Quick overview:
Do you travel a lot, but Vista and your laptop run out of power far too quickly? Before you invest a lot of money in replacement batteries, you should follow our 10 tips. They will help you get the absolute maximum battery life out of your notebook with Windows Vista! [Sandro Villinger]
A MacBook Pro with a 17-inch screen is used. Thanks to the 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo and a GeForce 8600 graphics card, the MacBook is actually quite a power guzzler. By default, the battery is already empty after about 2 hours - although this is actually a good value for notebooks of this size, you can read here how I was able to increase the runtime to a whopping 3 1/2 hours.
Test computer: MacBook Pro (with Windows Vista)
- Reduce brightness: The illumination of the LCD screen of notebooks still requires a lot of power. If you reduce the brightness to the absolute minimum, you can work between 20 and 40% longer with the device, depending on the notebook. On the MacBook, I noticed that the remaining time jumped from (remaining) 2 hours 3 minutes to 2 hours 58 minutes after I reduced the brightness to the minimum. This usually requires a key combination!
- Reduce the processor speed: Modern notebooks are equipped with very powerful processors with multi-core architecture and speeds above the 2 GHz limit. Although these are designed to be as energy-efficient as possible, you can significantly reduce the processor performance in mobile use. In most cases, even the lowest setting on modern laptops is still sufficient for the usual office functions or playing DVDs. And this is how it works: Click on the battery icon in the taskbar and select "Further energy options". Now select "Energy saving mode" and select here "Change energy saving plan settings".
Now click on "Change advanced energy settings". The window "Energy options". Scroll down here until you reach the "Processor power management" to see them. Expand it by clicking on the "+" character. Now first expand "Minimum performance status of the processor". Now tap on "On battery" the value "0%" in the box. Also type in "Maximum performance status of the processor" the "0%" in.
Please note: "0%" does not mean that your laptop will no longer provide any performance. Rather, the processor is now operated at the lowest possible clock frequency (e.g. 800 Mhz for a 2 Ghz processor). The following applies here: Test whether your laptop can still handle your desired applications (e.g. DVD player, Office) with sufficient speed. If not, you should increase the values in 10% steps and monitor the speed. Confirm each time with "Take over".
You will notice that your notebook works a little "slower", but the battery life has also increased significantly (!).
- Switch off hard disk automatically: Also in the "Energy options" set under "Hard disk" the option "Switch off hard disk after" on "1 minute" (On battery) so that the battery-hungry hard disk can rest while playing a DVD or typing an e-mail. This usually saves between 3 and 5% of battery life, as the mechanical components of the hard disk (e.g. spindles, read/write head) are no longer required.
- Wireless LAN in power-saving mode: If you do not need an Internet or network connection when you are on the move, you can also switch off the power-hungry WLAN chip. This is because it is otherwise constantly searching for available networks and is very active even when there is no connection. If you do not want to switch it off (see "Switch off unnecessary devices" below), you can also activate the energy-saving mode for WLAN. To do this, expand the "Energy options" the "Wireless adapter settings".
Under "Energy saving mode" select at "On battery" simply select the entry "Maximum energy saving mode".
- USB ports in energy-saving mode: Now switch to "USB settings/settings for selective USB energy saving". Here you can use the entry "Activated" determine that USB ports are only supplied with power when a device is connected AND active. Connected devices in particular (e.g. USB sticks, hard disks, mice, LED lamps) require a lot of energy, which has a negative impact on battery life. It is therefore advisable, if possible, to completely avoid (unnecessary) USB devices on the move.
- Set the lid closing action: In certain situations, it can be beneficial for the battery if the notebook does not switch to standby mode when the lid is closed. Example: You can close the lid, save the power consumed by the screen and just listen to music in the media player without the notebook switching off immediately. In this case, you should select "Lid closing action" to "Do nothing". Otherwise we advise you to enter "Save energy" if you only leave the notebook for a short time. This means it doesn't have to constantly restart, which costs time and energy! However, if you are not using your laptop for a longer period of time, you should generally opt for the "Idle state" plea.
- Set graphics card to energy-saving mode: If you are not running games on the move, it is advisable to set the graphics card interface (PCI Express on newer notebooks) to energy-saving mode. To do this, expand "PCI Express" and then the "Connection status energy management". At "On battery" now search for "Maximum energy savings" from.
- Search and indexing: Windows Vista permanently keeps a so-called "index" of files and folders on your hard disk in the background. This means that they can be found more quickly during a search. However, this also means that the hard disk is in operation considerably more - which has a significant impact on battery performance in the long term. You should therefore also set this function to economy mode.
At "Search and indexing/energy-saving mode" click under "On battery" on the "Energy saving mode".
- Use the battery to the last second: Windows Vista automatically switches off the notebook when the battery power drops to 5%. However, you often still have between 5 and 15 minutes to spare here! You should therefore set this time to 2 or 3%. To do this, click under "Battery" on "Critical battery capacity" and enter the desired value. Under "Action for critical battery capacity" then select "Shutdown".
Tip: You should not enter 0% here, as a complete discharge of the battery can reduce the runtime. Deep discharging causes "crystals" to form, which reduce the capacity from time to time
- Switch off the new "Aero" interface: 3D displays and animations require significantly more processor and graphics card power than the classic 2D display of Windows 2000. Therefore, if you want to work with your notebook for as long as possible, you should use the classic display. Switch to the "System control" after "Presentation and adaptation/customization". Now click under "Window color and display" on "Properties for classic presentation...". Here you select "Windows standard" or "Windows Vista Basis", as "Windows Aero" loads the graphics accelerator and therefore consumes more energy.
- Switch off unnecessary devices: Last but not least, you can also save a lot of power by simply switching off various devices (e.g. Firewire ports, network adapters). If your notebook manufacturer does not supply suitable software for this (e.g. Acer does this with the Acer Empowering Tools), you will have to do it yourself in the Device Manager. To do this, press the "Windows key+R" at the same time and tap "devmgmt.msc" button. As soon as you press "OK", the Device Manager will appear. First deactivate the "Other devicesYou can also delete "Devices" that were not recognized by Windows Vista or that you do not want to use/install. To do this, right-click on the corresponding entry and select "Deactivate".
In the category "Image processing devices" are usually webcams or connected digital cameras. If you do not need these on the move, you should also switch them off. With "Bluetooth radio" you can also deactivate all entries if you do not use Bluetooth when you are on the move. Under "IEEE 1394 bus host controller" you can switch off the Firewire interface of your notebook if you do not necessarily use it. The same also applies to the category "Network adapter". You can save a lot of power by switching off both the WLAN and the normal network adapter.
You can, of course, right-click on the devices and select "Activate" at any time when you need it or when battery life is not an issue.
That's it! If you follow all the tips, you can easily get almost twice the battery life out of your notebook. Have fun on the road!
Yours, Sandro Villinger

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