How can use laptop battery longer?
I noticed that my old laptop battery didn’t hold it’s charge anymore. It would have to be plugged in the entire time otherwise it would shut off and die right away.With my new laptop, I want to make sure that its battery will hold it’s charge and last longer than my older one. What steps should I take or what should I do to make sure it will last?
Most modern laptops have a power save software program built in. This usually automatically manages everything to optimize the performance for what battery life you have left. Although, there are some things you can do yourself to make sure it has a good healthy life.When you charge it, make sure you fully charge it (not 50%, 75% etc.).If you’re working on battery power, try not to run too many power consuming applications (things like full screen games, HD video etc).Last but not least, if you ever want to leave your computer for a short amount of time, never leave it running; you can turn on Hibernation (or sleep on a Mac) which will save your session to disc whilst consuming the least amount of power.
1. When your computer isn’t in use, but you don’t want it turned off, put it in sleep and take out the charger.
2. When it’s off, take out the charger.
3. When it’s fully charged and you’re using it, take it out. When it gets to about half charge, go ahead and plug it in again.
4. Avoid extensive use of the AC adapter in general.
Rechargeable laptop batteries form a ‘memory’ of their use. In all cases of using rechargeables, charge it right out of the box for 24 hours. Then use the battery until it’s power is spent. Recharge and go through the same cycle several times.If you recharge your battery when it is only at 50% on a consistent basis, it will get locked into that lower limit and you will only get 50% of it’s available power. Same with charging. Not charging to full capacity will make it’s upper limit get locked in at less than full.Never leave the battery in your laptop when it’s fully charge and hooked onto the wall.Once the battery is fully charge, take it out of your laptop unless you are going to power your laptop with it.Try to always wait until the battery is low to recharge it as you will minimize the number of cycles (charging and discharging). laptop batteries have a limited number of cycles before they don’t hold a charge.
