What’s worse than waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic? Being exposed to or contracting the virus is an obvious first. But a close second for many people is their laptop running out of juice. Let’s face it, everyone’s spending a lot more time on their screens than usual. And you can’t really blame them. With no gyms, restaurants, bars, or clubs open, people are making the most of their situation with Spectrum packages and laptop computers. We use our laptops to work remotely, learn, socialize, and even entertain ourselves. But all this extra usage is bound to have an effect on the power bank. This blog explores how to make it last longer.
Tips To Extend Battery Life
If you own a brand new spanking Macbook or Alienware, you likely won’t have problems with your power bank for a while. But these tips can help you keep your device that way for longer than you thought possible. With a few changes to how you use it, you can extend your laptop battery far beyond what you’d normally expect. Here are some simple, easy-to-follow tips you can use to get started:
- Use Battery Saver Mode When Not Charging
- Unplug Idle Webcams or External Drives
- Don’t Wait for Your Battery to Die Before Charging
- Keep Your Device Away from Extreme Temperatures
- Avoid Keeping Your Laptop Plugged on Charge
- Upgrade Your RAM
- Dim Your Screen Brightness Settings
- Invest in a Solid State Drive
Let’s take a closer look at these below.
Use Battery Saver Mode When Not Charging
Most laptops that run a Windows OS have a Battery Saver mode. When you’re not connected to the charger, Windows will display a small icon in the taskbar. Clicking on it will give you the option to turn on this mode. It reduces performance for high-powered tasks such as editing high-res images or videos or playing graphics-intensive games. Reduced performance plays a huge part in extending the power you have left in the bank.
Unplug Idle Webcams or External Drives
Peripheral devices like webcams, external hard drives, and even charging devices via USB all consume power. If you aren’t using these devices all the time, you might want to unplug them when they are idle. That way, they won’t be consuming extra power from your already limited source.
Don’t Wait for Your Battery to Die Before Charging
Too many people wait until the last second to charge their laptops. Everyone has done a mad scramble for the power cable when the “Low Power” warning comes on. What many don’t realize is that you’re not supposed to let the charge drop below 20%. That’s because extremely low charges affect the health of the power bank, rendering a shorter life over a period of time.
Keep Your Device Away from Extreme Temperatures
Wherever possible, you should avoid exposing your machine to extremely high or low temperatures. Most computers have to work harder at regulating temperature under extreme conditions. This will cause an abnormal power drain. It will also impact the laptop’s useful life.
Avoid Keeping Your Laptop Plugged on Charge
The exact opposite of never charging your laptop is charging your laptop all the time. It’s really not helpful in any way unless your power bank has an extremely short life. However, certain modern machines come with a smart charging option, so you can safely leave them plugged in.
Upgrade Your RAM
Not having enough RAM doesn’t just mean your machine is slower. It also means that the hard disk drive has to work harder to find information. This extra work will drain power significantly. But its also something you can easily fix with more RAM in your computer.
Dim Your Screen Brightness Settings
Screen brightness is often one of the biggest culprits behind drained power. A laptop screen consists of tiny pixels, each of which consumes power. The brighter your screen setting is, the more power these pixels will consume. For longlasting power, try reducing the brightness levels to as low as you comfortably can.
Invest in a Solid State Drive
A solid-state drive or SSD is a bit pricier even a high-end hard disk drive. Unlike an HDD, an SSD uses flash memory instead of a rotating mechanical disc. That means it allows your computer to access information much faster while using less power.
