Wireless laptop computers are my favorite all time gadget. Sure I love my blackberry with its internet and email capabilities, but give me the big screen on my laptop any day. The only real complaint I have is that I often cannot go wireless as I need to plug in to recharge my battery. And I am not alone in this complaint.
Statistics say that the current average battery life for a rechargeable laptop battery life is 78 minutes. So after an hour, you need to start hunting for an outlet or you need to shut things down. This can be inconvenient to say the least. An hour is not very much time at all.
And of course, that 78 minutes is dependent upon what you are doing with that computer. If you are playing games or watching a movie, look out. Your battery life will be even less. Wireless internet modems drain your battery live by as much as 20%. So does that mean I need to rely on my blackberry for internet access? Hell no. There are a few things I can do (and you can too) to extend my battery life.
First, it is a good idea to keep your monitor as dim as you can. Brightness is one of the easiest things to adjust on your laptop. If your are outside during the day, you will need to have the brightness up pretty high to compete with the sun. However, if you are working indoors, you can usually adjust downward. You can also lower the resolution of your screen and limit your use of graphics.
External devices are another huge drain on battery power. Use your touchpad instead of a USB mouse. Any peripheral device will drain your battery power and it is never a good idea to charge your devices through your laptop when your laptop is on battery power.
Another thing to keep in mind is that multi-tasking uses more battery power than simply doing one thing at a time. Background programs also eat up battery power, so you should shut down anything that may be active in the background.
Save the gaming for sometime when you are near an outlet. Use your battery to do things like check email and use your basic programs such as a word processing or spreadsheet program, and always one at a time if you can do so. If you are using programs that have auto-save enabled, turn this off. Just make sure to save regularly, or you may lose your work if your battery shuts down.
Hibernate is a better option than standby if you are trying to preserve battery power. Newer computers also have options in the control panel which allow you to maximize your battery (max battery option).
Finally, if none of these things results in any real gain, or if you simply cannot stand it any longer, it may be time to consider a new laptop. Longer battery life is one of the key selling points today and some laptops promise as much as seven hours of cord-free time.
Statistics say that the current average battery life for a rechargeable laptop battery life is 78 minutes. So after an hour, you need to start hunting for an outlet or you need to shut things down. This can be inconvenient to say the least. An hour is not very much time at all.
And of course, that 78 minutes is dependent upon what you are doing with that computer. If you are playing games or watching a movie, look out. Your battery life will be even less. Wireless internet modems drain your battery live by as much as 20%. So does that mean I need to rely on my blackberry for internet access? Hell no. There are a few things I can do (and you can too) to extend my battery life.
First, it is a good idea to keep your monitor as dim as you can. Brightness is one of the easiest things to adjust on your laptop. If your are outside during the day, you will need to have the brightness up pretty high to compete with the sun. However, if you are working indoors, you can usually adjust downward. You can also lower the resolution of your screen and limit your use of graphics.
External devices are another huge drain on battery power. Use your touchpad instead of a USB mouse. Any peripheral device will drain your battery power and it is never a good idea to charge your devices through your laptop when your laptop is on battery power.
Another thing to keep in mind is that multi-tasking uses more battery power than simply doing one thing at a time. Background programs also eat up battery power, so you should shut down anything that may be active in the background.
Save the gaming for sometime when you are near an outlet. Use your battery to do things like check email and use your basic programs such as a word processing or spreadsheet program, and always one at a time if you can do so. If you are using programs that have auto-save enabled, turn this off. Just make sure to save regularly, or you may lose your work if your battery shuts down.
Hibernate is a better option than standby if you are trying to preserve battery power. Newer computers also have options in the control panel which allow you to maximize your battery (max battery option).
Finally, if none of these things results in any real gain, or if you simply cannot stand it any longer, it may be time to consider a new laptop. Longer battery life is one of the key selling points today and some laptops promise as much as seven hours of cord-free time.
About the Author:
Stephen Almanson, who has been writing about computers for more than thirty years, has created a guide which explains in detail how you can locate reconditioned laptop computers and used laptops under $200. You can find this, and other information about how to get the cheapest notebooks at his site.
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