Extend battery life on a laptop

COMPUTER ACTIVE [29/01/13]

By Tim Smith

Use some quick tweaks to make you're laptop's battery last longer

Change your power options to get better battery life 

If you use a laptop on battery power you will know that the harder the processor is working, the faster the battery is drained. There are times when this is unavoidable but one way that you can make the battery last a little longer is to tell Windows to limit how hard the processor is allowed to work. This can make the computer feel slower so some experimentation may be required.

First, unplug the power to put the computer in the power state that you want to edit. Click the Start button and type power options. Press Enter with Power Options selected. Click ‘Change plan settings’ next to the current plan and then ‘Change advanced power settings’.

Scroll down the list in the small window that appears to the ‘Processor power management’ section. Expand this option and then look for ‘Maximum processor state’. The figure here will probably be 100%. Change the figure to a lower number and click OK to save the changes.

If you are concerned that the settings are stopping Windows from working properly, it is easy to return them to their default. Return to the Power Options window and click on the ‘Change plan settings’ link for the current plan. Click on ‘Restore default settings’ for this plan to remove your changes.