How to increase battery backup of a Laptop
Reducing battery charge of a laptop is
quite obvious problem every laptop user has to face. Increasing your laptop
battery backup really gives you work freedom irrespective of the place you are
using the laptop. The battery backup can be increased by avoiding some
nonstandard habits.
In fact, you can configure your laptop for use at library, on a plane, at work and so on. Various
profiles will provide a unique set of energy saving settings for each scenario.
You can extend your overall battery life if you apply some of
the following :
·
Avoid the usage of CD-ROM
/ DVD drive.
It seems quite obvious. But the truth is that, CD-ROM/ DVD
drives require more charge compared to USB devices. So it will eat up your
battery charge . One way to decrease battery discharge is to go for CD/ DVD
only when it is necessary. Make an habit of storing it in your hard disk and
not in an external device. As an alternative, you can make use of a virtual
optical drives by using software such as Alcohol 120%.
·
Disable wireless card/ Bluetooth adapter.
Even if you don’t use external device but prefer to use your
bluetooth adapter, but has an habit of enabling bluetooth adapter and wireless
cards, know that it is another charge eating habit. Don’t forget to disable
wireless card and bluetooth button. Most notebooks will include a shortcut on
the chassis to apply this function. This can tremendously reduce battery
consumption.
·
Stop cooling
functionality
is another problem if you are overworking by making use of a
laptop cooling pad. Apparently, it would be better to avoid dusty surfaces or
propping your notebook up against a soft surface such as a blanket or pillow.
This will largely affect your cooling functionality to work harder. Use a nice
pad while using your laptop and make an habit of keep using it whenever it is
necessary.
·
Disable unused ports.
Another nice habit one should have, to increasing battery life
is to disable unused ports. The unused ports includes but not limited to USB,
VGA, SmartCard and PCMCIA ports. If you are a windows user you can make use of
Windows Device Manager, found in the Control Panel.
· Run a defragmentation on
your hard disk drive.
Running a defrag on your hard disk drive will greately help you
to reduce the work load of your hard drive and quite obviously you would not
have to work harder the more fragmented it becomes. This measure can save your
battery life by running out easily.
·
Hardware profiles
In addition, you can configure hardware profiles by using your
notebook software that comes in bundle with Windows. Since the advent of
Windows XP, Microsoft has removed the Hardware Profiles feature from their
operating system. If your notebook software doesn’t provide this feature,
simply set your screen saver to display a blank screen as an alternative.
· Decrease Display
Brightness
Display brightness is one of the important thing you must
concentrate on, if you really give importance for your laptop battery backup,
Decreasing your laptop display brightness will enhance your battery backup by
30-60% sometimes.
