On a daily basis, at Tristar, we’re always asked by our customers and friends…

…how to make our laptop battery last longer while running without AC power…

You may find that you know most of the following tips already, but it never hurts to refresh, or better recharge, your memory!

So let’s proceed with a list of common tips and tricks to consider with a description for each of them.

Laptop Battery Tips

Dim your screen

Your laptop’s backlight requires a lot of juice. Keep it as dim as you can comfortably read it.

Shut off unneeded hardware

Turn off your Bluetooth, and if you’re not using the Internet, turn off your Wi-Fi receiver, as well. Don’t use an external mouse or other device. And muting the PC’s sound system not only saves power, it avoids annoying everyone else in the café.

Avoid multitasking

Run as few programs as you can get away with. If possible, stick to the one application (word processor, browser, or whatever) you’re currently using, plus your antivirus and firewall in the background.

And if you’re not on the Internet, you don’t need those two.

Avoid multimedia

Save chores like photo editing and watching old Daily Show videos for when you have AC power. And if you must listen to music, use your iPod (or similar device).

Know when to sleep and when to hibernate

You need to think about when you want to save power by sending your laptop into Standby or Sleep mode, and when you want to hibernate it. There’s a difference. XP’s Standby and Vista and Windows 7′s Sleep modes keep your PC on, using some power, but less of it than in normal use. Hibernate saves the PC’s state to the hard drive, then shuts it off entirely, so that no power is used.

On the other hand, Windows takes much longer–sometimes minutes–to go into and come out of hibernation. And those are minutes that the battery is draining heavily and you can’t work.

XP’s Standby mode isn’t really all that efficient. If your laptop will be inactive for more than about half an hour, hibernate it. Otherwise, use Standby.

But Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 do a much better job with their Sleep mode. Don’t bother hibernating your PC unless you think you’re going to go more than two or three hours without using it.

What if my battery just won’t last…

First, don’t feel bad. All laptop batteries face power storage degradation issues.

what can I do then Tristar?

If your in the look of a new laptop battery, either original or a compatible one, and want the prices in the market here in Cyprus then just contact us or even better come to our branch where we will be glad to meet you and find the right battery for you!

So what ever the battery type of the brand… chances are that here at Tristar Computer Services LTD we have it!