15 Ways to Increase Laptop Battery Life

Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:32PM EDT

See Comments (2081)

While laptop chips have become better and better at saving power, other changes, like more powerful laptop graphics cards, faster hard drives, and Windows Vista, have erased many of those gains.

So, you'll need to take it upon yourself to improve your laptop's battery life if you really want to go the extra mile. And while that can be a confusing and tricky process, this blog post offers some helpful advice so you don't have to go it alone. Among the 15 suggestions offered at Friedbeef's Tech (hey, I didn't name it), here are the ones that will really impact your battery the most.

Add more RAM - More RAM means the computer will access the hard drive less frequently, and the hard drive uses much more power than your RAM sticks. 

Dim your screen - Those big, "ultra-bright" displays really suck down the power. Dimming your screen just 20 percent can add a good chunk of time to your battery life.

Unplug external devices - Anything plugged in via USB, FireWire, or PC Card/ExpressCard draws power from your computer. Yes, even your mouse. And of course, turn off your Wi-Fi radio when you don't need it.

Minimize CD/DVD use - Optical drives are probably the worst offender on your notebook when it comes to battery use. Unless you're watching a movie, don't even leave a disc in the optical drive, as Windows loves to occasionally read it, just to check on things...

The post doesn't exactly mention it, but don't forget about the Power Options control panel in Windows, which will let you manage hard drive auto-spin-down, screen brightness, and other settings in one central location. It's a great first place to start... then check out Friedbeef's 11 other tips!

LINK: Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop's Battery Life 

UPDATE: Looks like y'all killed the poor site. Here's a cached version 

Comments on 15 Ways to Increase Laptop Battery Life

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 6 Posted by suzanne_fboswell on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    Yeah, I've drained my battery... a couple hundred times, and it just keeps working. I plug in whenever I can, but I'm often in non-plug settings doing work. This is really helpful - especially the CD/DVD tip. I almost always have a CD/DVD in my drive...

  • 7 Posted by e_9088152 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    yup, as much as possible, keep your laptop plugged in :)

  • 8 Posted by fernando_bravo@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    Most Laptop Computer Battery only last about an hour at most luckly 2. I will start carrying a portable chargablge laptop energy device.

  • 9 Posted by theguyintern on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    another good tip is to be sure not to leave your laptop plugged in when the battery is at full capacity. the more you overcharge things the smaller amount of charge they will hold the next time. so you can go from working 4 hours on your computer down to 2 or 1.

  • 10 Posted by k9ghz@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    I also run my Laptop battery down too more then four times,NO Problem. I also keep mine pluged in too......

  • 11 Posted by johnohan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    There is no "Goodluck" after the link. Stupid Yahoo put it all in one line even tho I typed it on a seperate line. The link is just this: http://www.codeplex.com/vistabattery/

  • 12 Posted by inofernandez on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:24PM EDT Report Abuse

    http://www.laptopbattery.net/notebookbatteries_life.html

  • 13 Posted by stacks723 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    why don't i just throw the thing away..

  • 14 Posted by pjoe12 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    i leave my laptop plugged in at home and take the battery out completely and leave it in a drawer.

  • 16 Posted by tadiwa8635 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    wow i did not not know that but even your mouse?

  • 17 Posted by shysteeboi on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think defragging your computer every 6-months really helps your computer run faster, hence longer battery life... (kindda).. I think I got this tip from the daily tip site... oktipus.com

  • 19 Posted by awferrer on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:00PM EDT Report Abuse

    This should not be worthy of a yahoo post... c'mon yahoo you are better than this..."Dim the the screen"... and in response to better topic by "oid_md". The amount of cycles is much much more than 4. I would say more like 50 or so is fairly realistic. What most people don't notice is that right before a laptop battery is completely out of power the computer will go to sleep or standby, which will preserve the battery's life.

  • 20 Posted by mbroughton02 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    or you could just buy a mac and go for hours :-) and no i don't work for apple

  • 21 Posted by retnuhh on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:36PM EDT Report Abuse

    Intel speed step works, it throttles down your processor and consumes less power. Click on Start and right click on My Computer and select Properties. Look at the bottom right and see if your processor is running at full speed. I've seen my laptop running at 344Mhz which is crazy slow.

  • 22 Posted by sierradog7 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    Another tip for having your laptop's battery life last longer is simply getting a battery with more cells than your current one. I have a 12-cell battery for my laptop, and I have the ultra-bright screen technology which I do not dim, and my battery lasts 3 hours 10 minutes with it being used the entire time (2 GB RAM). Also, to poster number 3, it is not true that your laptop battery only lasts 4 cycles. If it happened to you, it just means your battery was a defect and you need to fix that right away. Batteries should have unlimited cycles, but they do get old after time (several years) and the battery life will drain faster.

  • 23 Posted by dreamteamplayas on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Lets say you are using you laptop when it is not plunged in. So you use 50% of the battery life. When you get back to where you charge you laptop, DO NOT PLUGE IT IN. Escipally if it if new, your battery has a memory that remembers how long you have charge you battery. So if you charge you battery for 50% of your battery life, then you battery will on last for 50% of the time, even if it is fully charged. This only happens wil extremley just opened out of the box laptops, but no matter how long you have had the battery, it is still always learning (JUST LIKE A HUMAN).

  • 25 Posted by boinger13 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    I agree with theguyintern. Whenever I use my laptop at home or at the office, i usually take the battery out. Memory effect still happens no matter how good battery technology is these days.

Post a Comment

Sign In to Post a Comment

My Tech

Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.

Also on Yahoo! Tech

Computers Home Office Wi-Fi & Networking Phones & PDAs Cameras & Camcorders TV & Home Theater Portable Audio
 

Site Map | Tour | Subscribe to Yahoo! Tech

Question and Answer content at Yahoo! Tech is written by Yahoo! users at Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. For more information, read the Full Disclaimer.

Opinions expressed by the Advisors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! receives no compensation from any manufacturer or distributor nor does it compensate any Advisor for the coverage of any product or service in any Advisor's content.