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  • You're working on something important when out of nowhere comes the “” notification.

  • You speed up, andthe screen goes black.

  • You didn't finish and can only hope it saved the progress.

  • Sounds like you could use some ways to make your laptop battery last longer!

  • 1.

  • Play with power settings This is likely what youll try first, so

  • let’s get the obvious out of the way.

  • You can turn on the Energy Saver (for Mac) or Power Saver (for Windows) mode in your

  • settings.

  • It lets you choose when the display will go off whenever youre inactive.

  • The sooner it happens, the more battery you'll save.

  • 2.

  • Turn down the lights Your laptop screen, or rather its backlight,

  • is one of the hungriest energy eaters in the whole system.

  • Dim the screen brightness to win an extra 30 minutes of productivity a day.

  • You can usually do it easily using one of the F keys.

  • Adjust it to the dimmest you can go without straining your eyes.

  • 3.

  • Change the background I know, I know, a beach picture as your wallpaper

  • can warm up your heart on cold days.

  • But its vibrancy comes at a cost, and that cost is your battery.

  • Opt for something darker, it could even be a solid color screen.

  • For the same reasons, get rid of the screensaver.

  • 4.

  • Turn off the computer before going to bed Just slamming your laptop closed isn't enough.

  • When you fully turn it off, it clears applications and any extra info it stocked up throughout

  • the day.

  • So, it wakes up the next morning fresh and energized and ready for a new start.

  • 5.

  • Hibernate rather than Sleep If youre choosing between the two, opt

  • for hibernation mode.

  • When your laptop is in sleep mode, it’s still actively using its memory and draining

  • the battery.

  • Before going into hibernation, it saves the current state of things and goes off completely.

  • And it’s better if you activate that mode before the battery is completely drained.

  • 6.

  • Clear the junk When you free up your hard drive, youre

  • making the whole system more productive.

  • The fuller the hard drive, the slower your laptop is and the shorter your battery life.

  • Make it a habit to get rid of junk and caches every now and then.

  • 7.

  • Disable Spotlight search It helps you find whatever you need in seconds,

  • but to stay that great, it’s constantly updating its search index.

  • If you don’t need to use it all the time, you can deactivate it in System Preferences

  • to save some battery and turn it back on whenever you want.

  • 8.

  • Keep it cool When it's too hot or too cold, your laptop

  • can’t work as efficiently, so it wastes energy.

  • It does better in cooler air than the heat, as long as it’s not freezing cold.

  • As for the heat, your computer always needs access to fresh air through the vents.

  • If youre holding it on your lap working in bed, youre blocking that cooling air.

  • And don’t leave it in the car on a hot day, in direct sunlight in the room, or near heaters.

  • 9.

  • Go incognito When you're browsing the Internet as yourself,

  • you get a lot of auto-fill suggestions so that you don't have to type in your username

  • and password for every site.

  • But this function is using extra energy, so going incognito or using a private window

  • can help you save up some of it.

  • 10.

  • Don’t keep it plugged in all the time Any laptop can handle a certain number of

  • charge cycles in its lifetime, typically around 500.

  • A cycle is completed when you go from 0 to 100%.

  • When you go from 50% to 100, it counts as a half cycle.

  • The more cycles your battery has gone through, the less efficient it becomes.

  • The best you can do is keep it somewhere between 50 and 80%.

  • You can, for example, charge it in the morning and then unplug it for the rest of the day.

  • 11.

  • Plug it in before it goes off It might sound like the opposite of the previous

  • tip, but it only means you shouldn’t let the battery drain completely.

  • Plug it in when it has at least 20% charge to avoid extra strain on the battery.

  • By the way, are you one of those people who mostly keep the laptop plugged in, or do you

  • wait till the last moment to charge it?

  • Let me know in the comments below, along with any other of these no-no’s youre guilty

  • of!

  • 12.

  • Unplug any unused peripherals USB sticks, an external hard drive, webcam,

  • wireless mouse, external keyboard, and other peripherals are all powered by your motherboard.

  • Even when you aren’t using them, they take away precious energy.

  • So unplug them, and also mute your speakers when you aren’t listening to music.

  • And turn off that keyboard backlight if you have it.

  • 13.

  • Switch off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth These two are constantly looking for connection

  • opportunities, and this curiosity costs you a good deal of battery juice.

  • If you don't need connectivity at the moment, just deactivate both.

  • 14.

  • Shut down the biggest power-eaters Check what apps run in the background and

  • consume the most power, even when you aren’t using them.

  • You can do it in the Users & Groups and Login Items tab on your Mac.

  • On a Windows laptop, type "see which apps are affecting your battery life" into the

  • Windows search bar.

  • See if you really need them at all and if not, delete them.

  • And make sure you exit out of all apps you aren’t using.

  • 15.

  • Turn off auto app updates Change your settings to leave all the updates

  • for when you're plugged in.

  • Larger apps have heavy updates, and installing them while running on the battery will eat

  • a huge chunk of it.

  • 16.

  • Turn off notifications Your email and your social networking accounts

  • love your attention, and they use notifications to grab it.

  • Even when you don’t have them open, your laptop is refreshing data to keep you updated.

  • You can change that in the settings and save some extra battery for more important things.

  • 17.

  • Keep your OS up-to-date Updates are designed to make your laptop more

  • productive.

  • The patches they include can fix bugs that were the real battery drainers.

  • Whenever youre plugged into a power outlet, update your system if there’s a chance.

  • 18.

  • Focus on one thing When you have 20 tabs and cloud storage open,

  • youre editing photos, listening to music, and running some more programs simultaneously,

  • your laptop is really struggling.

  • Its RAM (that's random access memory) can't handle it, so it calls upon the hard disk

  • for help.

  • And that’s a big power drainer.

  • To help yourself focus on just one thing, get rid of the temptations by enabling airplane

  • mode.

  • It cuts off wireless connections as well as stops background apps and processes.

  • 19.

  • Upgrade HDD to SSD A solid-state drive runs on flash memory that

  • takes less battery to function than a usual hard drive.

  • Plus, it makes your laptop fasteryou'll use less time and battery doing your regular

  • things compared to a computer running on HDD.

  • Win-win!

  • 20.

  • Disable some graphics Make sure only games and apps that really

  • need super graphics, like photo and video editing apps, can use a powerful graphics

  • processor.

  • You can disable graphics accelerators in energy-saving settings.

  • 21.

  • Keep it clean Remember that your laptop needs access to

  • fresh circulating air?

  • Well, keep those fans clean and dust-free.

  • When theyre blocked, your computer heats up in no time, and that becomes a real problem

  • for the battery.

  • 22.

  • Use the original adapter Even a small mismatch in wattage can overload

  • and damage both the laptop and the battery.

  • Go for the original adapter or pick the replacement carefully.

  • Check if all the specifications are correct to avoid problems.

  • 23.

  • Monitor your battery’s health and replace it when needed

  • No battery is designed to last forever, and you can check how long yours is still good

  • for.

  • That information is in the Power tab of the System Information app on your Mac.

  • A “Replace NoworService Batterynote is a call for action.

  • You can also do it on a Windows laptop in the Command Prompt window.

  • 24.

  • Carry a backup An external battery pack will be your guarantee

  • you won’t lose any important data or get stuck without a laptop when you need it.

  • Some computers have removable batteries or let you add a second one.

  • For others, you can just buy a universal laptop battery with a choice of connectors.

  • The external battery can feed the internal one or power up the laptop itself.

  • If you learned something new or helpful today, then give the video a like and share it with

  • a friend!

  • And here are some other cool videos I think you'll enjoy.

  • Just click to the left or right, and stay on the Bright Side of life!

You're working on something important when out of nowhere comes the “” notification.

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