Month: October 2022

While there are many great options for both Mac and PC fans on the market, no laptop is designed to last forever. If you’re experiencing power issues with your device, it may simply be due to its age. Don’t be surprised if you experience power issues. Generally, laptop batteries become problematic after 1-2 years or 300-400 charge cycles. If your laptop is older, your battery has likely been living on borrowed time and is ready to be replaced.

While the occasional glitch may not always signify battery issues, be sure to make a note of how often your laptop powers down on you. If your Mac or PC powers off unexpectedly, and especially after a recent charge, you can likely assume a faulty battery is the cause. Try charging your laptop again, but if the problem persists your battery may be out of juice permanently. This may be a sign instead that your battery needs to be replaced. A bad battery doesn’t hold charge for very long, and your computer will unexpectedly power off.

All laptops are designed to cool themselves during use and dispel excess heat. If you notice your laptop is hot to the touch, your battery is likely working too hard and unable to cool itself. Your battery is having to work harder to power applications. Often, an excessively hot laptop will also be noisy since the internal fans are working overtime to cool the gadget. This causes your computer to overheat, which can strain your computer. NOTE: Always unplug your laptop and stop use if the machine is overheating to avoid further damage.

One of the most obvious signs it may be time to reassess your laptop battery is if it dies much sooner than it used to. On average, expect a fully charged laptop battery to last six hours (depending on the programs used). But as the laptop battery ages, it doesn’t hold its charge for as long. If your laptop is barely making it past a couple hours, it’s likely a sign the battery needs replacing.

Nothing can put a damper on your laptop experience quite like a faulty battery. From trouble charging to overheating and more, there are a few tell-tale signs to look for when a malfunctioning battery is affecting your laptop’s performance.

Batteries make laptops such a versatile device but they will not last forever. Batteries are considered by most laptop manufacturers to be consumable items that wear out over time, and for a good reason. Every battery has a lifespan after which you have to replace it. Even batteries in storage typically lose 20-35% capacity per year. How a battery is used and maintained largely determines its lifetime. Even taking all precautions, a laptop battery will often decline faster than the laptop itself and need replacing.

There is a feature in both Windows and Mac OS where it notifies you when the laptop battery needs replacing. Click on the battery icon (Windows) or go to the Apple Menu (Mac) and see the current status of your laptop’s battery. You can also create a battery report on Windows with PowerShell or CMD.

Those with computer models with Windows 7 and up get a message saying, “consider replacing your battery.” But not all of us have this useful warning, in which case you’ll want to be on the lookout for these sure signs that battery replacement is needed.

This is a recent feature introduced by Microsoft. It allows you to regulate just how much of your battery power will be used. You can slide the bar to different settings.

I recommend you keep it on “battery saver” during downtime. And unless you are pushing your pc, keep it on balanced mode for most of the time.

Customize the Power and Sleep Settings
Sometimes we can forget to turn the laptop off and it keeps running in the background. This consumes a lot of power. To fix this, go to settings > systems > power & sleep. Here, you can customize your laptop’s power consumption when you are not using it.

You can set it so that it turns off after a certain period of inactivity. Other times, you can have the screen turn off to save you power.

Prevent Overheating
Overheating is a reliable way of damaging any PC hardware. So, ensure that there is proper ventilation for the heat inside the laptop to come out. If you can, clean the cooling fans and other parts periodically so that dust build-up does not happen. Excessive heat can damage your laptop’s battery. Avoid leaving it in the car during summer and test your laptop’s temperature while you work.

Open your task manager and you will find a lot of programs running that you do not need. These programs take up memory space and slow down your laptop. They also cause excessive use of power and you find yourself at zero percent charge in no time. So, close these apps before it does any harm.
Avoid working on multiple programs. While you might be tempted to work efficiently and multitask on your Excel sheets, Powerpoint and Adobe Photoshop, this can put a strain on your battery. Graphic intense applications drain batteries even faster. To increase lifespan, work simultaneously on one or two programs, max.

Disable unused devices and ports. External devices such as a mouse, Wi-Fi, external speakers and Bluetooth can drain your battery. When these are not in use, turn them off.

To extend your laptop’s battery life, change your power profile to Power Saver, lower the screen brightness, and turn off the keyboard backlighting. If you’re not using your laptop, turn it off, or set it to hibernate after a short period of inactivity.

Turn the Brightness Down
Reduce monitor brightness. A bright monitor will lap up your battery. Reduce screen brightness as much as possible without straining your eyes. There are two ways you can do this. First, keep the brightness level low unless you really need it.
Go to your settings and also turn off the keyboard lights. This will save you plenty of power and prolong your battery runtime.

Several different factors affect your laptop’s battery life, both temporarily and permanently. Here’s a look at the key factors.

Using the laptop. Using your laptop while it’s running on a battery charge is the main thing to affect your laptop’s battery life, both temporarily and potentially permanently, if you do so regularly. Your laptop battery can cope with a certain number of charge cycles before it starts to degrade.
Heat. When your laptop runs hot or is exposed to hot conditions, the battery runs down faster, and it can put all the laptop components under excessive strain. Try to avoid using your laptop in hot conditions.
Leaving your laptop unused for long periods. If you leave your laptop unused for a long time, such as weeks, it can affect the quality of the laptop’s battery life. It’s best to either fully drain the battery beforehand or leave it at 50% rather than fully charged before you put it into storage.