One of the major upsides to using a laptop rather than a desktop is that you can unplug it. Instead of being chained to your workspace when you want to use it, you can take it with you wherever you go. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the train during your daily commute or just want to sit on the sofa while you type up your all-important presentation – you have the luxury of being able to move around.
Unfortunately, this upside is somewhat wasted if you have a laptop that loses battery quickly. This could be for several reasons, from its age to its low-performing spec. Either way, it’s something most of us would like a solution for.
Never fear, because that’s exactly why this article was written.
Turn down the brightness
Plenty of us use our laptops for energy-draining tasks, whether it’s watching our favorite Netflix shows or gaming. Say, for example, you use yours to play online casino games. You spend your days flitting between Gold Collector Diamond Edition and Royal Tiger Lightning Lines. You even enjoy the occasional bit of live action when you play W H Roulette. However, you find you can’t play for long before your battery turns red.
One easy way to stretch out your onscreen time is by turning down your brightness. The reality is that most of our homes are not that well-lit, so turning this down a notch is unlikely to affect your ability to see what’s happening onscreen. It’s easy to do too, with keys on your laptop that allow you to turn your brightness up and down at the push of a button. The same rule applies if you’re struggling with the battery life of your mobile phone and power-saving mode isn’t quite cutting it.
Don’t leave your battery to run on empty
When it comes to laptop users, most of us fall into one of two camps: we either have our laptop plugged in all the time or wait for it to drain completely before we connect it. Neither of these things is great for the long-term health of your battery, but the latter is especially damaging. Anytime your battery dips below 20 percent, this forces it to work extra hard and thus puts a strain on it. This can reduce its charging capacity in the long term, so should be avoided wherever possible.
Turn off your keyboard backlights
There are only two times your keyboard backlights need to be turned on, and those are when you’re using a special gaming laptop or if you’re working in a poorly lit room. In any other circumstance, these are largely redundant and will achieve one thing only: they’ll drain your battery more quickly. Luckily, you can easily turn them off from your keyboard and ensure your laptop stays alive for longer.
Unplug any devices you don’t need/that are not in use
In the same vein, ask yourself whether you’re leaving any devices connected to your laptop unnecessarily. For example, anytime they’re not in use, you can and should be disconnecting tech like your webcam, external hard drives, and even the mouse or keyboard you use when your laptop is stationary. All these will do is drain your battery life, even if your laptop is in sleep mode.
Activate battery saver mode
Just like your smartphone, lots of laptops also have battery saver mode, whether or not you realize it. This will often switch on automatically when you drop below 20 percent, but you can also turn it on manually by going to settings and opening up battery options. When this is at work, it will disable multiple energy-draining features, such as push notifications and email and calendar syncing.
Isn’t it time you put this advice into practice and used it to make your laptop battery last for longer?