How to increase laptop battery life

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Laptops are a very convenient way of working around the house. You can take your laptop to your bedroom, living room, den or wherever you want with you. While on move, they are good to keep the work on top, replying your emails or even playing games.

The only problem with laptops is that their batteries don’t last longer as you would want them to.

Here are ways to extend your laptop battery’s life -

Defragment your hard drive: Maintain your laptop computer properly. Defragmenting the hard drive reduces the stress on laptop and the battery. The battery needs to work harder if the hard drive is fragmented. Faster laptops always use fewer resources.

Adjust the Power options: When the laptop is not in use, power it down and adjust it to use less power when in use. To adjust the power options – Go to Start – Control Panel – Performance and Maintenance – Power Options. Set your screen so that it goes off after a certain period of inactivity. Accordingly adjust your Monitor or LCD settings also.

Clean your Battery contacts: Make a habit of cleaning your battery contacts regularly. Cleaning the contacts ensures that the battery receive right amount of power when you charge it. Use a clean cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol to clean battery contacts. Regular use of battery when it is fully charged also increases the life of laptop battery. Never leave it dormant or without use for a long period of time.

Close Unused Programs: The more programs you have running on your laptop, the more battery will be consumed to process the programs. Close your emails while working on the spreadsheet applications. It’s better to shut down Wi-Fi when you don’t need it.

Use of DVD or CD drives: Minimize the use of DVD and CD drives. These drives consume huge amounts of power and put extra strain on the battery. The use of hard drive instead of DVD or CD drives is better. Try to minimize the use of these drives.

A well-ventilated area is better: Heat affect the lifespan of laptop’s battery. If you use your laptop mostly on your lap or on a pillow, use a cooling pad. Not using cooling pad blocks the heating vent and does not allow air to circulate freely. Batteries used in a well-ventilated area have a much longer lifespan than batteries used in hotter conditions.

Buy the most efficient laptop: Before buying a laptop do your research. Find out the lifespan of the laptop’s battery before buying. Laptops with efficient battery may be expensive but they will pay the costs in long run. Always buy the most efficient laptop you can afford.