Save on electricity and get the most out of your laptop when you aren't plugged in. Here are ten steps to make your laptop's battery last longer.
#Step 1 Dim your screen
For most laptops dimming is a button on the top row that looks like a sun with a down arrow. Press it repeatedly to reach the dimmest screen setting you can still function with.
#Step 2 Turn off programs running in the back ground that you aren't using
Programs like Itunes, chat programs, Windows Customer Experience Center. All of these take laptop battery life to run, you can extend your battery juice a little bit farther by turning them off. You can even go so far as to set them up not to auto start. This will also decrease the amount of time it takes to start up your computer. If you use an email program like gmail or yahoo you can choose to turn off the chat functions and run on the html setting. You will need to manually refresh to see updates, but you will use a lot less energy.
#Step 3 Run off a hard drive or jump drive rather than a CD or DVD
CDs and DVDs need to spin to function. Spinning takes energy. Hard drives and jump drives don't spin.
#Step 4 Turn your computer off or to hibernate mode
A "sleeping" computer or a computer on standby is still using quite a bit of energy so that it can start up quickly right were you left off. To conserve the most energy turn it all the way off or set it to hibernate.
#Step 5 Optimize your power settings
Most laptops have a power setting option. Click on the battery icon on your desktop (mine's in the lower left corner) and you should get the option for several power modes. Choose the one that is called "power saver" or something similar. Some laptops will automatically switch when they aren't plugged in.
#Step 6 Don't use sound
Turn the sound off on your computer – it takes up to seven times more energy to play sound than just use the screen of your laptop. If you must have sound, use your headphones. They take far less energy.
#Step 7 Don't have multiple programs running
When you are working off your battery use only one program at a time. Email that refreshes itself constantly can be a big drain on the battery, so close it when you aren't using it directly.
#Step 8 Keep your temperatures down
A hot computer is an inefficient computer. Use the canned designed to clean electronics to clean out the vents. They are often on the bottom of your laptop. Also if you are using your laptop on a soft surface like a pillow you maybe blocking those vents and your computer isn't cooling properly. Get a laptop board or a large notebook to set your computer on instead.
#Step 9 Defrag your hard drive
You can have a more efficient computer not just in how fast it can do the tasks you give it but in the energy it uses by simply defragging it. Apples tend to not need as much defragging as PCs.
#Step 10 Get a new battery or new computer
Older batteries tend to not hold charge as well. If you have had your battery or used it a lot you may benefit from a new one. There are also lots of new laptops out there that are super efficient. Many are built specifically for use on laptop battery alone. If you will be working often without a power source make it a priority in your next computer.
