8 tips to save your battery
My MacBook’s battery lasts ages, even when I’m running ten programs and watching a movie. But my Gateway laptop’s battery lasts about an hour, and it’s new. PCs generally have very limited battery life and here’s some tips I’ve gathered to help keep your battery lasting longer.
Make your battery last longer now
- Let your laptop control the battery. They usually have default settings that will minimize battery usage and when you need the battery to last through an entire flight, keeping it on those settings will help.
- Don’t multi task. Running just one program at a time can seriously help.
- Power down when necessary. If you’re waiting in line or otherwise can’t use your laptop, turn it off to avoid battery drain. It’s small, but it still helps.
- I know laptops are called that for a reason, but avoid putting it on your lap unless you have to. There’s plenty of tables and other flat surfaces that will help keep the heat down.
Extending battery life
- Don’t leave your laptop on a bed, couch, or pillow for long periods of time. Your computer is unable to breathe, which leads to higher temperatures, which lead to battery death.
- Don’t leave it in a car on a really hot day (90 degrees Fahrenheit or more), if it’s hot enough to kill a dog, it can kill your battery.
- Don’t expose most batteries to extreme cold temperatures either (Lithium Ion batteries, however, are best stored at freezing temperatures.)
- If you aren’t going to being using your laptop/cell phone/ipod for a month or longer, take out the battery and store it properly. If it’s a Lithium Ion battery, you can freeze it at a 50% charge.
For more battery related information, check out the Battery University.
Thanks for that! That was really helpful. I’ll use those tips from now on to try to get my laptop’s battery to last a bit longer.
Hi
Thanks for the tips, I have a Laptop but never use the Battery.
Anyway I just stopped by to take a look at your blog,I really liked it.
U comment I Follow:D
Thanks for sharing and making the internet a better place.
Along with that, make sure you actually run the battery out. At least once a week I’ll leave my laptop on and just go to class knowing that the battery will die while I’m gone.
If you don’t let the battery run out then it “learns” the wrong amount of charge that it can hold.
@ Zach
I heard about that too actually
, same applies with phones and stuff too!
Thanks a lot for these tips! Macs are really good for saving energy
Unfortunately I don’t have Mac and my battery doesn’t live very long. Plus my computer gets really hot even while laying on the table and it also steals my battery life. I’m gonna use your tips and I hope I will help my nattery somehow. Thanks for posting
I also had problems with my battery, it didn’t live very long. I followed some tips you listed here and also tried to clean my computer more often so the dust couldn’t get there and slow down it’s working. It helped! My battery lives much longer now and my computer doesn’t get so hot anymore. Thank you!