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Step 1
The main thing on your pc that sucks up power faster than anything else is your hard drive. Basically the harder it works the more juice it requires. Try to not tax it by running only one application at at time in addition you can go to the bottom right hand corner of your task bar where the time is right click and go to Task maanger to kill functions that you don't need running in the background. If you don't know what the function does google it and see if its safe to stop.
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Step 2
The second battery drain is your CD or DVD drive. If your on battery power try not to use this device as it sucks up much needed power. Rule of thumb anything that has moving parts like your hard drive or CD/DVD drive will suck up power.
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Step 3
Hibernate versus standby. Set your laptop to hibernate instead of standby. The reason for this is because standby keeps your hard drive on so that you can resume where you left off when you close the pesky little thing, where as hibernate will turn off the hard drive and any energy sucking devices temporarily while it sleeps. The only drawback is waiting for it to wake up. If you need battery life keep it in this mode.
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Step 4
Consider buying a laptop that has a solid state hard drive. Some of the newer Macs run solid state and can have upwards of 6 to 7 hours of batter life. The reason for it is because the solid state drive is like a huge usb thumb drive that doesn't has moving parts, which equals less power and more efficiency. Eventually all devices will go that route.
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Step 5
Last but not least dim your monitor. As with all devices that use a back light the brighter the screen the more battery power it needs.
Comments
jennen said
on 1/17/2009 This is really good info... thank you
kirted said
on 1/3/2009 Great article exactly the information I was seeking.
dsarokin said
on 12/7/2008 Thanks. The battery is always a major frustration with laptops, and these are great tips for getting more mileage out of them.
FireNFusion said
on 12/7/2008 I was just thinking of replacing my laptop. After reading your article, I think I'll go with a MAC this time just because of the extra battery time. Thanks for the information!