Is Your Laptop Sucking Money Out of Your Wallet?
Many homes have since ditched the once traditional concept of a desktop computer and primarily use a laptop for their computing needs. While I love our laptop for browsing while vegging on the couch, I still enjoy having a powerful desktop, but that is beside the point. What many of us probably don’t know about our laptops is how to properly use them to get the most of out of its energy consumption and battery longevity.
Does your laptop battery seem to last half of the time it used to? It’s a pretty common complaint, but it’s something that can be avoided, if not just delayed. If you leave a laptop battery in your computer all the time and keep it plugged in, then it is constantly drawing power, regardless if it’s 100% charged or not. Because it is constantly drawing power, even if you’re not using it, you’re throwing away money in energy. Granted, it’s not a huge percentage of your power bill, but it’s still wasteful energy consumption.
On top of wasted energy, keeping your battery plugged into your laptop all the time significantly reduces the longevity of the battery itself. If you have ever had to purchase a spare battery, you know they aren’t cheap. The solution to milk the most from your battery is to take it out while your laptop is plugged in. The reason is constant charging of the battery reduces its capacity to hold a charge. Just simply pop your battery back in when you plan to unplug it.
Another quick tip is to make good use of your hibernate and standby modes. I have my laptop set to go into standby after it sits untouched for 10 minutes. It takes 5 seconds to turn back on, but costs nothing to idle in standby.
Although these are small tips in trying to save your pennies, it’s worth knowing. $
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Most modern laptops are smart enough to run on AC power only once the battery is charged. Power won’t cycle to the battery until the laptop detects AC power is no longer flowing.
This doesn’t detract from the benefits of saving power, but I wanted to clear that up.