Getting the most out of your Laptop Battery.

A question everyones mind, How do you get the most out of the battery???  What can I do to make it last longer???

* Use the AC adapter whenever possible, but not all the time. Use the battery on its own as well.

* Set the Windows Power Management settings to maximum savings.

* Lower the brightness setting on the screen backlight.

* Disconnect any unused devices (e.g., modems, wireless LAN cards) when not needed.

* Disable Auto Insert Notification on the CD-ROM.

* Turn off Autosave features.

* Disable automatic formatters, spell checkers, and autorecalculate features.

* Add more RAM to lower disk access time.

* If you have a backup battery, use it in rotation with the current battery.

* Use the Suspend or Hibernate feature when taking a break or a long break.

* Fully drain and recharge the battery every couple of months, this helps to recalibrate the smart electronics even if the cells are fine.

* Minimize the number of programs running at the same time.

* Check the power save settings under the BIOS. If this is not enabled

then the Windows Power Management settings may not work properly.

* If you are taking the battery out to store it, make sure it has atleast 40 – 50% charge. DO NOT fully charge it or discharge it before storage.

* Use smaller programs when possible (e.g., WordPad versus Word).

* Minimize game play and DVD viewing.

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