The actual life of a laptop battery will vary with computer usage habits. In a survey by chipmaker Intel, 57% of laptop users said they wished their batteries lasted longer. And that is wishful thinking, according to Isidor Buchmann, president and founder of Cadex Electronics in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He suggests that although batteries become about 10% more efficient every year, the average PC's power needs also increase by about the same amount. Result: The average battery life is still painfully short (just two to three hours for most laptop models).
The more you use physical devices - which require more electricity to operate - the more of the battery's power you can expect to consume. The devices that create a larger power drain are the hard drive, the floppy drive and the CD-ROM.
Here are some tips to extend the life of your laptop battery:
1. Power down the display
Lowering the brightness may give you as much as an extra hour of runtime. And to increase even more the lifetime of your battery lower the screen resolution and color depth. This will decrease the workload on the GPU, thus extending the battery runtime.
To change this settings follow the steps below:
a. Open the Windows Start menu and click the Control Panel
b. Open the Display menu
c. In the new window click the Appearance tab. Under the Advanced button you can disable extra features like ClearType fonts and fade effects which will cut down on the CPU’s power consumption
d. Now go to the Settings tab
e. Here adjust the color depth to 16 bit. This is more than enough in office and internet applications.
2. Turn off unused devices
Many new notebooks provide a hard-wired On/Off switch for the Wi-Fi radio for this reason.
To save even more power go to the Control Panel, select System-->Hardware-->Device Manager, and disable the following items: Ethernet adapter, infrared transceiver, and Bluetooth radio . You should do this beacause having Bluetooth enabled and not using it actually consumes quite a bit of power.
3. Decrease hard drive activity
Defragmenting your hard drive regularly will decrease the frecuency with which your hard disk has to spin, therefore the battery will last longer. This is due to the fact that defragmentation optimizes the placement of the data on the drive and when a program makes a request for certain data it can be found more quickly.
To defragment your hard disk follow the steps in this article.
Another way to decrease hard drive activity is to set your paging file to a fix value, and this value should be around 1.5 times the amount the RAM you have installed on your computer.
To set the paging file go to the Control Panel and click through System -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced -> Virtual Memory Change.
4. Disable startup items
Startup items are programs that load into memory every time Windows boots up and cause other open applications to spill over virtual memory and adds to the CPU load, shortening battery runtime. Here is how to remove some of them that are not necessary.
5. Condition the battery
Battery memory is where the battery becomes conditioned to run for less time than it is designed to run. Say for example, you run your computer on battery for an hour and then you plug it back in to let it recharge. The battery will become conditioned to run only an hour before it runs out of juice.
To correct Battery Memory problems, you must completely drain the battery and recharge it. To completely drain your battery, you must go into your Windows Control Panel and select Power. Then you must turn Power Management Off. Next, you must go into your BIOS and make sure that if there is a power management setting there, that you turn it off as well. In most cases, once you are inside the BIOS, you will highlight Power Management and press Enter. Then locate the item Hibernation at Critical Battery, and by using the Minus sign, change the setting to Off. Once these steps have been completed, then use your Escape key to return to the top level menu, and select Save Settings and Exit.
Once you have completed turning off the power management in both the BIOS and the Operating System, you must unplug the computer, turn the computer on and let it run until it completely runs out of electricity. Then you should charge the battery for 12 hours. At the end of the charging cycle, then run the computer again until the battery is dead, and then charge the battery for 12 more hours. You should repeat this process four times, before returning the computer to its original power management settings.
A great little tip to keep in mind is that if you do keep your laptop plugged in for an extensive period of time REMOVE the battery. Let it discharge and give it a break. This will extend your battery life quite a bit.
Another way to condition your battery is to keep it cool. It's best to use (and especially charge) your batteries at room temperatures. Extreme conditions can drain your battery quickly.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
How To Maximize your iPod's Battery Life
Battery life means the time your iPod will run before it must be recharged (sometimes this is also called playtime or runtime). Battery lifespan means the total amount of time your battery will last before it must be replaced.
iPod can play up to 20 hours, the new iPod nano can play up to 24 hours, and the new iPod shuffle can play up to 12 hours on a full charge at original capacity. Apple runs a number of tests for battery life using songs encoded in various formats, including MP3, AAC and songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. The songs are played continuously through a playlist without interruption, with backlight and equalizer off, using factory default settings.
Here are some tips to get the longest life possible:
1. Update to the Latest Software
Due to the fact that new ways to optimize battery performance can appear at any time is best to always make sure iPod has the latest software from Apple. To update you iPod you just have to put it in its dock or plug it into your computer and iTunes (version 7.0 or later) will notify you if a new update is available.
2. Optimize your Settings
Your iPod has some built-in features that will use the battery more quickly. Here are the features in question:
Backlight: The most resource intensive mechanism in the iPod (except the shuffle for obvious reasons) is the backlight so turning it off or even minimizing the amount of time it stays lit to two or five seconds can increase your iPod’s battery life. Head into Settings > Backlight Timer, where you can designate the amount of time you want the backlight to remain on.
Equalizer: Adding EQs to playback uses more of your iPod processor, since they aren’t encoded in the song. Turn EQ off if you don’t use it. If, however, you’ve added EQ to tracks in iTunes, you’ll need to set EQ to 'flat' in order to have the effect of 'off,' because iPod keeps your iTunes settings intact.
Volume: The higher the volume, the more power the iPod uses and thus keeping it at a normal level will lengthen the battery life. Since the introduction of Volume Limit, you could set how loud the volume will go before it reaches its max. Play with it and see what works for you. Besides, it’ll help save your hearing! To make changes to this head to Settings > Volume Limit and adjust it to your like.
3. Hold and Pause
If you are not listening to iPod, pause it, or turn it off by pressing the play button for two seconds. Also, in order to prevent iPod controls from inadvertently waking up iPod and using unnecessary power set iPod’s hold switch when you aren’t using it.
4. Use iPod Regularly
Your iPod's battery is a lithium polymer that's rated for 500 or more charging cycles. A charging cycle is a full discharge-that is, when you run the battery all the way down until it has no charge left and follow it with a full charge.
For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month.
5. Maximize Your Memory
iPod plays music out of a solid-state memory cache to provide skip-free playback and maximize battery life. iPod spins its hard drive to fill this cache, which uses power. Of course there are a few tricks that can extend your battery life.
Use Smart Playlists: Every time you use the scroll-wheel to navigate or skip songs you are using battery power and Smart Playlists exist for a reason, so use them! Instead of skipping songs often, utilize Smart Playlists to create collections of songs you love and further extend your battery’s life. You could use Tangerine, which is currently in beta to create playlists for you.
Use Compressed Songs: Use AAC or MP3 files rather than WAV or AIFF (Mac users only) files. Because WAVs and AIFFs are uncompressed and, therefore, much bigger than compressed files, they prevent your iPod from using its cache effectively, so the hard disk has to work much harder.
6. Let It Breathe
Charging your iPod, iPod nano or iPod shuffle while in certain carrying cases may generate excess heat, which can affect battery capacity. If you notice your iPod gets hot when you charge it, take it out of its case first.
iPod can play up to 20 hours, the new iPod nano can play up to 24 hours, and the new iPod shuffle can play up to 12 hours on a full charge at original capacity. Apple runs a number of tests for battery life using songs encoded in various formats, including MP3, AAC and songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. The songs are played continuously through a playlist without interruption, with backlight and equalizer off, using factory default settings.
Here are some tips to get the longest life possible:
1. Update to the Latest Software
Due to the fact that new ways to optimize battery performance can appear at any time is best to always make sure iPod has the latest software from Apple. To update you iPod you just have to put it in its dock or plug it into your computer and iTunes (version 7.0 or later) will notify you if a new update is available.
2. Optimize your Settings
Your iPod has some built-in features that will use the battery more quickly. Here are the features in question:
Backlight: The most resource intensive mechanism in the iPod (except the shuffle for obvious reasons) is the backlight so turning it off or even minimizing the amount of time it stays lit to two or five seconds can increase your iPod’s battery life. Head into Settings > Backlight Timer, where you can designate the amount of time you want the backlight to remain on.
Equalizer: Adding EQs to playback uses more of your iPod processor, since they aren’t encoded in the song. Turn EQ off if you don’t use it. If, however, you’ve added EQ to tracks in iTunes, you’ll need to set EQ to 'flat' in order to have the effect of 'off,' because iPod keeps your iTunes settings intact.
Volume: The higher the volume, the more power the iPod uses and thus keeping it at a normal level will lengthen the battery life. Since the introduction of Volume Limit, you could set how loud the volume will go before it reaches its max. Play with it and see what works for you. Besides, it’ll help save your hearing! To make changes to this head to Settings > Volume Limit and adjust it to your like.
3. Hold and Pause
If you are not listening to iPod, pause it, or turn it off by pressing the play button for two seconds. Also, in order to prevent iPod controls from inadvertently waking up iPod and using unnecessary power set iPod’s hold switch when you aren’t using it.
4. Use iPod Regularly
Your iPod's battery is a lithium polymer that's rated for 500 or more charging cycles. A charging cycle is a full discharge-that is, when you run the battery all the way down until it has no charge left and follow it with a full charge.
For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month.
5. Maximize Your Memory
iPod plays music out of a solid-state memory cache to provide skip-free playback and maximize battery life. iPod spins its hard drive to fill this cache, which uses power. Of course there are a few tricks that can extend your battery life.
Use Smart Playlists: Every time you use the scroll-wheel to navigate or skip songs you are using battery power and Smart Playlists exist for a reason, so use them! Instead of skipping songs often, utilize Smart Playlists to create collections of songs you love and further extend your battery’s life. You could use Tangerine, which is currently in beta to create playlists for you.
Use Compressed Songs: Use AAC or MP3 files rather than WAV or AIFF (Mac users only) files. Because WAVs and AIFFs are uncompressed and, therefore, much bigger than compressed files, they prevent your iPod from using its cache effectively, so the hard disk has to work much harder.
6. Let It Breathe
Charging your iPod, iPod nano or iPod shuffle while in certain carrying cases may generate excess heat, which can affect battery capacity. If you notice your iPod gets hot when you charge it, take it out of its case first.
How To Disable Windows Active Desktop
Active Desktop is a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer's that allows the user to add HTML content to the desktop, along with some other features. It is also included in Windows 98 and higher operating systems.
Users can add HTML both in place of the regular wallpaper and as independent resizable desktop items. Items available on-line can be regularly updated and synchronized so users can stay updated without visiting the website in their browser.
Active Desktop works much like desktop widget technology in that it allows users to place customized information on their desktop. Turning Active Desktop off saves a bit of memory and improves the performance of low-memory PCs. There is a checkbox in Window's Display Properties dialog box to do this. Here is how:
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open Display Properties.
3. Click the Desktop tab.
4. Click the Customize Desktop button.
5. Click the Web tab in the Desktop Items window.
6. To enable the Active Desktop, check "My Current Home Page". Add your current home page into your desktop or click New to add another web page and/or other Active Desktop features.
7. To update the content, click the Synchronize button.
Users can add HTML both in place of the regular wallpaper and as independent resizable desktop items. Items available on-line can be regularly updated and synchronized so users can stay updated without visiting the website in their browser.
Active Desktop works much like desktop widget technology in that it allows users to place customized information on their desktop. Turning Active Desktop off saves a bit of memory and improves the performance of low-memory PCs. There is a checkbox in Window's Display Properties dialog box to do this. Here is how:
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open Display Properties.
3. Click the Desktop tab.
4. Click the Customize Desktop button.
5. Click the Web tab in the Desktop Items window.
6. To enable the Active Desktop, check "My Current Home Page". Add your current home page into your desktop or click New to add another web page and/or other Active Desktop features.
7. To update the content, click the Synchronize button.
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