How portable is your ultraportable? Today’s laptops are getting smaller and more powerful, but it almost seems like laptop developers have overlooked another important factor in laptops; its battery life. Today’s average laptop model can last up to 2.5 hours of normal use on a full charge. You’ll need to find an electrical outlet nearby if you plan to use it for longer.
There are only a handful of laptops on the market today that can handle 5+ hours of regular use on a single charge. The word ‘portability’ in regards to laptops seems to be limited to the fact that you can take your computer everywhere, but not use it anywhere. Most laptop manufacturers claim that the laptop has 4-5 hours of battery life, but that is only true if you leave the laptop idle.
Fortunately, there are certain laptop models that you can get your hands on if you dream of using your laptop on battery power for long periods of time. At the time of writing, one of the most impressive battery life can be found in the 2.4GHz Apple MacBook Pro (2008 Edition). With regular use, the battery lasted a staggering 4.5 hours! Other laptop models with good battery life include the Acer Aspire 8920G, Asus Eee series, Fujitsu LifeBook series, and Toshiba Satellite series.
If you’re looking to get more hours of battery life, consider getting an extended battery pack for your laptops. These extended batteries are basically larger batteries for your laptop that provide an average of 2 extra hours of use on your laptop. If that’s still not enough, you may want to consider getting an external laptop battery. These are basically huge external batteries (sometimes as big as the laptop itself), which when plugged in can provide up to an additional 9 hours of use. The disadvantage of external laptop batteries is that they are quite bulky and heavy (up to 1.5 kg).
Regardless of the laptop model and the type of batteries you use, there are several basic tricks you can use to extend the life of your laptop battery. One of the easiest ways is to make use of your computer’s power settings. This option can usually be found when you click on the battery icon on your toolbar. When on battery make sure the option is set to a ‘power saving’ mode. In this option, there will be a slight compromise on your laptop’s performance for longer battery life.
Another easy way to extend battery life is to dim your screen. Keep your laptop’s screen brightness to a minimum and you’ll notice a considerable increase in battery life.
In general, it is not good to keep a fully charged battery plugged in when the outlet is plugged in. Constant ‘overcharging’ will decrease battery performance over time. Also, try to charge the battery only when it is completely discharged.
