Here are some quick tips to help keep your battery functioning properly in your laptops:
- When using your laptop battery avoid using your laptop on your lap. So why do they call it a LAPTOP!? Occasional use on your lap is fine for short periods of time, but on many laptops, your lap will block the vents that keep the laptop cool. This damages the battery over time.
- Try not to let your battery completely run out. The dated notion that it is good to completely discharge the battery occasionally does not apply to laptops created in the last 10 years. Modern laptops stop charging at 100% so keep it plugged in when you can.
- Set up your battery saver mode to kick in at 20-30%. This will give you plenty of time to operate the laptop in battery saver without risking a total discharge.
- When using your laptop on battery, limit the number of high-processor applications running. Some of our most power-hungry apps are Google Chrome, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Edge, and Zoom. If you are using one of these while on battery, consider closing the others.
- When using your laptop on battery, lower the brightness of the screen to the lowest level that you can. The screen backlight is a major power drain.
- Laptops are a little more effort to maintain than desktops because of the batteries, but being mindful of the power being consumed will help to keep your battery charging strong and reliable.