How to supercharge your laptop's battery life (Windows only)

[AlTech]

In the now common industry standard attempt of making laptops too thin, manufacturers often skimp out on battery life and hope that the processor is efficient enough to last the required time.

 

I'm looking at you Apple.

 

But how do we solve this problem? I previously covered tips on how to improve battery life.

 

So then you're thinking: Ok then Al, if you already made a guide then why have you made another one?

 

Great question! The answer is that my previous guide didn't do too much to my battery life when applied. It did make a small difference.

 

However I recently stumbled upon a way to add UP TO an additional 1-2 hours extra battery life on my personal laptop, the Lenovo U41-70.

 

I cannot guarantee this will work for you but it should. This will require Windows 7 (IDK about Windows Vista support) or newer.

 

1. Reduce minimum CPU usage

This is usually set to 5% and I've changed it to 1%.

 

 

2. Reduce Maximum CPU usage whilst on battery to 40-50%. This has been the most noticeable change for me personally.

 

 

Note - This should provide better battery life in demanding tasks/situations. It will not extend the battery during a light task.

 

3. Change the graphics power option for your laptop to use the "Maximum battery life" configuration instead of "balanced" (something most laptops ship with).

This should increase battery life during graphically demanding or intensive tasks. Again, if you don't do graphics intense things then you shouldn't expect too much from it.

 

 

4. Enable adaptive brightness

The reason why I address this is because most people disable this on laptops cos it causes the screen to be dim in darker environments with less light. Thus saving battery and also probably helping your eyesight.

 

That's all I've got this time. If you've got more suggestions or have other ideas then leave a comment below.

 

Now because of this, my battery life lasts more than 4 hours on a charge. Usually around 4-5 hours per charge. Previously it would get 2-3 hours.

 

AND the overall reduce brightness recommendation still applies.

[LtStaffel]

Just something I want to say. Reducing maximum processor state will mean a fair sized reduction in performance when your computer wants to go above whatever you set it to. In fact, I had a problem with my laptop where performance decreased drastically when plugged in. Turned out the plugged in maximum state was at like 20%.

[samcool55]

Thanks for the tips, i'll try them and hopefully they do something.

 

Reinstalling/refreshing your OS can also help improve battery life btw

Increased my battery life with 20-30 minutes, but no idea if my case was an exeption or that's quite normal.

 

[Moonzy]

another tip: set this as battery savings profile, and switch profile accordingly between battery saving and high performance mode

 

i CBF to tweak with settings every time i want more performance `-`

[AlTech]

4 minutes ago, LtStaffel said:

Just something I want to say. Reducing maximum processor state will mean a fair sized reduction in performance when your computer wants to go above whatever you set it to. In fact, I had a problem with my laptop where performance decreased drastically when plugged in. Turned out the plugged in maximum state was at like 20%.

To most people this shouldn't be an issue but if high performance is needed then don't make it less than 80%

[LtStaffel]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

To most people this shouldn't be an issue but if high performance is needed then don't make it less than 80%

I suppose it'd depend on the laptop they have though. My laptop is horrible and often needs 50%+. And if people try games on their mediocre machines then they may not want to drop it below 90% even. But for the general populace, who isn't doing anything strenuous, and if they have a relatively modern laptop then 40% is probably alright.

[ShadowCaptain]

  Great guide dude, im sure this will help people who use a laptop for basic tasks like browsing, youtube, netflix get much longer life

But yeah best to set up two profiles to switch between for when you actually want to use the power

 

 

28 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I'm looking at you Apple.

You mean the company who make laptops with some of the longest battery lives in the business?

[Omon_Ra]

I'm not sure how much effect it has on battery life, as on my laptop I have had everything you recommended set like that since day 1 (about 5 years ago) but you can also set your 'Wireless Adapter Settings' to 'Low Power.' I also have a setting on my laptop for active/passive cooling on/off battery. Combined with capping the CPU usage ~50-60% you don't really have to worry about overheating on battery even though the fan doesn't run.

[AlTech]

10 hours ago, ShadowCaptain said:

  Great guide dude, im sure this will help people who use a laptop for basic tasks like browsing, youtube, netflix get much longer life

But yeah best to set up two profiles to switch between for when you actually want to use the power

 

 

You mean the company who make laptops with some of the longest battery lives in the business?

I mean the company which makes the thinnest devices in the business which compromises battery life.

 

 

Battery life should be better instead of having a thinner device if it is a laptop.

 

9 hours ago, Omon_Ra said:

I'm not sure how much effect it has on battery life, as on my laptop I have had everything you recommended set like that since day 1 (about 5 years ago) but you can also set your 'Wireless Adapter Settings' to 'Low Power.' I also have a setting on my laptop for active/passive cooling on/off battery. Combined with capping the CPU usage ~50-60% you don't really have to worry about overheating on battery even though the fan doesn't run.

I started using this around 3 weeks ago. and ever since then my laptop lasts an extra hour or two on a charge.

 

[ShadowCaptain]

7 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

I mean the company which makes the thinnest devices in the business which compromises battery life.

Not on laptops it doesnt, their laptops all have like 10 hours, as does the iPad, and the iPhone battery is decent too (though not the best), so far being thing hasnt really compromised the battery outside of the iPhone and that isnt even that  bad

[Omon_Ra]

12 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

I started using this around 3 weeks ago. and ever since then my laptop lasts an extra hour or two on a charge.

 

 

Oh, I meant the addition of changing the wireless adapter settings, not the overall power reduction things you've done. I know they help a ton with battery life, but I don't have a 'control' to test it against. Also, like I said, my laptop is almost 5 years old now, so the battery isn't as great as it once was.

[RedRound2]

On 5/12/2016 at 5:23 PM, AluminiumTech said:

In the now common industry standard attempt of making laptops too thin, manufacturers often skimp out on battery life and hope that the processor is efficient enough to last the required time.

 

I'm looking at you Apple.

Apple laptops have always had the best battery life and I'm pretty sure MacBooks can probably outlast most windows laptops when doing similar tasks