digital camera software, and other image editing software.
Only run programs you need - Having multiple programs running at the same time seems like an unnecessary way to drain your battery. Instead consider running only program at a time. In other words, if you're browsing the web don't leave your email client running in the background, check it when you're done surfing the web.
Disable unnecessary programs - You know all those programs that automatically run on startup? You probably don't need them or use most of them anyways. So just turn them off before they eat into your battery resources.
Update
Often software will come out with a new version that is just the same thing with more graphics, which can be a drain on an older computer. For non-essential items like chat programs and the like, sometimes using an older version can help your computer run smoothly and error free. If you want to try this, check out http://www.oldversion.com, a great free resource for this.
Your computer was up to date when you bought it, but unless you've set up regular updates that was the last time. Beyond your anti-virus software, which should be kept up strictly, both Microsoft and Apple offer regular updates for their operating systems to correct bugs and plug up vulnerabilities. Updating your software regularly will help keep your laptop in working order and stop many problems before they can threaten the usability or potentially the life of your computer.
Maintenance
Use the battery - Once it's charged, don't let your laptop battery sit for extended periods of time. Never let it go more than 2-3 weeks without discharging and recharging. This is especially important for non Li-Ion batteries. Use the Battery At Least Monthly.
Clean battery contacts - Proper battery maintenance includes cleaning the battery contacts that connect your cells to the laptop. Battery power is transferred through the contacts and keeping them clean allows for a more efficient transfer of power. The best way to do this is with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs.
If you're not going to be using your laptop for an extended period of time, it's a good idea to remove the battery and store it. Batteries discharge slowly over time, but storing a battery fully charged/discharged can permanently damage the battery by causing it to lose capacity or worse, go entirely dead. Charging the battery to 40% minimizes the negative long term effects of storing.
The above tips will help keep your battery in good shape, but there are tons of things you can do to cause your computer to consume less energy. Dim the LCD, mute the speakers, turn off features like WiFi if you're not using them, make use of the power settings and be sure to use both hibernate and standby where appropriate. This is only a start, but using as little power as possible while operating on batteries can help you squeeze some extra time out of your battery's capacity.
