Sometimes you need to use your laptop computer on battery power, but if it is not lasting long enough, here is how to reduce battery drain in Windows 11. Make these changes to last longer.
You may need to work out of the office, such as at cafes, airports and on trains. Sometimes it’s just nice to sit on the sofa at home and not be tied to a wall power socket. Whatever the reason for using a laptop on battery power, you want to make sure it lasts as long as possible.
There are many tweaks and changes that help to reduce power consumption in Windows 11 and there are some obvious tweaks and settings, but also some not so obvious ones. The difference between using battery-saving techniques and not using them can amount to quite a significant difference. You might even get a couple of hours more use on a full battery charge.
Windows energy recommendations
A quick and easy way to optimize a Windows computer for longer battery life is to go to Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations. Click Apply all at the top. When everything is set as Windows prefers, the button is grey and says Applied.
The settings are good, but they might not suit everyone and there is more you can do to extend battery running time on your Windows laptop, but it is a good place to start. Let’s see what else you can do.
Enable battery saver mode
The Battery Saver mode makes a huge difference to the amount of time a Windows laptop will run on battery power. For example, my laptop lasts two or even three times longer when it is enabled. The other tweaks covered below all help, but this is the main one.
Click the battery icon in the taskbar to display a quick settings panel and then click the Battery saver button to enable it. Performance is reduced slightly and the screen is dimmed a bit, but you will not notice the performance difference with email, web browsing and other lightweight tasks.
Manual and automatic battery saver
Go to Windows Settings > System > Power & battery and expand the Battery saver section. There is an option to Turn battery saver on automatically at and you can choose from a list, like 50%, 40%, 30% and so on. It cannot be set above 50%, but there is an Always option on the menu. That means always on when on battery power, not always on even when plugged in.
Set battery saver to at least 50% and better still, set it to Always, because it makes a big difference to the length of time the battery will last.
Choose a power mode
Go to Settings > System > Power & battery. When battery saver is turned off, a power mode can be selected and there is Best performance, Balanced and Best power efficiency on the menu. When the laptop is on mains power, select Balanced or Best performance, but when you are using it on battery power, select Best power efficiency.
When battery saver is enabled, power mode selection is disabled. If you always set the power mode to Best power efficiency, even if you forget to enable battery saver mode, you will at least get some power savings.
Windows settings are a confusing mess because the Control Panel still exists and it has power options. Click the Start button and type ‘control‘, then click Open when Control Panel is suggested. Click Power options and one or more power plans is displayed.
You can create power plans with the menu on the left and plan settings can be edited with the Change plan settings link on the right of each one. Create a Power Saving plan if there isn’t one already. Click Change plan settings and then Change advanced power settings.
There are a some settings that you can customize, like setting PCI Express to maximum power savings, and setting Processor power management > Maximum processor state to 80% or some other reduced value.
It is not clear how the Control Panel power plan and Windows Settings power mode work with each other. Selecting a power mode in one does not seem to change the other.
I would select the default power plan in Control Panel, which is usually Balanced, and then use Windows Settings > System > Power & battery > Power mode and Battery saver.
Dim the screen
One of the easiest and most effective things you can do to reduce battery drain is to turn down the screen brightness. The amount of power a screen uses depends on the brightness setting. Lower it and you lower the power requirement, which means the battery lasts longer.
Also go to Windows Settings > System > Power & battery and expand the Screen and sleep section. Set a short time for turning off the screen when on battery power, like three or four minutes. This ensures that if you aren’t actually using the computer, it isn’t wasting power.
Show power-draining apps
Which apps use the most battery power on your Windows laptop? Go to Settings > System > Power & battery and expand the Battery usage section. At the top, choose Last 24 hours or Last 7 days and just above the list on the right, choose from Overall usage, In use, Background, and Name.
Overall usage is useful, but the apps at the top of the list are usually the ones you use most anyway. Select Background and you can see if apps in the background have been using significant battery. How is this list sorted? My guess is that it is sorted by background use, but the percentage figure shown on the right still seems to be total usage, foreground and background.
If it is possible, and sometimes it isn’t, stop the worst apps running and stop them starting in the first place by checking for apps that run on startup.
Stop apps running in the background
One way to reduce battery drain in Windows and enable a laptop to last longer is to stop apps running in the background. If they are not running, they are not using battery power.
Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps to see what software is on the computer. At the right side of each app is three dots. Click it and select Advanced options on the menu. (It is disabled for some apps.)
The next screen has a Background apps permissions section and there are three options, Always, Power optimized (recommended), and Never. If the app does not need to run in the background, set it to Never. (The menu is disabled for some apps.)
It can be hard deciding whether or not an app should be allowed in the background. If there is any doubt, set it to Power optimized, but if you know you don’t use something, like Phone Link for example, then set it to Never.
Just below Background apps permissions may be a Runs at log-in section with an on/off switch. Not all apps have this, but if it is there, and if you don’t use the app, turn it off.
With all these changes, are you getting any more life out of your laptop’s battery. Let me know in the comments below.
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