As a laptop user, you want your laptop battery to last as long as it can. You know that it’s a better investment. It is frustrating when your laptop battery dies in the middle of using it. You may ask why laptop battery life has gotten so bad. There are a few reasons why laptop battery life has decreased. This blog post will discuss why your laptop battery life may have decreased and what you can do to make it last longer.
Reasons why Laptop Battery Life Decreased
The power supply runs out too fast
If your laptop power supply is losing charge quickly, it might be that the battery doesn’t hold its head like before. You can solve this by buying an external charger or replacing the battery inside the phone/laptop.
Many laptops have removable batteries, allowing you to easily replace them with another battery. I recommend replacing the battery instead because it will give you more years than just an external charger.
If your laptop’s power supply runs out too fast, many people recommend getting a power bank. It is a little device that stores electricity so you can charge your phone/laptop when it runs out. These are also very inexpensive and last longer than an external charger would.
Windows updates are not good for laptop battery life
Microsoft’s new update pack, “Anniversary Update,” has people freaking out about their computers because of how much the update saps the battery life. Some people have reported up to 20+ percent decrease in battery life – recommend rolling back your computer to a previous version of windows (10) if you updated, and this bothers you because so far, other than taking long to log on after updating, it’s been alright for me.
If this is too much of a hassle for you or the battery life decrease on updating isn’t that big, I recommend disabling Windows Updates until they are better.
Chrome updates are not good for laptop battery life
This one is very similar to problem 2 in that everything I said about Microsoft’s Anniversary update can be used here. The only difference is that Google updates its apps more than once a month, so the effects of all these would start impacting your laptop’s performance after a while.
You’ve probably seen videos of people saying, “I uninstalled chrome, and my computer works fine now,” but this isn’t always because of the chrome update. It’s due to viruses or other software problems; it’s because they didn’t remove google’s account before uninstalling Chrome; sometimes it’s both.
Uninstalling Chrome doesn’t work for everyone, especially if you use the app. If you don’t like Chrome for whatever reason, go ahead and download Firefox (it might not be as good as Chrome, but it’s much better than IE) or replace it with another alternative web browser instead.
Screen brightness is badly affecting battery life
When watching a movie on your laptop, if you turn down/off the brightness to zero, that means that nothing emits light from your screen. It makes sense because it has to have a light source to get to your eyes.
So basically, what I’m saying is that this will improve battery life dramatically because it’s forcing your screen to stay off! Dark colors emit less light than light colors in other news, so make sure you use a dark background.
Tip to increase battery life span for laptop
Users (since these tips are mostly for Windows users, I recommend you use the rest of them at your own risk because, hey, this is how technology works.
- Make sure not to update your computer unless it’s critical or you want an excuse to buy a new one. Also, consider creating restore points before updating if you don’t feel like dealing with any potential issues that may arise after updating.
- Delete unnecessary files. If you think about it, even if it takes hours for suitcases full of clothes to fill up an airplane’s storage space, it would only take a few seconds for a file to fill up your laptop’s storage space. It is because, unlike the plane, you probably have more than one suitcase full of clothes.
- Don’t let your computer sleep unless necessary. Sleep mode is only used when you don’t use your computer for a long time or when it’s just not anymore (like after shutting down). If you’re not planning on using your laptop for a while, then, by all means, let it sleep but if you are, make sure to leave it running.
- Use antivirus software or Windows built-in antivirus (windows defender). I know some people don’t like paying money every year for something they can get free, but if your laptop’s battery life decreases even after trying all the other tips in this post, then maybe it’s time to change that.
Keep in mind that windows defender doesn’t constantly run, so it won’t affect your battery life unless you’re transferring/downloading large files during that time.
Another thing about free vs. paid options is that you get no real-time protection with windows defender. It means that viruses can harm your computer while you’re using it, but with paid antivirus software, they’re being scanned in real-time, so it’s the equivalent of killing the virus before it even gets to your doorstep.
- Watch videos on battery saver mode (if you know how long you can go on, try this out). If your laptop already has a built-in power option for videos, make sure to use it if you want to save some juice.
- I know having dark screens sucks, but if it’s not too hard to watch movies like that, please do because battery life is obviously pretty important (and also, many people don’t need super high brightness when watching videos on their laptops).
- Update your drivers for your hardware (if not installed). If you got an SSD, make sure to get the latest driver available. I’m not entirely sure if this works, but you can try updating graphics card drivers (however, if you don’t know how to do it, then please don’t try or get someone who knows how too, because I would assume that messing up with graphics card drivers isn’t the best idea unless it’s critical).
Conclusion
Suppose you followed all the steps in this post (or at least tried to), then congratulations because your battery life should be improved by at least an hour or two. If it isn’t, I would suggest getting a new battery for your laptop (if possible) because sometimes it’s just how laptops are made (especially gaming laptops).
I hope this guide helps people with their problems and if you have anything that needs improving, please leave it in the comments below! Thanks for reading, everyone.
FAQS
How do you get into battery saver mode?
In Windows 10, you can usually press the print sc button and then type in power to go to power options. From there, click on change plan settings next to the lower right corner battery icon. There should be another window to press battery saver or maximum processor state buttons.
What are good laptops for gaming that have long battery life?
Alienware series are known for their great cooling system. Still, they also make laptops with the best possible hardware (in my personal opinion) that will not completely drain your laptop’s battery as fast as others would because of their unique cooling systems). However, these laptops come at a high price, but I would suggest getting one because their cooling system is truly unbeatable if it’s within your budget.
How do I update drivers?
Usually by going to the device manager and finding the right thing (it could be any of these three things: Graphics card, storage controller, or other drivers).
