increasing battery power

[angivodka]

hi all

i have found that the battery in my sony viao only has a time span of 1.5 hours. is there a way to increase the battery life?

thanks for any replies

[ksgaservices]

Yes there are a couple of ways to increase your battery life. First is to turn down the brightness of your screen. Second turn of any unneeded devices i.e. wireless cards, usb, drives and such. Lastly buy a bigger capacity battery and that should double your battery life on average.

[angivodka]

thanks for your tips.

so will a larger capacity battery fit into the same space in the laptop?

[ksgaservices]

Yes it will if your laptop manufacturer sells one it fits.

[James]

Firstly get some free software called Notebook Hardware Control
Its priceless (well free actually!)

Its fantastic, allows you to set CPU speed, screen brightness and other factors that effect battery life.

[Triumph]

James, I will have to check that out. I have an extended battery for my dell, but I often have 4 hour writing sessions unplugged, and would like to extend that a bit.

I will second the tip on brightness, that seems to be the one that makes the most difference for me.

[brian]

Sounds like a good idea - my Vaio tends to run down pretty quick - about 2.5 hours. It would be great to increase it for long train journeys.

[Word2Action]

I like using my laptop when traveling back and forth from college. This takes about 4 hours and it would be helpful if my battery lasted that long. It makes long trips just that much shorter.

[Triumph]

i can not wait until they have batteries that will power your laptop for like 12 hours of use a day. That would be great. Just need to plug it in at night, and then have it all day with no worries.

[vicki2]

Exactly. One of the things I find amusing on television shows is that laptops never seem to need a power up. It's one of those film things which drives me crazy. You think Carrie on Sex in the City ever had a low battery problem???