Tips: Things that will require you to charge your battery more often
- Keeping your LCD screen on when not in use.
- If you have a CD or DVD in the drive (even if you are not using it).
- If you have any wireless enabled (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc).
- If you have any periferals that don't have their own AC power cord (thumbdrives, external hard drives, external zip drives, printers, etc).
How To: Recommended Windows XP laptop power settings
- Click on your "Start" button.
- Go to "Settings" and then "Control Panel".
- Double-click on the "Power Options" icon.
- Ensure that you are on the "Power Schemes" tab and that the "Power Schemes" drop down list shows "Portable/Laptop".
- Under the Running on batteries set "Turn off monitor" to 15 minutes, set "Turn off Hard Disks" to 20 minutes and set "System Standby" to 30 minutes.
- Now switch to the "Hibernate" tab and make sure "Enable Hibernation" is unchecked.
(Note: to wake up from "Standby" press the power button as though you were turning the computer on for the first time)
How To: Recommended Mac OS X laptop power settings
- Click on the Apple in the top left corner of your screen.
- Choose "System Preferences".
- Click on the icon for "Energy Saver".
- Ensure that the "Settings for:" drop down list says "Battery".
- Set the "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive for:" slider to "Never" (note: sleep in OS X is not very stable and often requires a reboot).
- Set the "Put the display to sleep when the comptuer is inactive for:" slider to "15 min".
- Put a check in the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" box.
If you try these settings and your battery still does not hold an hours worth of charge, refer to our
battery replacement guidelines.
