Maximize the life of the computer battery It is one of the great concerns of almost all users. Linked to the above, there is also the issue of energy saving: the less it consumes, the longer its autonomy will last. In this post we will analyze how to achieve that energy saving and how to increase the battery life of a laptop.
The truth is that, on many occasions, the issue of the laptop battery can be a real headache. Sometimes we need to plug in for work in a place where we can't plug it into an electrical outlet, or we find that the battery dies after a short session.
It must be recognized that the new laptop models that have appeared on the market in recent years are equipped with increasingly long-lasting batteries. But neither will they last forever. As all, they will deteriorate over time and its autonomy will be reduced little by little.
Even so, there are many things we can do to increase the battery life of a laptop. Tricks or simply habits that are going to help us a lot. We will first go over some effective ways to save battery consumption, and then other methods to extend battery life:
Tricks to save battery
Often, it is enough to apply a little logic and common sense if we want to save the power consumption of a laptop battery. These are some examples:
Disconnect peripherals
Even if we are not using the mouse or an additional keyboard, just by having them connected we are consuming battery. If we talk about illuminated mice and keyboards, that consumption can be 10% and even 30%, depending on the measurements.
Reduce screen brightness
It is a good trick, although it must be applied intelligently. Battery consumption reduction is achieved lowering the brightness to 50%, below that threshold, the savings are negligible, so it's not worth lowering the display quality.
Control application consumption
All the applications that we have installed on our laptop consume resources and energy. Obviously some more than others. If our goal is savings, it is necessary to check how each and every one of these apps behaves, turn them off when we don't need them and, in some certain cases, replace them with others that they can offer us the same, but consuming less.
Turn off Bluetooth
If we don't need to use it, of course. When Bluetooth is activated without having to use it, it consumes battery power unnecessarily, although it is true that in the most modern models of laptops this issue has been minimized.
Choosing the right quality to watch streaming content
Watching streaming broadcasts is not the most advisable way to save battery, but if we are not willing to give it up, then the best thing to do is choose a lower compression mode. Maybe 720p or even better 480p. With this, as expected, the resolution will be negatively affected, but we will be able to significantly reduce battery consumption.
Use the Edge browser
Although a vast majority of users consider it the perfect browser, it is also true that it is the one that consumes the most battery and resources. The ideal is to use Edge, the native browser of Windows (if we were talking about MacOS, the native browser would be Safari), which logically is the one that best adapts to the characteristics of the operating system.
Activate Windows "Power Saving Mode"
This mode is available in Windows 10. By activating it, it is possible to limit the use of programs in the background, although only those that are downloaded from the Microsoft store. Without questioning its efficiency, it must be borne in mind that the Energy Saving mode greatly reduces the performance of the processor and the graphics card.
Finally, there are a number of tricks that do not work to save batterysuch as disabling USB ports or changing the screen resolution. Its impact on battery consumption is minimal and it does not compensate us at all when using our laptop.
Tricks to prolong the life of a laptop battery
Just like with people, the better we take care of the health of our battery, the longer it will live. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to pay attention to certain aspects that we detail below:
Control the temperature
Extreme heat and cold are great enemies of computer batteries. That is why it is essential that a laptop have a good ventilation system. And even so, many times without realizing it we cover the fans (using the laptop on our knees or on a cloth surface), preventing proper ventilation. There are excellent programs, such as Core Temp, to help us check the temperature of our computer's processor.
Keep the system updated
With each new update, Windows introduces improvements that cover all aspects, also in terms of consumption and optimization of the battery of our devices. Ideally, the team would run those updates automatically. If not, it's a good idea to take the trouble to regularly check for available updates and run them.
Monitor charge cycles
All batteries have a limited number of charging cycles. Every time we charge a laptop to 100% we are consuming one of these cycles. For this reason, many users prefer to follow certain guidelines when recharging their devices: let it discharge to a low figure, but without reaching the limit (around 20%, for example) and then recharge it completely, but without reaching the limit. 100%.
Conclusion
Surely there are many more ways to increase the battery life of the laptop and to ensure that it does not consume too quickly, but the ones that we have reviewed in this article are the first ones that we should try before moving on to others. All of them have been proven to work, very practical and convenient solutions for any laptop user.