Laptop battery best practices – Maximize the charge
When running your laptop on battery power, there are several easy steps you can follow to maximize the charge in your laptop’s battery. They are:
- Turn off the wireless radio when you’re not using a wireless connection – Just be sure to flip the switch on before you try to connect to a wireless network. The wireless radio switch can be found on the front or side of most laptops.
- Dim the brightness of your screen –While you shouldn’t work with a dimmed screen all the time, this is a great tip for extending your battery life in a pinch (this works for smart phones as well). You also can set the screen of your laptop to turn off when your machine is not in use. This is not the same as setting a screen saver, since most screen savers still require the screen’s backlight to remain on. This power-saving option can be found in the power options – found in the Control Panel.
- Avoid using the CD/DVD drive – Using CD/DVD drive requires a significant amount of energy.
To provide feedback or submit a technical topic/question you’d like to see addressed, please send e-mails to Matt.Jury@education.ky.gov.
Published 2/4/2011