Your laptop is a critical part of your life, but you sometimes feel stuck trying to find an outlet because your battery seems to last for just an hour or two. Before you blame your computer, look at the technical specifications from the Apple website to see if your battery is underperforming. If it is, there are a few things you can do to stretch your battery life.
Here are 7 tips to improve your Mac battery life:
Energy Saver Settings
Click on the battery icon in the status menu at the top right of your screen and select “Open Energy Saver Preferences.” Here you can control the sleep settings of your Mac to improve your battery life. Set your display to sleep when you are idle so it temporarily turns off the backlight and saves battery power. You should also select the option to dim the display when disconnected from a power source.
Switch Browsers
Chrome, one of the most popular internet browsers, is not doing your battery any favors. Chrome requires a tremendous amount of RAM causing your machine to work harder than it needs to. When trying to extend your battery life, use Safari because it’s optimized to work with your Mac and won’t drain your battery as quickly as Chrome.
Dim the Lights
Your Mac gives you control over screen and keyboard light brightness. When you are disconnected and trying to extend your battery life, dimming these lights helps get you more life. Dim your screen by pressing F1 and dim your keyboard light by pressing F5.
Manage Notifications
If you can live without pop up notifications, then turn them off for the sake of your battery life. Go to your System Preferences and select “Notifications.” From there you can choose which apps you would like notifications from, or set your computer to do not disturb to turn off all notifications for a set period.
Update Your OS
The newest Mac OS, High Sierra, fixes a known battery issue that incorrectly displays how much power remains on your battery. By updating you’ll have better knowledge of how long your battery lasts. This tip may not increase battery lifespan, but it will save you from unexpected shutdowns.
Disconnect
Bluetooth, WiFi and location services all run in the background and can drain your battery. When you’re away from an outlet turn off as many of these services as possible to get a bit more time on your charge. Bluetooth and WiFi can be turned off from the status menu. To turn off location services open your System Preferences and select “Security & Privacy.” Select location services from the menu on the left and unclick “Enable Location Services.”
Battery life decreases over time, but these tips can help you get more time on each charge. If your battery isn’t charging or dies in under an hour, come in to see us.
