Your Laptop Is Not Working As Well As It Could Be And Here's Why

One of the biggest pros of having and working from a laptop is that you can use it anywhere. You don’t need to have it plugged into the wall like a PC which can provide so much additional flexibility.

 

When you first buy your laptop, the battery will be in its absolute prime, lasting as long as the ads say it will. Unfortunately, the lifespan can get shorter as time goes by and the health of the battery declines. This can happen due to a lack of maintenance, or other times it's due to the environments the laptop is in (such as a hot car).

 

Seeing your laptop’s battery health decline can be frustrating and damage the freedom you used to have. Fortunately, there are multiple things you can do to increase the time you can go without needing a power source.

 

This may seem simple but I had to include it on this list. The brighter your display is, the more battery power it’s taking. You'll know this if you've ever hit the automated low battery mode on a laptop. What does it do? It immediately lowers the brightness brightness. It's one of the easiest ways to reduce battery consumption.

 

You can change the brightness of your screen in the display settings. Alternatively, you can use the brightness keys that are usually in the top row of your keyboard.

 

The second point is just as easy as the first. Simply optimise some of the power and sleep settings.

 

If you’re using Windows, you can do this by opening the search on the Task Bar. Type in “power settings." You'll then go to the power, sleep, and battery settings in your system settings.

 

Look for any tips and suggestions at the top for increasing battery life. One example is making the time your screen goes dark after inactivity and the time it goes to sleep the same.

 

You can then review the settings, such as Screen and sleep, and Power mode. Play around and find the ones that will reduce the battery consumption. 

 

You don’t have to wait until your PC hits 10% for it to go into battery-saver mode. You can control this and enable it yourself in your system settings.

 

Do you know you’re going to be without a power source for a while? Put your PC in power-saver or battery-saver mode right away, so you can extend the charge as long as possible.

 

Manufacturers have their own PC maintenance tools installed which you can use for battery calibration. This act alone can correct an issue with battery life.

 

To look for a manufacturer’s built-in maintenance app start with checking the Task Bar. It'll be there, unless you’ve hidden it. When you open that, you may find that you need to do a calibration or other maintenance task.

 

If you have processes and apps running in the background it can sap your battery life pretty fast. Processes that aren't needed can often run without your consent. The easiest way to fix this is by getting a computer tune-up from your IT provider which can solve a lot of different issues. The common symptoms to look for is your laptop being sluggish, and more often than not, that's paired with a poor battery life.

 

If, like most people, you keep a lot of browser tabs open while you’re working, this could be the reason your battery is draining fast.

 

Consider trying Microsoft’s Edge browser. It has been rising in popularity ever since it incorporated the Chromium engine. That's the same engine Chrome uses.

 

Edge has several power-saving features that you can turn on in the settings. Simply search “sleeping tabs” in the settings to find them.

They include:

Enable efficiency mode (choose from the available options)

Enable Sleeping Tabs and fade them when asleep

Choose when you would like to put inactive browser tabs to sleep to conserve battery power.

 

If you open the Task Manager and look at everything running, ask yourself; Do you really need them all to run when you’re unplugged and trying to conserve the battery?

 

Often processes that are not needed all the time are running, these can be an update service or a cloud storage syncing app. The tip here is to close the apps you don’t need to use at that time and notice an instant improvement.

 

Excess heat and freezing temperatures are pretty bad for a laptop (or any piece of technology for that matter). The consequence is the reduction in battery life.

 

Never leave your laptop in a car on a hot day or when it’s freezing outside. It might not seem hot to you, but if it’s sunny, the heat and UV rays will still penetrate the vehicle and can heat it up rapidly. Be aware of the temperature extremes that your laptop is subject to.

 

We're proudly tech nerds and can help you with a full system tune-up or a laptop battery replacement if needed. Don’t struggle and lose productivity with a short battery life when you can have that fixed in no time and get that freedom back! Give us a call today and let’s chat.