I bet portability was a deciding factor when you decided to get yourself a notebook instead of a huge desktop. You must’ve hoped of working on it while lying on the bed or while relaxing on the sofa. But you must’ve been hit by reality within a few weeks of owning the notebook — and the first thing you do when you switch on your notebook is to spot a power supply nearby.
Macs are better off, but Windows notebooks are notorious for their feeble battery life. That’s why I decided to do a little research and present you with my Top 10 Tips to enhance battery life and let you have a better computing experience.
1. Be cool but keep your Notebook cooler
All electronics operate with greater efficiency when they are cooler. Fact: Increasing temps increase Resistance and thus electronics use up more power to execute operations. Therefore, the first thing you got to do is to let your laptop ventilate efficiently. The best way to do this is to get a laptop stand. Clean the air vents of your laptop – probably there is a lot of grime stuck within. You could use a cloth, brush or compressed air to make your work easier. Or better yet you could choose a laptop cleaning kit that would help you do the job perfectly.
2. Update the BIOS
The latest version of BIOS is always better so you just have to update your system’s BIOS (it controls the laptop’s hardware). Most manufacturers offer an installation file that updates BIOS. These often address heat management. Just make sure that your notebook is connected to the power supply when updating the BIOS and refrain form doing anything else while updating. You don’t want to brick your laptop now, do you.
3. Defrag your hard disk
Defragmentation tidies up your files so that they’re contiguous. Contiguous files allow faster reading and put lower strain on your system. It also gets things done faster and smoother. But, if you have a SSD you might not want to do this as it has a detrimental effect on it’s lifespan. Mac users don’t necessarily have to do this either as the OS takes care of it.
4. Remove external devices
Unless you need those devices right now, your notebook would be better off if you removed them. Plugging in everything you own to the computer is a surefire way to drain out the laptop battery. If you’re running on AC Supply I recommend those cooler fans, or you could use a ThermaPak to cool your laptop. Charge your iPod using it’s charger rather than connecting it to the laptop – it’s faster and won’t hurt your laptop. You could also use a car charger from the laptop chargers section to charge your laptop on the go and keep it juiced up.
5. Dim the screen
If you’re using your notebook while indoors you probably won’t need your display at full brightness – so why don’t you lower that to a more optimal level? If you have more field work, then you should consider an anti-glare coating for your screen from GearZap’s laptop screen protectors section. Glossy screens reflect a lot of glare and you’ll have to turn up the brightness of your display to negate it. But if you have a matte screen then you wouldn’t have to turn it up that much.
6. Keep the battery contacts clean
If you have a laptop that features user-replaceable batteries then you ought to clean your battery’s contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol or some laptop cleaning accessory. This will allow more efficient transfer of power from the battery.
7. Use hibernate instead of standby
Stand-by modes might be good for short periods of time but if it’s more than an hour hibernation is your best choice – it will save your PCs state and completely shut down as well. MacBook Pro users, you could just close it’s lid.
8. Optimise your power options
Optimise your power options at the control panel so that you can customise it depending on your usage patterns. Here are some tips to make your Mac faster and efficient. Windows users have to make sure that they have set optimal time periods before their computer goes into stand-by or hibernation.
9. Update your OS
Each successive Operating System software update usually has better efficiency and performance. Moreover, when you upgrade your OS – like from Mac SL to Lion – try to go for a full on fresh install rather than installing over the current OS.
10. Lower the graphics use
Most modern laptops have an option that allows you to select the graphics solution that you require. Unless you need the discrete card, try to use the integrated option as much as you can. There’s a world of difference between the two in terms of power savings. NVIDIA users usually have the Optimus Technology on their systems while Mac users have built-in support.
I hope these tips help you out to improve your battery life. If you’ve got any tips that you wish to share please feel free to let us know by using the comment form below.
This guest blog written by Dilin Anand.