10 Ways to Charge Your Laptop Properly to Increase Battery Life

Laptops are a very familiar item in the work and study of most people. Each person will have a different way of using and preserving computers, but sometimes charging the battery incorrectly or can reduce the life of the laptop that many people do not know. In the article below, we will show you some good tips to help you use and charge your laptop battery properly to  extend the life of the battery.

1. Charge laptop battery properly for newly purchased laptop

For new laptops, you will probably be advised by the sales staff to charge and discharge the first 3 times. The phrase 'charge and discharge' means to let your laptop battery go down to 5% and then plug it in to charge continuously for 10 hours, repeating this step 3 times. You need to strictly follow the requirements not to let the battery run out and not to use it while charging.

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2. Continuously charging your laptop when working at high intensity - Tips for charging your laptop properly

To keep your laptop battery durable, when you need to use your computer at high intensity, you can continuously plug in the battery for the machine. Especially when you design graphics, edit videos, make movies, program or play games. Because when used for this purpose, your laptop will require a larger capacity current, which means that the laptop's battery capacity will decrease rapidly.

Along with unstable capacity will be the reason why your computer cannot operate according to its performance. And if this happens continuously, it will cause your computer battery to decrease its lifespan quickly.

Therefore, the correct way to charge your laptop in this case is to continuously charge the battery. Surely with this method, your laptop battery will maintain the best life.

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3. Charge your laptop properly - Do not use and charge your laptop when the battery is not fully charged.

Charging and using a laptop at the same time is something that many people often do, but this is not recommended. Because, usually, the laptop charger will be designed with a capacity much larger than the actual capacity of the battery.

Therefore, when you charge and use the device at the same time, the power will be transferred to both charging and direct use modes, but both of these modes cannot receive enough power to use. Therefore, your computer will heat up, which will affect the battery life in the long run.

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4. Charge your laptop properly - Turn off the device completely until it is fully charged or overnight.

Most laptops today have a warning mode when the battery is almost depleted, usually below 20%. When your laptop is at this warning level, you should completely turn it off and charge it to 100% before using it again. You absolutely should not let your computer shut down due to battery exhaustion because at this point it will take a long time for the computer to restart. Moreover, more seriously, your laptop may fall into a state of not receiving a charge.

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5. Discharge the battery to increase battery life

If you are a computer science major, the phrase 'discharge the battery' is certainly not too strange. This is one of the laptop usage tips that many people use to extend battery life. Usually, professional laptop maintenance staff will advise you to discharge the battery every 3 to 6 months. The purpose of this is to allow the laptop battery to accurately predict its own life. At the same time, it creates stability and balance for the battery over a long period of time.

However, if you discharge the battery incorrectly, it can easily cause the battery to deteriorate faster. Worse, it can also cause your hard drive to die. Therefore, before discharging, you need to reset the battery usage mode for your computer according to the following steps:

Step 1: First, start the computer, then right-click on the battery icon in the Taskbar and select Power Option as shown below.

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Step 2: After selecting power options, continue to select Change Plan Settings as shown below.

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Step 3: After selecting Change Plan Settings, the system will display a dialog box as shown below. Now, in the On Battery section, there is a battery icon, select all items as Never.

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Step 4: After setting up, use your laptop normally until the battery is only about 3%, then turn it off.

Step 5: After turning off the computer for about 3 minutes, press the power button to turn on the computer. While the computer is booting, quickly press BIOS.

To access BIOS mode, depending on the manufacturer, there are the following ways:

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F2 key: Applicable to laptop lines of brands such as Dell, Acer, Asus, IBM, Sony Vaio.

F10 key: Applicable to HP laptops.

F1 key: Applicable to Lenovo devices.

ESC + (F1 or F2) key: Applicable to Toshiba models.

After accessing the BIOS mode of your device, proceed to discharge the battery in the following order:

Step 1: Charge the device's battery to 100%.

Step 2: When the device is full, keep the battery charged and let the device rest for about 2 hours, or you can use it but use it at low intensity.

Step 3: After 2 hours, unplug the charger and use the device until the battery is down to 3% then let the device turn off completely.

Step 4: Once the device has completely shut down, let it rest for at least 5 hours.

Step 5: Proceed to fully charge the battery to 100%.

Above are the steps to properly discharge the battery that you should perform periodically so that the laptop battery can be used more durably. Note, when discharging the laptop battery, you need to perform the correct operations. If you do not perform the correct operations when discharging, not only will you not be able to protect the battery but also cause the hard drive to be damaged. Therefore, our advice is that if you are not familiar with this, you should take the device to a professional laptop warranty and repair center for a technician to perform.

6. Should use genuine charger with standard parameters

Each type of laptop when manufactured comes with a standard charger set that matches the machine's specifications. Accordingly, the case of using a charger with parameters that do not match the machine's specifications mainly occurs when your charger is lost, the charger is broken, you borrow someone else's charger, etc.

This is very dangerous because if you use an inappropriate charger, it can cause a short circuit, fire or explosion, damaging the laptop and even affecting the safety of the user. Therefore, if you really want to replace the laptop charger, go to the manufacturer's center to buy the appropriate charger.

7. Plug the charger into the power source before plugging the charger into the laptop.

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Another tip for charging your laptop properly when using a laptop if you want to extend the battery life that you should not ignore is to plug the power source into the power supply first and then plug the charger into the computer. The adapter contains a voltage stabilizer to help the current to the computer be more stable. At the same time, it minimizes the occurrence of arcing.

8. Avoid letting your laptop shut down due to low battery

Another tip for charging your laptop properly that you need to pay attention to if you want to extend the life of your laptop battery is to immediately stop the habit of using the device until it is completely off before plugging it in. If this action is repeated many times, your laptop battery will quickly wear out. Therefore, when your laptop has sent a warning or is only at 10% to 20%, that is the right time for you to plug in the charger and let the device rest.

9. Tips for charging your laptop properly: keep the battery cool

Currently, all laptop models on the market are equipped with a cooling system to cool the machine during use. During use, especially when using at high intensity, you should place the machine on a table so that this cooling system can work best.

Note, when using a laptop, minimize placing the device on your lap, on a cushion, pillow, etc. Because it will affect the cooling function of the device, making the computer susceptible to overheating, thereby affecting the battery life as well as the life of the device.

10. Store laptop batteries properly

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When the laptop battery can still be used stably, absolutely do not remove the battery to use direct charging. This can directly affect the hard drive such as data loss, short circuit, fire, .

In case the computer is turned on, you should not move it, especially for laptops that use HDD . Because when moving, the laptop is easily bumped while the hard drive is spinning, causing it to be shocked or even catch fire.

You should also clean your laptop regularly, because dust will make the cooling system of the machine no longer work effectively. This can cause the computer to overheat when used, affecting the battery life.

In addition, when you do not need to use the device for a long time, you should not put the laptop away when the battery is low or 100% full. The most reasonable battery level in this situation is only about 50%.

Thus, the above article Hoang Ha Computer has shared with you tips on how to properly charge your laptop battery to help extend the battery life as well as the durability of the device. Hopefully, the information shared in the article will help you gain more useful experience to protect your laptop.

Kareem Winters

Update 17 January 2025