5 Ways to Stretch Laptop Batteries Runtime

Laptops are the top selling computers, and have been for a while. Others are highly mobile by nature, and those folks know that sometimes squeezing the most out of the laptop battery is extremely important. Keeping the laptop running on battery power is the top order of the day at such times. Here are 5 ways to squeeze the most out of laptop batteries. It may be obvious that the laptop screen is a power-sucking component, but I often see travelers using laptops with the screen at full brightness. If your laptop has a backlit keyboard, turn that off entirely. Many laptops have switches to do so easily, but for those that don't there is usually a utility to turn the radios off. Every component on the laptop requires power, even when it is not being used. Many laptops have utilities pre-installed to help turn these off, but even if yours doesn't it can be done in the Device Manager. This one is only for those who must squeeze as much runtime out of the laptop battery as possible. Some laptops, ThinkPads in particular, have a Battery Stretch setting which should also be used. This monitors the system aggressively when running on the battery, and when the battery starts getting low the system starts shutting down components to "stretch" more runtime. I also advocate getting a second battery for laptops, especially those who travel a lot. The cost can be significant, with some laptop batteries costing up to $200, but it is an instant doubling of run time.