When working on the go, it is crucial to keep your laptop fully powered and working at its best. If you spend hours on the road, you will be amazed at how quickly the battery life will drain on your business laptop. Luckily, there are several small and simple things you can do on your laptop to extend its battery life. These are just small tasks that, if done frequently and correctly, will give you a noticeable difference in the battery life of your business laptop.
Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory. Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.
Lower the Lights and Volume :You may not realize how much battery life your display screen uses to stay bright and vibrant. The more you lower the brightness of your display screen, the more battery life you are adding to your business laptop. You are not only saving yourself battery life , but also helping your eyes and preventing headaches. In addition, lowering your computer's volume when not in use will help you save a little battery life. You can simply mute the computer or just lower the sound. This will not save a large amount of battery life, but it will make a small difference.
Take care of your battery – Exercise the Battery. Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)
Remove External Devices: Unplug any unused flash drives, external hard drives, iPods or card readers from your laptop. Laptops are especially useful in charging devices such as iPods or even cell phones, but unless charging a device is truly necessary, you will use up more battery power on your laptop and be without a running computer. This rule also applies to your optical drive. Make sure there are no CDs or DVDs being stored in the drive. When your drive spins, it sucks your battery. If it is spinning for no necessary reason, you are losing a significant amount of battery life. In addition, turn off your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when they are not in use. These items are working while the computer is running and, consequently, use up unwanted power. Simply make it a rule of thumb that if an item is not being used, turn it off or remove it.
Don’t multitask – Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery. Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3′s, set your mind to one thing only. If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!
Use the power management settings on your computer that come built in. On Windows XP, click "Power Options" in your control panel. On a Mac, look for "Energy Saver" in System Preferences.
Defrag Your Hard Drive: Not only will regularly defragging your hard drive make your computer run faster and better, but it will also extend your battery life. When your computer has been defragged, the hard drive does not have to work as hard. With this easier load on the hard drive, the battery also does not have to work as hard.
Hibernate: Putting your computer on hibernate instead of sleep or standby will save a significant amount of power. Both the sleep and standby modes will save you a little battery life, but they still continue to drain your battery. Putting your business laptop on hibernate is particularly important if you know you are not using your computer for a significant amount of time.
Regulate the Temperature: The hotter your computer is, the faster your battery will drain. The temperature can increase if you use your computer for an extended period of time or if it is placed in a heated environment. To protect your laptop from the heat, regularly check the exterior of the computer to see if it is too hot. Do not place your laptop on blankets, pillows, your lap or any type of soft surface while using it, and never leave your laptop in a hot car or outside in the sun. These are just but a few tips to give your battery a long there others.Please do share if happen to have other ways.
