Getting Better Battery Life

The majority of the time that I use my notebook computer it is plug-in. But those times when I need to get things done, typically on the plane on my way to a business meeting, it is then that I really need to know how I can get the most out of my notebook's battery.

Ok, so the objective is the same a long battery life. The answer on how to achieve this depends on whether I am trying to finish the presentation that is due tomorrow or watching a movie that affects which power saving option I will need to use.

Turn off the radio - I stop all the non-essential components like the WiFi, Bluetooth and IR radio, after all I can not use them on the airplane. I put a stickynote on my keyboard when I do this, that way I don't go nuts when I get to the office and nothing is working.

Crank the power down - If my notebook computer has it I will step down the processor speed.

Lower the lights - Lower the LCD screen's brightness to the lowest level that is acceptable. The screen draws about 43% of the laptop's power. Movies and audio are real battery drainers as they keep the screen and the disc drive going which are two of the biggest power drainers in a notebook

Stop unwanted background activities.Use Windows Indexing which is suppose to reduce search times when trying to find a particular file. Anti-Virus software scans while on battery.

Also when I am working on the road I will use the Window's power management feature. It allows me to use the sleep and hibernate modes of Windows which will put the notebook into lower power consumption modes by either time in activities or by just closing the lid of the notebook. The difference is sleep has everything powered down except the RAM making getting back up quick. In hibernation the computer completely shuts down but remembers everything that was running when it stopped so it does not take as long to get going again as it would if you shut the computer down and restarted it again.

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