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Simply Prolong The Battery Run Time On A Laptop
Author : Graham Jo Kelly
Submitted : 2011-11-12 Word Count : 870 Popularity: Not Rated
Tags: laptop repair, notebook repair, netbook repair
With just some minor adjustments it's possible to considerably extend the time that your laptop will run on battery power. By employing as many of the following tips as possible will lead to your laptop computer operating for a longer time from its battery power.
Go to the Windows Power Setting Options found in Control Panel and alter the settings to the greatest energy saving option. It is a quick and simple technique to save battery power with the least amount of thought.
The brighter that the screen is run the more battery power is used; so dim the screen to the lowest that you find acceptable. It will save a lot of power.
Having lots of applications executing while the laptop is simply idling is wasteful on power and can slow the execution of the important packages and wasting battery power. It will be best to isolate and stop most of those aside from vital ones like a virus checker.
When turning off the laptop computer do not put it into standby as this still makes use of quiet a lot of battery energy; instead use hibernate. This has the advantage of using almost no battery energy and permitting the laptop computer to quickly startup.
The hard drive is slow and makes use of more energy, the RAM may be very quick and doesn't use a lot power, so including extra RAM should speed up all operations of the laptop and reduce energy drain from the battery.
If you have a WI-FI card enabled then energy can be drained from the battery even when the laptop computer is not connected to the Web. Usually it can easily be turned off by way of a switch or software to save lots of this power being wasted during battery operation.
The hard drive uses more energy than RAM but makes use of significantly less than the CD or DVD drive. So attempt to install applications and data so that they run from the hard drive rather than the CD or DVD drive. When installing a program it is often possible to instruct it to install all the code on the hard drive so access to the CD or DVD drive is not required.
If sound is not really necessary then muting the sound or significantly lowering the volume of the laptop computer speakers can reduce power consumption. Often users have music playing whilst operating their laptop computer, that is okay on mains, but on battery will in a short time discharge it.
If the laptop is allowed to overheat maybe by blocking the air inlet vent then the cooling fan will be operating most of the time using up a lot of battery power. This can even have the effect of waring out the fan and damaging some of the laptop's internal chips. So do not use your laptop on your lap!
Over a period of time your laptop battery will loose its efficiency, you will find that it requires charging more often. Like all rechargeable batteries, the more times it's charged and discharged the less power it will hold. There are a number of things that may be tried to lengthen the time before this happens. Attempt to charge then nearly fully discharge the battery by using the laptop computer until it has lower than 25% charge present. Don't leave the battery charging longer than necessary. Don't let the battery get hot.
This is not an entire list of things that affect battery life, but it ought to give you a few indications of where to look to save battery power and prolong the operation of your laptop when away from mains power.
Author's Resource Box
Graham Kelly is a seasoned writer with many years experience with restoring damaged laptops. He has been involved in the electronic digital and computing markets for the majority of his working life and might be contacted at Trilogic uk ltd click laptop power or USB drive recovery.