How to Care for Your Laptop Battery

1. Charge Smartly, Keep It Between 40 and 80 Percent

When you first get your laptop, make sure to charge it up all the way. It’s like giving it a good start in life! After that, try to keep the battery level between 20% and 80% most of the time. Avoid letting it go all the way down to 0% or staying at 100%, as this can stress the battery.

If you use your laptop away from its charger quite often, try to keep it above 40 percent charge. When it’s time to recharge it, top it off to about 80 percent, if it has decent capacity and you can live with the uncertainty. Using it this way is the best and most obvious way to extend the longevity and charge capacity of your laptop, especially if your device has a lithium-ion battery. For instance, the batteries of Apple MacBooks take a big hit when fully charged, because it makes them susceptible to overheating, which in turn reduces their lifespan.

2. Stay Cool

Laptops don’t like heat, and neither does their battery. Always use your laptop on a flat, hard surface. This helps the heat to escape and keeps your laptop from getting too hot. When it gets too hot, the battery can get tired faster. When you’re not using your laptop, keep it someplace cool, away from sunlight or heating vents. A chart on Battery University (third chart down the page) shows lithium-ion batteries kept in different temperatures for one year. A battery kept at a wintry 32 Fahrenheit (0 Celsius) retained 94 percent of its charge capacity, while a laptop at 104 F (40 C) held 65 percent. 86 F (30 C) is the benchmark Battery University recommends staying under. But keep in mind, that temperature is inside the laptop; if that’s how hot it is in the air, it’s certainly hotter inside.

3. Things to Avoid

As you use your battery, you should avoid some conditions because they can lead to the battery deteriorating and aging at a faster rate:

• Try not to use your device or charge it at high temperatures. Extremely high temperatures can cause lithium-ion batteries to deteriorate at an accelerated rate, which can permanently lower the battery capacity.
• Store your device with the battery charged to below 50% but not completely drained.  Batteries that are more fully charged and then stored may lose capacity faster. If you need to store your device for a long period of time, it’s best to make sure the battery level is below 50% but not completely drained before storing your device.

4. Power-Hungry Friends

Some programs and apps are like hungry monsters. They use up a lot of power and can make your laptop battery run out faster. Make sure to close programs you’re not using. And if you’re not using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, turn them off to save energy.

5. Sleep and Shut Down

When you’re not using your laptop, it’s a good idea to put it to sleep or shut it down. Closing the lid doesn’t always make it sleep – it might keep working in the background and use up laptop’s battery power.

6. Brightness Matters

A bright screen looks nice, but it also uses up more battery. Adjust the screen brightness to a level that’s comfortable for your eyes and saves energy at the same time.

7. Updates are Friends

For optimal functionality, you must consistently update your computer’s software. When the manufacturer releases a new update, it not only has patches and upgrades but can also help programs run more efficiently, which will conserve laptop battery power. The same operating system on a later patch could use significantly less battery power, giving your battery a longer lifespan without changing anything else. And so, review your OS and keep your machine — and its battery — on a healthy diet of updates.

Caring for your laptop’s battery is like giving it a long and happy life. By following these simple tips, you can help your laptop stay charged and ready whenever you need it. Just remember, a little bit of care goes a long way in keeping your laptop and its battery in top shape!

Facing issues with your laptop battery? LetUsRepair is here to help you. We have many years of experience in IT, our team has worked for large companies in the past, and day by day we add good customers to our experience.