A laptop is only as portable as its battery can last. Therefore, learning how to increase the battery life of your Samsung Notebook is of utmost importance.
No matter how power efficient a laptop is, it will eventually run out of power. It all comes down to charge cycles that a laptop battery can go through before becoming unreliable. Laptop battery life is a huge concern among users but it’s possible to maximize the battery life by making some changes on how the device is used.
Since battery life is pegged on the number of charge cycles, plugging the laptop less often means you’ll be using the battery for longer before it deteriorates. While some of the changes needed may seem small, the benefits are tremendous.
Display Settings And Running Programs Affect Battery Life
While it’s one of the most important laptop parts, the display is also among the most power-hungry. The battery uses a lot of available power to maintain a clear and bright display. Similarly, the number of applications running on a laptop will affect how long the battery lasts. Nevertheless, some of the laptops from Samsung brands are more power efficient but you’ll still want to maximize the battery life.
Dim The Screen And Tweak The Display Settings
One of the easiest and quickest ways of getting more power out of your laptop battery is by dimming the display brightness. The settings are normally found on the laptop’s screen for quick access. Surprisingly, there is a difference of about 10 Watts of power between the low and high brightness settings.
However, when the screen brightness is too low or too high, eyestrain is likely to occur. The best practice is to adjust the brightness to a level that is comfortable to your eyes but not too bright to drain the battery. When you’re working outdoors where the sun is bright, you’ll need a higher brightness setting as opposed when using the notebook indoors where the ambient light is lower.
To lower the power draw from your battery, make sure applications are not using the discrete GPU unless it is necessary. If your laptop has powerful graphics make sure that it’s only used by graphics-intensive apps, all other applications can work with the on-CPU silicon since it’s more efficient.
Terminate Any Unnecessary Processes
As a rule of thumb, closing any unnecessary programs gives you more runtime. This lowers hard drive access by apps, decreases CPU activity, and frees up RAM for the benefit of battery life.
Check how many active icons and windows appear on the task bar and determine if you need them or not. Programs that are set to run on startup can be disabled when not in active use to minimize clutter. Browser tabs that are not important can be closed especially if the websites are graphic intensive. This lowers CPU cycles and reduces the load on RAM.
At times, both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth may be activated by default. But these features can continue running even when they aren’t needed. When you are not using them actively, disable them to save power usage.
If you don’t need to connect the notebook to a network, turn off the wireless connection. When it’s left on, the notebook will continuously search for nearby networks and devices. This drains battery power unnecessarily.
Use Windows Power Saver
The first step towards increasing the battery life of your Samsung Notebook is engaging the Windows battery performance feature. Introduced in Windows 10, it groups the features that affect battery performance into simple categories.
The “Best performance” setting is designed for higher performance and responsiveness but at the expense of extended battery life. In this mode, Windows won’t stop system processes from consuming extra power. But when you choose the “Better Performance” setting, Windows will limit how much power apps can use in favor of better battery life.
For a better battery life, using “Better Battery Performance” mode will deliver results by optimizing power usage by the netbook’s programs. But if you want some extra time to run your Samsung notebook when unplugged, the “Battery Saver” mode will be helpful. This works by suspending most of the apps that run in the background and other processes like synching.
Disconnect Unused Peripherals
Using USB peripherals connected to the laptop puts a significant strain on the system since they are powered by the motherboard. Examples of common culprits include webcams, mice, and USB sticks. To save power, copy the required data and eject the USB drive when appropriate. Also, try to work with the netbook’s trackpad instead of USB mice whenever necessary.
Laptops have the option to disable the inbuilt webcam when necessary since it can draw battery power even when you don’t need it. Similarly, you can mute the speakers if sound is not required for the task you are doing. Just by beeping when a notification goes off can consume unnecessary power.
Having a spinning disk in the laptop’s DVD drive can be heavy on power resources. To avoid this scenario, eject the discs and save some power. While some modern laptops don’t have the DVD drive anymore, it’s best to make sure the drive is empty when switching to battery mode.
Avoid Extreme Temperatures
As the laptop battery heats up, chemical reactions inside the pack will speed up exponentially. This doesn’t imply your battery is getting more efficient. On the contrary, it’s generating excess power that can’t be expended to any of your laptop’s hardware. In turn, this creates more heat.
When this is sustained for a long time, the lifespan of the battery is at risk from permanent internal damage. While modern-day Lithium Ion batteries are more durable, too much heat will eventually render them obsolete.
To illustrate, if you start charging a battery it automatically grows hotter especially if you’re doing some resource intensive tasks. If you can’t find a place with lower temperatures, give your laptop a break to cool off until you’ve charged the battery to safe levels.
Conclusion
The battery life of your laptop is vital since that’s one of the factors that influence portability. It’s no fun to rush to a power outlet for a battery top-up when you are working on important tasks. But how long a battery lasts depends on how you are using the laptop. To get more out of a laptop’s battery power, make sure you are optimizing for maximum battery life.
