Conserving Battery Life

Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:00PM EDT

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If you're traveling and using your battery extensively, make sure your power saving options on your laptop are set appropriately. The basic idea is for the computer to shut itself down, incrementally, if it detects that you've stopped using it.

When running on AC current, these settings don't matter much, but when you're sitting on a five hour flight, trying desperately to maximize battery time, saving power is critical. Under Windows, you can manage these settings using the Power Schemes page of the Control Panel's Power Options applet. You can turn off the monitor or hard drive, and put your laptop into various states of conservation according to your specification.

Choosing the best mode: Most laptops have two shutdown modes to conserve batteries while still enabling fast resumption of normal operation: The first is standby mode which powers down your hard drive. Standby mode is meant to be used when you're leaving your computer, but only for a short period of time. When you power up again the laptop quickly resumes from where you left off. Because standby does not save your desktop state to disk, a power failure while on standby can cause you to lose unsaved information. Standby mode is great for when your airline meal arrives and you want a 15 minute of break; it's not good to leave it on for hours at a time.

Hibernation mode, on the other hand, is when the computer saves its state on the hard disk and then shuts down. A computer can't resume operation after hibernation as fast as it can after standby, but it's not consuming any power during hibernation. If you're not going to use the computer for a while choose hibernate.

Windows tip: You can choose power options using the Control Panel's Power Options applet. But to choose an option on-the-fly, simply choose 'Turn off the computer' on the start menu. You normally get 3 options: Standby, Turn Off, and Restart. To get the hibernate option simply hold down the Shift key. (If hibernate doesn't appear, you may have to enable hibernation using the Power Options applet's Hibernation page.)

Also, many laptops ship with customized power applets from the manufacturer, which sometimes give you more control.

Proper Disposal: Before discarding that ancient laptop, remove its battery and dispose it properly. Do not put the battery into regular trash collections as it contains hazardous materials. For a drop-off site near you, the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) has a search page:

Lots of major retailers like Staples, Home Depot, and Radio Shack participate, so it's not hard to do the right thing for the environment.

Smart Links for more battery advice:

TechRepublic

Batteries in a Portable World

 

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Comments on Conserving Battery Life

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  • 46 Posted by ioniceclipse on Fri Aug 4, 2006 7:15AM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm a young girl who is smart in mathematics but ignorant into computers. I didn't know this stuff so to me this was helpful advice.

  • 47 Posted by mann2k2001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:05PM EDT Report Abuse

    Well, i have using different modes and keep the screen at the dim. They are gr8!

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

    Thanks, I wasn't aware of the space bar /hibernate thing.

  • 49 Posted by hinesgregory on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    Just turning off your Wifi switch can save a lot of batery life!

  • 50 Posted by doomsmack3r on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    yupzz thats true..its doenst actually save a lot of battery ...but it does..and thats what matters

  • 52 Posted by lanmegamanzero on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    It's a good thing I knew more then this when I read or I would've believed every word.

  • 53 Posted by ferasbest on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    thnx alot for the advise , i really benefit from it , it is very nice tips ............. wow .... the battery will go on now ..........

  • 54 Posted by begreatram on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    Hibernation is not enabled in my laptop. It says manufacturer has not enabled it. Is this settings to windows or to the laptop? Should I install windows again with hibernation or should I take it to my manufacturer to enable it? Thanks for your smart tips.

  • 55 Posted by fluffylady143 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    Some of us are just getting used to a new laptop, and found this very helpful. Yes I do play around and learn a lot, but haven't taken the pc with me yet. Thanks for the tips on saving the battery before I learned the hard way.

  • 56 Posted by sangalangjp on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    I believe this can be a helpful article to others. Unfortunately in my case my battery indicator registers low battery to empty battery a few minutes after switching it on, or unplugging it from AC power. It's like I did not charge the battery at all. I hope this situation has a solution aside from buying a new battery pack.

  • 57 Posted by dat_nicca_k on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:37PM EDT Report Abuse

    i heard if u or using AC power you should remove your battery b/c when your battery is fully charged it is losing life b/c your cpu is using A/C power I also heard the same thing about cell phone batteries

  • 58 Posted by johnkgirl4ever on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    This article is useful for the first time/hardly ever users of laptops. I thought the article was very informative. Please keep giving us great tips.

  • 59 Posted by vthiker1999 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm with Cody, this article is too basic. If you own a laptop, you should know how to adjust settings to save power. I too was looking for more useful information. Cody's post was more informative. You should title the article "How do you extend your battery life on your laptop?". Users could probably give us more useful tips.

  • 60 Posted by ahftan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    If it were ever that easy to go into hibernation -- a lot of computers, especially PCs have trouble getting out of hibernation mode. At times I have to shut down the computer to restart, and when that happens, just rebooting the computer costs me even more battery life than just staying in hibernation... I agree with some of the other postings -- can you get more basic? Would have appreciated something more inciteful than the basics.

  • 61 Posted by isettav on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:25PM EDT Report Abuse

    It is interesting to note that some people think the article was basic and useless. They are the talented and not humble folks out there who do not realize there is a whole market of new users everyday. Some are very senior citizens who truly appreciate the basic, well written and easy to read articles that are around such as this one. The market for understanding and awareness of that fact should be recognized and more articles such as this one posted. The arrogant should not click on such articles. They already know everything and are probably in there 20's or 30's and should click on other things that will make them wiser. Thank you.

  • 62 Posted by brucecain2004 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    Also, using your cd drive will drastically reduce power. any moving parts take lots of energy. I learned this while watching dvd's on my laptop on the commute home.

  • 63 Posted by erica_gage on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    I just purchased a laptop and am glad that someone is there to help me learn more about it and how to save the battery. Mine is used in college and I honestly didn't know about hibernation, but I did know about standby. This will be a help to me because I use mine for homework and having to leave it for any amount of time is not easy because I am afraid of losing info. Thanks for the tips.

  • 64 Posted by stewartasia on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    i hope my computer will now work more than only 45 minutes when I don't have access to a mains power supply. Thank you very much for an article that the thicker people of this world can actually understand.

  • 65 Posted by bkk10s on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:08PM EDT Report Abuse

    What a waste of time, even a 7 year old in school could tell you more than this article, maybe the author should do some more reading so important things could be explained, things worth reading!!!

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