Improve Your Netbook’s Battery Life

More often than not, you’ll see huge battery life claims from the manufacturers of netbooks, only to be disappointed when you get your machine out of the box and struggle to run it for half the quoted time. There are lots of things you can do to improve battery life though, so read on after the jump to find out how to get the best out of your netbook…

Netbook manufacturers are pretty shrewd when it comes to testing battery lives, setting up machines precisely to get the best times. This means you’ll have to make a few changes if you want to run your netbook for hours on end.

The screen has the biggest effect on battery life, as it uses lots of power. As such, rather than having it set to full brightness, make sure you dim it when running on battery. This can see a couple of hours added to the running time, so it’s well worth it. You’ll usually be able to change brightness settings via the Function keys above the keyboard – there’s often a little picture of a sun to mark out which keys to press.

The next thing you should do is turn off any wireless adapters that you’re not using. In Windows 7, click the Start icon, and type ‘Network’. Click on Network and Sharing Centre when it appears, and then Change Adapter Settings. Right click on the adapters you’re not using, and click disable. When you need these adapters again – say to search the internet – do the opposite.

The same can be done in Windows XP by clicking Start, Network Adapters, and by once again disabling the wireless radios not in use. You’ll find that turning off wireless settings when you’re not browsing the internet makes a massive difference to battery life.

Finally, there are also lots of settings you can change to eek out an extra couple of minutes. Your netbook’s manufacturer will often bundle software that lets you get the best out of your machine, so check the user manual. If not, you can change most of these settings manually.

In Windows 7, click on the Start icon and type ‘Edit Power Plan’. Set the display to turn off after a couple of minutes – as if you’re not typing or watching a movie, there’s no point in the screen being on. Set the netbook to go to sleep after five or ten minutes, so it’s not wasting power when you’re not working. The same can be done in Windows XP by right clicking on the desktop, pressing Properties, followed by Screen Saver, and then Power.