Battery life

Ways to ensure your battery makes it through the day!

1: Charge your laptop fully before college ! (sorry, it's obvious and it doesn't help if you forgot today but it's true...)

2: If you havn't been able to charge fully or aren't confident it will last for a day - bring a charger!

3: Turn down the screen brightness

4: Close tabs and applications you aren't using

5: Watch less video (or lower the quality settings)

6: Avoid using power intensive applications when not connected to power (i.e. rendering a video or recording music will drain your battery much faster than word processing - Gaming between sessions is likely to have a big impact on battery life too)

7: Use wired headphones and turn off bluetooth when you don't need it.

8: Try using darker backgrounds and 'dark mode' on browsers

9: Try closing the device when you don't need it in class

10: Don't let your laptop get too hot (use on a hard surface where it can get proper airflow - using a laptop on a surface like a blanket can block the vents, cause it to get hot and damage battery) )

Specific advice for different kinds of laptops

Windows PC devices

Apple Laptops and iPads

Chromebooks

Help - My battery is really not very good at all

It's possible that an older battery will simply not hold charge very well, no matter how gently you use it. Unfortunately, no battery will last forever and will eventually need replacing.

If you are worried about or frustrated by your device's inability to stay charged, speak to your PM about the possibility of loaning a device from college.