10 Ways to Prolong Laptop Battery Duration Time

Laptop is no longer a great invention if it requires frequent charging. So how do you max out the performance and duration of your laptop battery without buying a back up battery? LaptopTraveller is going to share with you these 10 ways.

1. Optimize your power option: Make sure you set the 'Power Options' in the windows control panel to "Portable/Laptop" or "Max Battery", depending on your battery condition. Window will automatically optimize power usage for you.
2. Keep operating temperature down: Laptop generally operates more efficiently when it's cooler. Clean out air vents and screen with a cloth or kleenex. You should also make sure leave space around for adequate venting when you're working on it.
3. Maintain the cleanness of battery contacts: Clean the metal contacts of your battery and laptop every once a while with an alcohol-moistened cloth. This will maintain the optimal efficiency of power transfer.
4. Dim your screen: LCD screen takes a lot of power. Therefore, cut down the screen lighting level to the lowest that's acceptable to you. You should also remember not to operate the laptop at overly-lit environment, which forces you to turn up screen lighting to achieve proper contrast.
5. Take care of your battery: Do not leave a charged battery unused for a long period. Once charged, you should use the battery at least once every two or three weeks. Battery needs to be exercised. For Li-ion battery, although it does not suffer from memory effect, do not let it completely discharge as that will cause irreversible damage.
6. Prevent the Memory Effect: If you're using a very old laptop that uses Ni-Cd battery, you'll want to prevent the 'memory effect' - Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it once every two to three weeks.
7. Shut down unused background programs: AIM, Skype, Desktop Search, etc. These programs add workload to CPU and cut down battery duration, even when you are not on them. Shut down those programs when you're on battery.
8. Add more RAM: Rather than relying on virtual memory, more RAM allows you to process more without using hard drive, which is less power efficient. Note this is only applicable when you frequently need to run memory intensive programs as adding more RAM also increases power consumption.
9. Defrag frequently: The more efficiently your hard drive does the work, the less power it drains from your battery. Therefore, you should clean up your hard drive regularly by defragging it. (and of course not while it's on battery!) Mac is already very efficient at handling fragmentation so it may not be that applicable.
10. Hibernate, not standby: Although standby mode saves power and allows you to resume instantly, it doesn't save as much power as the hibernate function. By enabling "hibernation" at 'Power Options' in the windows control panel, Windows can automatically put your computer into Hibernate mode after a specified period of inactivity. Or it can detect when your batteries are running low, and then automatically put your computer in Hibernate mode to save your work before the battery fails.