Optimize Battery Usage and Performance Management Settings
Your laptop has built-in settings to help you squeeze more life out of your battery. It’s important to become familiar with these settings when setting up a new laptop or optimizing your current device.
You can find the battery settings by typing “battery” in the Windows search bar at the bottom of your screen. The window that pops up will let you turn on “battery saving options” and view other settings that can help improve your laptop’s power efficiency, including automatic “turn my screen off” timers.
Another quick tip: Turn down your screen brightness. You probably have a function key with a sun or similar icon on your keyboard. Use the key to decrease the brightness. For Windows 11 devices, you can also bring up an easy-to-use slider by left-clicking the battery icon in your taskbar.
Identify and Close Resource-Intensive Applications
Have you ever left a conference room and forgotten to turn off the lights? Conference rooms often have motion sensors that automatically shut off lights when a room isn’t in use. This feature reduces energy consumption; similarly, turning off energy-draining applications helps your laptop battery last longer and can also help reduce PC lag.
Close applications you’re no longer using to conserve your battery. Not sure which applications drain your battery more quickly than others? Type “battery usage” in your Windows search bar. View the “battery usage per app” section to understand which apps use most of your battery. For example, you might see that Google Chrome uses 45 percent of your battery, Microsoft Excel 21 percent, and Microsoft Word 9 percent. Close the application that’s using the most battery power. In this example, you’d want to close Google Chrome.
Popular web browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge have built-in power-saving options. To extend laptop battery life, open the “performance” tabs in each browser’s settings menus, then enable options like putting unused browser tabs to sleep and reducing visual effects in web pages. This can help improve laptop battery life if your organization relies on web-based apps to get work done.
Adjust Graphics and Display Settings
If your laptop has a graphics processor, it could be draining your battery. For newer Windows 11 devices, the system will automatically assign graphics-intensive applications to your laptop's discrete graphics processing unit (GPU). In some cases, you may prefer to dedicate applications away from the GPU to ease the load on your laptop battery.
To modify application-specific graphics settings, type "graphics settings" in the Windows search bar. A list of applications that use graphics capabilities will appear. Select any application. Click "options." Then, select "power saving." This will help reduce the amount of battery-draining GPU use by that application. Be aware that changing this setting may slow down an application—such as a 3D-intensive video game—more than you prefer, in which case you can change the setting back to its previous option.
Web browsers do not appear in this application list. As described earlier in this article, browser power-saving settings are managed through a different settings menu.
Ensure Proper Ventilation
While sticking your device in a laptop bag is certainly handy, it can interfere with airflow and may reduce the life of your battery. If material blocks the battery ventilation ports in your laptop, this can force the device’s cooling fans to work harder and wear the battery down faster.
Before you put your laptop in a bag or backpack, power it down or switch to standby mode. When using your laptop, rest it on a flat, solid surface, like a desk or a lap pad, instead of on your lap. This should help free up airflow and keep the battery well-ventilated.
Over time, dirt and debris may also build up and block your laptop’s ventilation ports. You can use compressed air to clear out any accumulated buildup.
Check Your Laptop’s Battery Health
Most laptops use lithium-ion batteries, which typically lose their ability to hold a charge over time. Your battery should easily hold a 100 percent charge fresh out of the box. As it ages, battery life can decrease significantly, putting you at risk of having your laptop run out of battery power quickly in the middle of an intense project or workload. Getting proactive about laptop battery health will help you avoid that situation.
Access the Battery Report
You can access the Windows battery report using the “powercfg” command in your device’s command terminal. Follow these steps to check the health of your laptop’s battery:
- Type “PowerShell” into the Windows search bar. The Windows PowerShell screen will appear.
- Type “powercfg /batteryreport” and hit Enter. This command will give you a file path similar to: C:\Users\Your Username\battery-report.html.
- Type this file path into the Windows search bar to access the battery report.
A minor difference between the battery’s charge capacity and design capacity is normal and may result from changes in ambient temperature. However, a major difference in capacity may signal that it’s time to change your laptop battery or upgrade to a newer device.
When It’s Time to Replace Your Battery
Watch for warning signs such as your battery draining faster than expected or your laptop frequently overheating. For some laptops, you can replace the battery yourself. Newer, thinner models may require more complex installation that’s ideally handled by a professional.
Improve Laptop Battery Life with Intel
After optimizing your existing laptops with the above hardware and software recommendations, explore additional technologies that are built with power efficiency in mind.
Intel vPro® based business PCs provide the hardware-enabled manageability and security tools your organization needs to keep devices up to date and better protected from performance-draining malware. They can also feature powerful Intel® Core™ Ultra processors with cooler, quieter PC performance and a longer-lasting battery.1
The latest Intel-powered artificial intelligence (AI) PCs also provide everything your business needs to maximize worker productivity. AI PCs feature a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), and a neural processing unit (NPU) built specifically for sustained AI workloads. This design empowers you to use cutting-edge AI applications on hardware that’s optimized for device efficiency and long battery life.