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I am a developer who uses Visual studio 2008 C# for my works. I am using my own laptop for my work.

What is the proper power options that I can use to increase the battery life of laptop ?

The laptop is on and working for over 15 hours a day, so taking the proper power option is important.

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Tiva, you might get a better response on SuperUser, as this is more a general computer question instead of a programming one. – jb Oct 16 '10 at 5:24
you should ask your question on superuser , as much as it's related to programming, it really is not a programming question – PatrickS Oct 16 '10 at 5:25
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migrated from stackoverflow.com Oct 16 '10 at 5:32

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3 Answers

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The big concern for laptops (especially those churning through heavy graphics or compiling operations) is HEAT. Do whatever you can do reduce how hot the laptop gets, and you'll reduce the majority of the problems. Here are a few suggestions.

  • if you don't need the battery, take it out while using the laptop. Just having it connected while the laptop is on generates and traps a ton of heat.
  • Become aware of the fans, vents, and intakes. Make sure they're never obstructed, and always have access to cool air. Check them regularly (if possible) for dust/fur and clean/vacuum them if you can.
  • Install a temperature monitoring app, possibly with a desktop widget, to be aware of the current temperature of whatever sensors your laptop has.
  • Don't strain your eyes, but lowering the screen brightness reduces power draw
  • Really, any tip that makes the battery last longer will lower the power draw & therefore heat generation of your laptop. There are tons of laptop-battery-life extending tips here on SU.
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There are plenty of battery life extension tips articles if you'll search. The first result on my search was one of the more comprehensive and concise guides.

I'll summarise what seem to be the most repeated points:

  • Use your resources as lightly and efficiently as possible. Everything comes back to this point.
  • Turn the screen brightness down.
  • Don't run resource-heavy programs, don't run virus-scans and run as few programs as you can at a time (meaning you might want to shut down some taskbar apps). If you use Windows Vista, disabling Windows 3D Aero might take a chip off your total resource consumption.
  • Minimise your usage of the CD/DVD drive, Wireless card and external devices. If you have an external hard drive, copy the files you want to use onto your local hard drive first.
  • More RAM and regular defragging both decrease the demand on your hard drive.
  • Utilise Power Options in your Control Panel to keep system resources in check.
  • Like Kara said, keep heat low so as to keep the system running at peak efficiency.

If you live in a hot climate like myself, I'll throw this in: A friend of mine had significant heat problems cooling pads weren't solving. One miniature 5" fan pointed at his laptop's exhaust vent worked wonders.

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up vote 0 down vote

Change the Performance Options in Windows to Adjust for best performance.

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