How To Maximize A Notebook Battery

How To Maximize A Notebook Battery

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The hard drive and display screen function as the top two drains on your laptop's battery, according to Microsoft. Yet, as a laptop user, you have several options for conserving battery power. Maximizing the power of battery proves helpful when you find yourself in situations where no electrical outlet is available for charging purposes. If you take the time to make a few adjustments to your laptop, while keeping battery conservation at the forefront of your mind, you can effectively extend the power of the battery's life and, until you can plug in your computer, avoid losing the use of it.
Shut down and close programs that you are not currently using with your laptop. Close background programs such as music players, weather alerts or desktop wallpaper programs. Exit programs that take up your laptop's graphic and memory resources such as games. Each program varies in size and how much memory it uses in any given time, so the extension of your laptop's battery for each program disabled varies on these factors also.
Turn off your laptop's wireless connection if you're not using the Internet. Turning off your wireless connection can add about 15 to 45 minutes to your laptop's battery life. Disable your laptop's wireless connection by using the wireless switch on the outside of your laptop. If your laptop does not have a wireless switch, go to "Start," "Control Panel," "Network and Internet" then "Network and Sharing Center" and from the left panel choose "Manage Network Connections." Select and right-click your home's wireless connection and choose "Disable."
Remove peripheral devices from your computer and eject any disks such as CDs or DVDs. USB devices draw power from your computer and disk drivers must expend energy to spin and read disks. Eliminating these sources of energy consumption can make your battery last longer.
Customize the laptop's power plan to save battery life. Right-click the battery icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Click "Power Options." Click the "Power Saver" option, in the "Power Options" window that pops up, for maximum battery performance. Place your cursor on the "X" in the top-right corner of the window and click to close the window. Your computer will now function under the "Power Saver" plan. Hold the cursor over the battery icon in the bottom-right corner to confirm that the system is operating in "Power Saver" mode. A small window will appear to inform you of your system's current plan.
Remove any USB devices or PC cards you don't need to conserve battery power. If your computer uses a wireless card, remove it when you don't need the connection. Disable any devices, via your computer's device manager, that you aren't using, such as your modem, network card or DVD/CD-ROM drive.
Dim the screen on your laptop. Check the keyboard for function keys that will allow you to do so, or consult your user's manual. A dim screen uses less battery power than a bright one. Set your computer screen to go blank after a certain period of time, such as five minutes of inactivity. If you are interrupted while working for longer than the period of time you select, the blank screen will appear and save power.
Click on low-power settings, such as "sleep," "standby" or "suspend" when you close your computer, but don't want to completely shut it down. This works two-fold. It gives you the opportunity to resume your work quickly while saving power. "Hibernate" uses less power than "sleep." It shuts your computer down and saves everything to the hard drive. When you resume power, your desktop is exactly as you left it, saving you time.


About the Author:
Laptop Battery, Cheap Laptop Batteries, Notebook Laptop Batteries, Laptop AC Adapters
New laptop battery, High Quality Li-ion Laptop Batteries for UK customers



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