When using a Windows 10 Laptop or Tablet on the go, the battery is one of the most important things. Good news is that Windows 10 like its mobile counterpart now comes with inbuilt battery saver mode, but then there are other ways to save battery. In this post, I will share some of the best tips to improve battery life in Windows 10 laptops.
Tips to Improve Battery Life in Windows 10 Laptops
IMO, the best way to figure out if your system is consuming a lot of battery is to let it pass through a couple of charging cycle. This lets battery stabilizes enough for best output. Then it’s the time to turn on the restriction when you are on the move.
If you are a power user, the first few tips should be enough to you through else read on for knowing things a little more.
1] Enable Battery Saver (Settings > System > Battery Saver)
The first thing to do here is to enable automatic battery saving mode if it’s not turned on by default. It makes sure that when your battery level drops below 20%, it restricts a lot of background usage, and push notifications.
Now, let’s analyze what’s consuming your battery. On the same page, look for a label which says “Battery Use.” It will tell you how much battery is being drained by which app and service. You will also get to know which hardware is consuming more battery, aka Display, WIFI, System, etc.
Now once you know what is consuming battery, go back to battery saver and select battery saver settings.
- You may choose to trigger battery saving mode from 20% to 40%
- Keep it enabled by default when you don’t want any distraction.
- Keep Lower Brightness option selected.
- Make sure to keep off apps running from background unless important.
2] Configure Power Plan (Settings > System > Power & Sleep)
- Use this section to decide how quickly you want the screen to turn off when it’s left inactive on battery mode. Best is to choose one minute.
- You may also choose to send the system to sleep mode as well, but remember any background activity will pause too.
While these are more than enough, but if you are feeling bit enthusiastic, you can get into hard-core power-saving mode. Go to Settings > Power and Sleep > Additional Power Settings > Change Advance Power Settings.
Here you can control things like JavaScript Timer Frequency in Internet Explorer, Desktop Background Settings, USB, PCI express, and so on. It is strictly for power users.
3] Turn off Apps that run in Background and Send Notifications
Privacy > Background Apps. Toggle those which you don’t need. It will affect Notifications, Any latest info they download from the internet. In case you want few apps to notify you even in battery saver mode, go there, and you can add apps which can be exceptions.
4] Turn off Distributed Update Feature
Windows 10 can distribute downloaded updates from your PC to other PC on the Internet. While this works great to deliver the faster update, it will keep on uploading data from your PC to the Internet resulting in extra usage of battery. So turn this off to save battery.
Settings > Update and Recover > Windows Update > Advanced Options > Choose how updates are delivered > Off.
5] Turn off Automatic Updates for Apps
Windows Store is default set to updates apps automatically. So this again will start using WiFi or Mobile adapter when an updated follow-up. I will recommend you to turn this off, not only to save battery, but also to have a clear idea on which app has an update so you can choose to upgrade or not.
Store > Click on Profile Icon > Settings > Toggle off Auto Updates.
6] Set your display level instead of automatic brightness
Most of the laptops come with the power key, which allows you to set the brightness level. Keep them at a level which is best suited for work. It’s always a good practice not to keep them at maximum level.
7] Turn off Keyboard Backlit
Like automatic brightness display, best is to turn them off. When you feel the light is low, hit the power key to increase it. This way, it won’t get triggered automatically and save battery.
8] Keep WiFi and Bluetooth Turned Off
It’s human nature to forget, and we don’t tend to keep them off because we are lazy to enable it again. However, these adapters do consumer battery looking for a network and should be used only when needed.
9] Turn off location tracking
Privacy > Location. It is useful for Tablets that use SIM.
10] Disconnect USB/external drives or Bluetooth connected device when not needed
If you use an external drive connected to Laptop of which there is no use at the moment, eject it safely. If you dont, they will keep consuming power to keep itself running. The best practice is to get the world done locally and then transfer it to an external drive.
I hope these tips were useful and helped you to increase/improve the battery life of Windows 10 Laptop.
