Tips for optimizing your laptop's power source

Currently, laptops have become popular. The laptop self-assembly movement is booming everywhere. Therefore, to own a laptop suitable for their abilities is not so difficult as before. However, during use, users often wonder: How long will the battery for my laptop last? How to save maximum energy? .

For most people, the same answer seems to be insufficient. In fact, there are many ways to help your laptop battery last longer. Here are tips to help optimize your laptop's power source:

Effective power management

Using power management software in a laptop can save a lot of energy and extend battery life. If the device has built-in own power management profiles, select the profiles that best suits your needs. If the laptop does not support, the power management programs of software vendors are also very good, but using the Power Options utility available in Windows is also the perfect choice.

Choose the right source mode to suit your work. Click Start-> Control Panel-> Performance and Maintenance-> Power Options . In Power Schemes , select Max Battery and click OK . This option will turn off the screen after 1 minute and bring your laptop to standby mode (standby) after 2 minutes of no use. If it is not appropriate, switch to Portable / Laptop option, this option will return to standby after 5 minutes.

Quick rest

Most PCs have hibernate and standby (Suspend or Standby). Look for the accompanying materials to learn more. Windows XP standby mode will temporarily stop all hard drives and monitors, but everything in the system memory is still there. Meanwhile, hibernation mode records everything from memory into hard disk and shutdown completely. Windows will recover from standby much faster when using hibernate mode.

However, if your computer runs out of battery when in standby mode (standby), all data will disappear. Therefore, you need to set up automatic backup of the work you are doing in Word, PIM (Personal Information Manager) personal management software, and other software.

To leave the computer on standby, press Start-> Turn Off Computer-> Stand By . To let the computer hibernate, select Start -> Turn Off Computer and choose Hibernate (If you don't see this option, hold down the Shift key.). If you still can't set hibernation, select Sart-> Control Panel-> Performance and Maintenance -> Power Options-> Hibernate and select Enable hibernation.

Reduce screen brightness

A laptop with a large LCD screen will consume a lot of energy. Reducing the brightness of the screen will save a lot of battery power. For example, by reducing the screen brightness on a Sony VAIO laptop will extend the battery life by an additional 45 minutes. Most laptops have control buttons, function keys or software utilities that reduce brightness. If the screen is darker, it saves energy, then turning off the screen when not in use is always the most economical method.

Turn off unnecessary devices

Get rid of really unnecessary PC cards and USB or FireWire connections. Laptops often have a built-in wireless network card, which consumes energy to detect access points, so to save energy when not in use, turn off this device. .

Optimize system performance

Optimizing system performance will significantly reduce energy consumption. To keep your laptop using the best CPU and memory resources for other applications, turn off any unnecessary hardware and software. Check the icons in the system tray (system tray). You can use the built-in Windows utility msconfig to select the programs you want to load automatically during boot.

To check the amount of resources, in Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems , open Ctrl-Alt-Del and open Task Manager , select Performance to see the amount of resources used. In Windows 98 and Windows Me , open the System Monitor utility by Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Monitor .

Disabling unused devices and software

Temporarily disabling (disabling) unused devices will save a lot of energy even though these devices actually consume a little energy. These devices can be modem, network card, parallel port, serial port (serial), CD-ROM, DVD drive . In Windows 98 / Me right-click My Computer and select Properties -> Device Manager . In Windows 2000 / XP right-click My Computer and select Properties-> Hardware -> Device Manager . Next, right-click the device that wants to disable the Disable option.

Install more memory

Adding RAM to a laptop also significantly reduces the need for virtual memory operation. Virtual memory uses a hard drive to temporarily store information in memory. Therefore, adding more RAM will significantly reduce hard disk performance, so it will save more energy.

Clean the contact point

The contact point between the battery and the machine may reduce the battery's performance. Clean the metal contacts between the battery and the machine every month with an alcohol-soaked cloth. This will minimize energy loss due to poor contact.

Buy additional batteries if possible

Using a computer to draft an important document is out of battery. It's annoying! Therefore, always carrying extra batteries will be very helpful for you. If you can afford it, buy an extra battery. Depending on the quality of the battery, the price may range from 85USD to 235USD.

Please charge the battery regularly

Please bring the AC charger / converter with you when you have to go out, and use this charger whenever possible. If the charger that came with it is not good and seems heavy and troublesome, use the trendy battery charger from Belkin and Targus. These chargers are light and thin. Not only that, some Targus models can also charge mobile phones.

Discharge the battery

If your laptop is in the old generation, it is likely that nickel batteries are being used. Discharge the whole energy and recharge the battery once a month so that the battery's power charging capacity is highest. Most newer laptops now use standard lithium batteries, so users don't need to fully discharge and recharge them like previous nickel batteries.

Are you planning to buy a laptop for yourself? Buy the laptop with the longest battery life, Intel's Centrino-based laptop systems is a good choice.

In addition, graphics chips, peripheral devices and many other factors can also greatly affect battery life. Hopefully the content on any part will help you increase the battery life for your laptop.