extending battery life on laptop

United States
January 1, 2012 9:17am CST
Do you have any tips for extending battery life on a laptop? I found a good way to do it that works pretty well. I swapped the background picture on my opening screen to a plain black background. Before that I had a picture of a mountain stream. Now, with a black background things seem to last a lot longer. I also turn down the brightness as low as I can... ...can you help with some for tips? I only get 2 hours out of my batteries. I'm thinking of getting a spare battery or an outboard battery to plug in my USB. Thanks
4 responses
• Jordan
2 Jan 12
Extending your laptop's battery life is pretty much all about getting rid of stuff you don't need very much. If you're working on one program and don't need any other, then close everything else and leave the program you're working on. Try to keep the brightness as low as you could get it while maintaining a good level of comfort for your eyes. If you're not in real need for music then turn it off if you have any on. As last note, I want to point to you that charging your battery for extended times while it is full can burn it out and cause it to last less and less with time. So keep an eye on that. You're welcome, have a nice day and happy myLotting!
@hotsummer (13835)
• Philippines
2 Jan 12
i should remember that. as my laptop is few months only and need this one to last long.
• United States
3 Jan 12
I didn't know that keeping the battery charging after it is full will burn it out. I always use my laptop plugger in, so I guess that means it is always charging. But I don't know how to keep it plugged in but tell it not to charge.
• United States
6 Jan 12
That's a new one on me, too. That explains (I guess) why my Dell laptop battery burned out after a year. I always kept it plugged in. Thanks
@krizis (42)
• Bulgaria
3 Jan 12
The most important thing for the laptop to last longer is the "Settings". What i mean about that is: 1. Go to your windows services and stop all of them you dont need. 2. Go to your power settings and use Battery save mode( i know the preformace will a bit bad but worth it) 3. Clean all processes you dont use. I home this help. If you look in the net you will find a lot of tweeks for laptop.
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
1 Jan 12
If your battery used to last longer in the past. Get yourself a new one. Batteries deteriorate. :) Also if you run vista or windows 7 change to classic skin. This is easier on your computer and so it depletes your battery less fast. :)
@FluxNL (503)
• Netherlands
2 Jan 12
Don't watch movies. You can also try to make evrything black on your pc? Don't charge when you are playing or browsing on your computer. When you are charging, and the light goes off of the charge light. Pull the chargecable out of your laptop.