There is a lot of legend and misinformation about battery saving in laptops that ends up taking its toll. The most important thing to know is several facts. Firstly, how old is your computer. In fact, if your computer is relatively new, no more than 2 or 3 years old, then there is no major problem. In fact, there is a good chance that the processor architecture is so advanced that you won’t even notice it, but it saves a lot of battery life in itself. You should also remove any application that tells you it will save battery life by activating it. In fact, most of them don’t do anything, unless they are from the manufacturer of the processor your computer uses (Intel or AMD). The YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips has performed some tests with the most popular battery saving methods. Surely these results that will change the way you work.

Disconnect peripherals

Yes, your mechanical keyboard and mouse with colored LEDs can be the best way to use a computer. Especially, if you are one of those who like to play games on them, but they consume a lot of power. Studies point to a 30% battery consumption simply by having a keyboard and mouse with lights. Your keyboard and mouse don’t have lights? Whatever, they still consume power, up to 20% according to measurements.

Disabling ports, camera, or sensors is useless.

Some guides indicate that if you disable USB ports, they stop consuming power and thus impact battery life. The same with brightness sensors or the webcam. However, this is not so true. In fact, they do not consume so much power as to drastically change the available power time.

Do not change the screen resolution

Most modern laptops have displays that are capable of resolutions up to 4K. This is a very high image quality that requires more power from the graphics processor. Interestingly, changing the resolution to a lower one barely saves 6% battery life. Therefore, it is not worth losing image quality for such a small saving.

Deactivates the keyboard illumination.

Yes, that light that comes out from under the laptop keys that is so useful at night is totally unnecessary when you have some light to type with. Also, by disabling the keyboard backlight you can save 16% battery life, which is quite a lot.

Lower the display brightness, but not all the way down.

You may think that lowering the brightness to minimum will save a lot of battery life. In a way yes it is true, from maximum brightness level to minimum, it could save you 20%, but there is a trick. From the maximum level, to 50% of screen capacity, you get a 16% savings. From that 50% brightness, to the minimum level, you barely add 4% savings, so you don’t need to leave your eyesight with low brightness, adjust it to half.

Airplane mode does not save as much battery life

It turns out that the new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips and processors have made power saving one of their priorities. This leads to the assertion that disabling Bluetooth and Wi-Fi doesn’t actually save as much battery as you might think. On the other hand, though, keeping a Bluetooth accessory connected without using it is a waste of energy.

You should be aware that there is one scenario where your battery will suffer using wireless networks. This is when your computer tries to access a Wi-Fi network but has such a bad signal that it keeps trying to connect. These moments can consume more battery power.

Choose the correct streaming video quality

If you are on YouTube watching videos and want to save battery, the solution would be to not watch video, but we know that nowadays that is asking for an impossible. Instead, what you should keep in mind is that streaming video in resolutions like 4K, consumes a huge amount of power. According to LTT, up to 40% battery life with this resolution. The idea would be to choose a lower compression mode, like 720p or even better, 480p. You won’t see a video with the best resolution, but it won’t squeeze as much power.

Use the default browser

Many people like to use Chrome as a web browser. However, the reality is that despite its years and continuous improvements (and complaints), Chrome is a browser that eats up your laptop’s memory and battery. The best solution is to use Edge on Windows and Safari on macOS while on battery.

Activate Windows 10 Energy Saver mode

This feature in Windows 10 saves energy, but there is a trick to it. This mode works by limiting the use of programs in the background, but only in universal Windows programs, that is, those you download from the Microsoft Store. Fortunately, more and more programs can be downloaded from there.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are several tips and tricks you can implement to increase the battery life of your laptop. Some of these include adjusting your power settings, using the battery saver mode, reducing the screen brightness, closing unused applications, and disconnecting unnecessary peripherals. You can also consider upgrading your laptop’s hardware, such as replacing the battery or installing an SSD. By following these steps, you can extend the battery life of your laptop and avoid the frustration of running out of battery power when you need it the most. Remember, a few small changes can make a big difference in how long your laptop battery lasts. Bye!

The post How to save battery power on your laptop appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

How to have full access to the battery health report in Windows 10.

The first thing you need to know is that we will have full access to the battery statistics. Therefore, we will know if the battery starts to run down. Or if it has undergone many charge cycles. Consequently, we will know the remaining battery life. On the other hand, we will resort to PowerShell. But it is necessary to launch it with administrator privileges. For this purpose we can use a couple of shortcuts. With this in mind, press the Win+X combination or right-click on the Windows button. In either case, select the corresponding option.

Then copy and paste the following command:

 powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery-report.html"

This action will generate a battery report. In addition, it will save it to the computer. As you can see, the report is saved in the root of the C drive. Therefore, open the file explorer by pressing the Win+E combination. Then, browse to the C drive. Finally, click on the battery-report.html file.

Next we will see a complete report on the battery status. In fact, there is data relating to usage over the last three days. As well as the average battery life according to usage. In addition, if it shows signs of damage then it will warn if it is advisable to replace it. So at the end of the day we have seen how to check the battery health in Windows 10. So it is a very useful tool. Since it allows to know if it is necessary to buy a new battery. Or simply recalibrate it. Bye!

The post How to check battery health in Windows 10 appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

How to know the battery temperature in Xiaomi phones

First step

Open the Phone Settings

Second step

Then go to the Battery section. Here you will be able to see the Battery temperature and how many times the phone has been charged.

How to know the battery temperature on any Android phone

First step

Download and install Battery Monitor by following the link below:

Google Play | Battery monitor

Second step

Then open Battery Monitor. You will immediately see how much charge the battery has, its temperature and the estimated time it will last according to its charge cycle. Also, this app will alert you by default when the battery reaches a temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. This option is modifiable and you can set the temperature at which you want to be notified.

Conclusion

The battery is one of the main components of Smartphones, that’s why it is important to take care of it to extend its life as much as possible. Years ago it was easier to replace the battery, nowadays it is not so easy. You would have to validate the warranty if you have it or take it to a third-party service center. That’s why I recommend that you don’t let your battery get overheated. Thanks for reading us. Bye!

The post How to know the battery temperature on Android appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Linux is, by default, less tolling operating system platform on the battery life. It’s lightweight, fast and highly optimized. Almost all the different Linux distros consume less hardware resource than Windows. However, if you’re using a Linux laptop, there are some more tricks you can do to increase the battery life. Let’s find out.

Battery life improvements

• Using lightweight Linux distros

There are tons of Linux distros available. Some of them are heavyweight, some of them are mid-weight and some are lightweight.

For example, Ubuntu got a number of available flavors – Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu MATE etc. Here, Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE and Xubuntu are the lightest ones.

You can also find out other lightweight Linux distros that consume less hardware resource. The less hardware usage, the less battery consumption.

• Disable startup apps

When you’re using a number of apps, it’s pretty common that some of them are loaded when you start your computer. The more app keeps running in the system, the more battery consumption happens.

That’s why disabling the startup apps you don’t need right away is essential. Don’t worry; it’s pretty simple to do so.

Fire up a terminal and run the following command –

cd ~/.config/autostart

ls

You’ll find out all the app shortcuts that are being triggered when your system starts. You can disable the startup action just by deleting the according to “.desktop” file.

rm <program_name>.desktop

Restart your system to take effect.

• Switching to an SSD

We all know that SSD is way faster than the traditional HDD. An SSD also consumes less power than an HDD because there are no moving parts. HDD requires more power for rotating the disks and moving the data read/write head.

If your laptop is using an HDD, consider switching to an SSD. This will not only increase the performance of your system but also consume less energy from your laptop battery. If you need an enormous storage, then you can easily get a portable HDD for the same price!

• Disable unwanted wireless services

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the most common features of any laptop. They allow connecting to a network and sharing data without the hassle of wires. However, running any wireless device requires energy.

If you’re not using Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth, consider turning them off. This way, the hardware responsible for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth won’t consume any power. This can even save you a lot of battery life.

• Change your browser to Firefox

A browser is one of the most basic components of any system. It can also be a major source of pressure on your laptop’s battery life. Google Chrome, for example, is the most popular web browser on both Windows and Linux. Despite providing tremendous performance and features, Chrome is pretty infamous for its hunger for hardware resource.

Almost all the Linux systems ship Firefox as their default browser. Firefox offers similar performance to Chrome, yet consumes less hardware resource. Thus, you can save more energy on your battery.

• Power settings

Every single Linux distro comes up with a number of available power management options. Tweaking the power options can essentially increase the battery backup.

For example, you can lower the screen brightness, change how long the monitor will stay up when to go to sleep etc.

• Unplug unused devices

If you need to use various devices with your laptop, for example, tons of USB flash drives and other USB devices, make sure to pull them off after their usage is complete.

The longer USB devices stay connected, they draw power from the computer. In the case of your laptop, the power source is the battery.

Hopefully, now you can enjoy more battery backup from your Linux laptop.

Enjoy!

The post Improve your Linux Laptop’s Battery Life appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.