Laptop battery life is a big problem for some people, especially those with older laptops. This is because it reduces over time, making it hard for you to use your laptop for many hours without recharging. For some people, their laptop battery only lasts 1 hour.
If your battery discharges completely in an hour or less, then you must understand that it is not normal. This article will highlight why your laptop battery drains completely within an hour and how to resolve this problem.
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Why Laptop Batteries Drain Fast
Laptops have batteries with extensively varying run times. Some of them may last for a couple of hours before they die, while others can successfully run throughout the day. If your battery is draining in an hour or less, it might be due to its bad health.
Excess heat produced in your laptop’s interior can cause the battery to drain faster. Another cause could be wrong battery calibration (most manufacturers add a calibration tool, therefore, check your laptop’s manual for directions on how to recalibrate your battery). Other causes include faulty batteries, running power-hungry programs, and using a laptop with high screen brightness.
How Long A Laptop Battery Should Last
Don’t know how long your laptop’s battery should last? The average lifespan of a battery with a single charge depends on two things; the battery capacity and what you use your laptop for.
The average lifespan of a laptop battery on a single charge can range anywhere between 2-3 hours and 7-8 hours maximum. Therefore, if your MacBook is draining the battery within an hour or isn’t charging, find out the source of the problem and implement an appropriate fix. Let’s get over to how to do so.
How To Improve Laptop Battery Life
The battery life of your laptop depends on the tasks you perform on your device. When performing simple activities such as sending or receiving emails and browsing the internet, your laptop battery should be able to last for 4-5 hours.
However, if you’re using a computer with a large battery capacity, it can last 10-12 hours. Doing processor and graphics card-intensive tasks such as video editing or gaming will usually drain your battery a lot faster and you can get as low as 2-3 hours of run time.
To increase your battery life and prevent it from draining fast, you can try the following fix:
- Tweak macOS Battery Settings
Modern Mac laptops feature power and battery settings options to control settings that affect battery life. macOS Monterey or later users can find this option by accessing System Preferences and clicking Battery.
Confirm that the box next to “Slightly dim the display while on battery power” is checked. “Enable Power Nap while on battery power” should be unchecked. Enabling the option to dim the display on MacBook Pro will change the brightness to 75% after unplugging the laptop from the power outlet.
- Manage Performance to Save Battery
In Windows 10, the performance management tool is a slider available in the battery icon from the taskbar. This tool groups all settings affecting the battery life of your laptop. In Windows 11 laptops, this option can be accessed by going to Settings, and then System.
Now, click on Power & Battery and select the Power Mode option. Here, you will find different options, including Better Battery, Best Performance, Battery Saver, and Better Performance. Keep in mind the setting that the slider adjusts depends on the brand of your laptop.
- Minimize Active Internet Connections
Multiple peripheral or network connections on your laptop can drain its battery quickly. So, you must reduce the number of active internet connections on your device. For that, first, access the Settings of your system.
Click on Network Connections to get the list of active network connections. Some Windows versions have this option in Network Connections. For this, click Control Panel, Network and Internet, and then Network Connections.
- Close Unnecessary Processes and Programs
Unnecessary apps and programs running in the background can consume a lot of power and cause your laptop battery to last for only 1 hour. To end these programs, turn off or disable the background apps by going to Settings and tapping Privacy.
Just like unwanted programs, unnecessary background running processes or features can cause bad battery life. Go to the Task Manager to review these processes. Press Ctrl, Alt, and Del. Or tap Ctrl, Shift, and Esc. Select the process you don’t need and then right-click to select End Task.
Final Thoughts
Faulty battery, wrong battery calibration and settings, running demanding applications, and multiple programs running in the background are the main reasons why your laptop battery lasts an hour or less.
Taking the steps explained above should help extend the battery life of your laptop. Also, if the battery has lost its power-holding capacity over time, it should be replaced.