8 tips to extend laptop battery life

Most laptops today are powered by lithium-ion batteries, also known as Li-ion batteries. Although these batteries can hold a full charge when new, they lose this capacity over time. Taking care of them properly is important to keep your laptop battery's ability to hold its maximum charge for as long as possible, and here are some tips to help you do just that.

1. Don't charge your laptop overnight!

Although people often think it's safe to occasionally charge a laptop overnight, you should only do it if you use a charger that has an automatic shut-off feature that stops charging when the battery reaches full capacity. Using a charger without this feature may continuously supply power to the battery, potentially weakening the battery and reducing its lifespan.

Frequently charging overnight, even with an official charger with an automatic shut-off feature, can cause the battery to wear out more quickly. Therefore, you should not make this a habit. Also, don't forget that the charger can overheat and catch fire. So unless necessary, it's best to avoid charging your laptop overnight.

2. Charge your laptop in a well-ventilated place

Charging a laptop battery generates heat, and if done in a hot, poorly ventilated environment, this heat can build up, leading to the battery overheating. This overheating can adversely affect the battery's lifespan. To prevent this, charge your laptop in a well-ventilated area with enough airflow to dissipate heat. You can also place it on a stand or tilt it slightly.

Besides the risk of overheating while charging, many other factors can also contribute to battery overheating and potential damage, such as leaving the laptop in a hot car on a summer afternoon, leaving it exposed to direct sunlight. exposure to sunlight or running intense processes causes laptop damage. heat up. Additionally, trying to cool your laptop hastily can shorten its lifespan.

3. Maintain charge level between 20% and 80%

It's common to charge your laptop to 100% capacity to help it last longer on a single charge. Additionally, many of us continue to use our laptops even when the charge level drops below 10% or until the laptop turns off completely. In fact, charging a laptop battery at maximum capacity and using it at a low charge level can shorten the battery's life.

Most manufacturers recommend maintaining a charge level between 20 and 80% for optimal battery health. So, you should disconnect the charger when the charge level reaches 80 percent and reconnect it when the charge level drops to 20 percent. Unless there is an urgent need, such as during long flights or long meetings, you should avoid charging your laptop to 100%.

If you can't monitor the battery percentage until it reaches 80%, you can automatically limit charging to 80%.

4. Set charging threshold at 80%

Many modern laptops are equipped with a smart charging feature that, when activated, will prevent charging from continuing once the battery reaches 80% charge. Depending on the manufacturer, this feature may be called "smart charging", "optimized charging", or similar.

The process to activate it depends on the device you have. If you own a Surface laptop, you can adjust the threshold using the Surface app. For Lenovo laptops, use the Lenovo Vantage companion app. For Asus laptops, use the MyAsus application. As for MSI laptops, use MSI Dragon Center software to set the charging threshold.

If your laptop doesn't have a dedicated app, like most Dell laptops, you may have to enable the charging threshold setting directly from the BIOS.

5. Do not use incompatible chargers

The capacity of the charger must match your laptop battery requirements. If you choose a low-wattage charger, the battery may not draw enough current, potentially slowing the charging process and affecting battery life. This can also cause low-power chargers to overheat, potentially damaging the laptop battery.

Additionally, using third-party chargers that do not have features such as an automatic charging cut-off mechanism when the battery is full can be harmful. Therefore, use only genuine chargers. If the charger that came with your laptop is defective, replace it with the manufacturer's genuine product.

6. Reduce laptop usage when charging

Using a laptop while plugged in is generally considered safe because it draws power from the AC adapter and uses the excess power to charge the battery. However, many users forget that using a laptop a lot can cause the device to overheat. This excessive heat can affect battery life.

Therefore, if you feel your laptop is hot, you should avoid using it while it is plugged in. Also, don't leave your laptop plugged in when performing heavy tasks that stress the hardware and generate more heat. If your device has a removable battery, removing the battery while the laptop is connected to an AC outlet may prolong battery life.

While there's no conclusive evidence that constantly plugging and unplugging a charger affects your laptop battery, you should avoid this practice to maintain battery health.

7. Reduce battery consumption on laptops

Every battery has a limited number of charge cycles before its performance and ability to hold a charge degrades. Therefore, the more often you charge your battery, the sooner you will reach the maximum cycle threshold. To minimize this, optimize your laptop settings to minimize battery consumption.

To optimize battery life and extend the life on a single charge, keep the brightness low, turn off background applications, activate battery saving mode, avoid running unnecessary intensive programs , keep your laptop in a cool environment and increase your use of airplane mode.

8. Don't charge your laptop constantly!

Always plugging in a laptop when it is fully charged is a common practice to effectively handle battery drain. While helpful, constantly maintaining the battery at maximum capacity can be detrimental. Microsoft advises against keeping the charge at 100% all the time and recommends using the smart charging feature.

The optimal approach is to charge your laptop to the recommended level, disconnect it, use it for your work, and charge it when the battery level drops to 20%.

The tips mentioned above are important to keep your laptop battery healthy for a long time. Monitoring them can improve battery life and avoid having to replace the battery prematurely. If you notice a significant decrease in your laptop's battery life on a single charge, which indicates the possibility of the battery losing capacity, replace the battery immediately.