© Petoo (Fotolia) Laptop
© Petoo (Fotolia)
Improper settings
Power settings
Laptop power settings are essential to extending your laptop‘s battery life and getting optimum performance. Power settings allow your laptop to turn off certain components and modes after a pre-determined period of inactivity and even initiate your computer to enter into standby or hibernation to save on power.
Operating systems like Windows have built-in power setting schemes, such as Max Battery power scheme and Portable/Laptop power scheme as well as custom schemes. Take advantage of your computer’s power saving schemes to prolong your battery life. Adjust the power settings to your preferred computing modes, taking care not to sacrifice on performance.
Display settings
Laptop system monitors are heavy battery resource hogs when configured improperly. Find your laptop monitor brightness control and turn the brightness down as much as possible to save on power and to conserve your battery.
Other factors
Battery charge/discharge habits
Two common laptop computer battery types that are affected by charge/discharge habits are Lithium-ion battery and Nickel-based battery.
. Lithium-ion batteries
Newer laptops use Lithium-ion batteries. It is recommended to always recharge the battery when it is not fully discharged to prolong your battery life. A well-maintained Lithium battery can last between two and three years.
High temperatures have also been known to depreciate the battery‘s life span, but this is likely to change in the future as lithium-ion battery technology continues to advance.
. Nickel-based batteries
Nickel-based laptops battery are found on older computers. Unlike Lithium-ion, the battery must be fully discharged before recharging to ensure prolonged life. Generally, if you partially discharged and then recharge the battery, you reduce the life of the battery.
High power resource programs
Running high energy demanding programs such as watching two-hour movies or playing high-end graphic video games drains battery power and wears out the battery. Plug your laptop to a power source when running high power programs to conserve your battery.
Battery age
Like everything else, laptop batteries wear out with age. They tend to perform well in the first and second years, but past the second year you will begin to notice a performance fade.