Last week, we looked at how your laptop battery may not last forever. And today we will continue looking at a couple of things you can do to cut down the drain on your laptop’s battery.
One of the largest power drains on your computer’s battery is the screen. Well, you need a screen so you cannot just not use it. However, you can dim it. Most modern laptops you can hold down the Function (Fn) key and toggle the brightness buttons on the top of your keyboard. These should have small icons on them that look like suns. One gets brighter and the other one dims your screen. The dimmer, the better on the battery life.
Many say you can see it well in an office environment at around 50%. So, try that and see what you think. I use mine at about 60% in most situations. If you do not have the brightness buttons on your keyboard, click your Windows menu icon, and type “brightness.” The display brightness controls will come up. Use the slider to adjust as you see fit. 50% is really where you want to be to conserve battery life. You can lower it to a lower level, but if you do, you will not save all that much battery.
I do not imagine you are using a plugged-in keyboard, plugged in mouse, or an extra monitor plugged into your laptop while on battery power. But if you are, unplug them, they take an amazing amount of battery power. If you regularly use a wired mouse with your laptop, please invest in a wireless model. They are inexpensive, very good, and use much less of your battery power.
Next, if you have a keyboard that is backlit, congratulations, they are great, and I wish I had one. Do you feel sorry for me? I certainly hope not. But you guessed it, they take power. Cut the back light off, temporarily, for better battery conservation.
This could be a heartbreaker for some of you, but you will cause wear and tear on your computer battery if you stream a movie or TV show on battery power. When plugged in, it is fine but the Wi-Fi will wear on your battery. You might download the video(s) you are interested in while plugged in, then watch them while on battery. It will still use power, but not nearly as much as when you are streaming.
But let us say that you still need a new battery as the current one is dead. You can take it to be replaced by a computer repair shop or a big box store that has computer repair. Or, you can do it easily yourself, and maybe save some money. Make sure you purchase the correct battery for your notebook. You can get them from the manufacturer, a computer store, or online. Remove your battery and get the serial number along with any other information you may need.
To remove the battery, there are usually two thumb tabs on the bottom. One on each side of the battery. Slide them over and the battery will lift out. You usually have to lift one long side up first. Insert the new battery the opposite way you removed the old one. Charge it and you are done. Some newer models, which are very thin, have internal batteries.
