Do You Know How to Check Laptop Battery Life?
The battery life of a laptop is an obviously important part of the laptop's overall performance.If you run out of battery life you can't do anything-so try not to run out,right?While that rule seems simple enough,it isn't always easy to follow.Laptop manufacturers have a tendency to overstate laptop battery life,and sometimes by no small margin.A manufacturer who claims ten hours of battery life rarely confesses that the stated battery life can only be achieved if you leave the laptop running at idle with the display a minimum brightness and WiFi off.
One of the worst things that can happen while working on a laptop is to have your battery die while you are in the middle of an important project.To avoid this,it's good to know how much life your computer battery has left in it.Most laptop computers offer a couple of ways to do this,and there are several free downloads that will put a large battery-life monitor on your screen,meaning you'll never be caught with a dead battery unexpectedly again.
Look in your computer's system tray,which is at the right side of your taskbar near the clock.You should see a battery icon.If it doesn't show up automatically,click the arrow on the left side of the system tray,which will expand the tray and show all icons.Place your mouse over the battery icon,but don't click on it.The icon will show roughly how much life is in the battery.Hovering your mouse over it will pop up a label showing exactly how much time remains before you run out of power and what percentage of the battery remains charged.
Plug in your AC adapter if the battery needs to be charged.The status in the system tray will show that the computer is now running on AC power, and the battery is charging.Many sources recommend letting a battery fully drain,so as not to shorten its "memory."However with lithium battery,the most common type of battery in modern laptops,this is not the case.If a computer battery is discharged past the critical 3% level,the battery may not be able to be recharged again.This effectively kills the battery.A laptop battery needs a small amount of power in it in order for it send communication back and forth with the laptop to recharge the battery.
If you're interested in how your laptop battery might hold up during less intense use,however,you can use the included Reader's Test benchmark.This can be accessed by clicking on the Options button and then changing the Benchmark Mode to Reader's Test.Once that's done, click on the Load Text button at the bottom of the window and select a text file.The Reader's Test,once activated,will open the text file and automatically scroll through the file time and time again until your laptop's battery gives out.
A battery in a "weakened state" is a good candidate for this fatal mistake.When batteries are brand new or inactive for more than 2 months,they are in a weakened state and must be conditioned with 4-5 partial discharge and recharge cycles to bring them up to full capacity again.A new battery may cause the backup power battery icon on your computer to indicate you have a low battery condition.We recommend that you let the battery charge overnight in your notebook computer.It may be necessary to remove and replace the battery and restart your computer with the battery installed in order for the computer's start up sequence to properly recognize your new battery.Rechargeable batteries will self discharge when not in use over a period of time.This might seem obvious but don't burn,disassemble,mutilate or short circuit batteries.
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