If your laptop’s battery drains fast and shuts down in a matter of minutes, you must be asking yourself why does my laptop battery drain so fast? If you answered yes to that question, you’ve come to the right place. No matter what brand of laptop you own, a fast-draining laptop battery is a widespread issue that many users encounter.
In addition to the regular battery drain, it can also be caused by software-related issues. This article will show how to resolve this issue with various methods.
Why Does My Laptop Battery Drain So Fast – Quick Review of Reasons
One of the most basic reasons for a laptop battery to stop working is a dead or aged battery. If your laptop’s battery is outdated, it will likely drain fast and should be replaced immediately. The following factors might also cause the issue of laptop battery draining fast.
- There may be an excessive number of processes running in the background.
- A resource-intensive application (such as a game or desktop application) might drain the battery.
- A modification in the system settings that causes rapid battery draining
- An excessive number of internet and network connections might cause this issue.
- The installed firmware can get corrupted, resulting in a power outage.
- Other causes include malfunctioning drivers, excessive peripheral devices, etc.
Reasons Explained
With Windows 10 laptops, several customers have complained that their laptop’s battery drains quickly, even during little use or while the device is in sleeping mode. This “laptop battery draining fast” issue occurs in Windows 10 for two main reasons. Windows 10 launches an excessive number of background applications that waste battery life even when they are not in use.
The “Fast Startup” feature is the second source of battery power depletion, even during a complete shutdown. Windows 10 (and Windows 8/8.1) have “Fast Startup” activated by default, allowing the system to boot and launch faster.
Windows 10 does not perform a full system shutdown when “Fast Startup” is activated; instead, it resumes from a hibernation state. So to save your battery power, you should disable this feature.
Hardware Issues
Having a well-functioning laptop depends on having a properly working battery. How you use your computer directly impacts the amount of battery power required to run all the important systems at full performance.
If you use your laptop for activities such as gaming or to run multiple apps simultaneously, it will demand additional battery power to function normally. Be aware that the additional strain on your laptop’s physical components will drain your battery faster the more tasks you execute.
Old or damaged Laptop battery
If the warning “consider changing your battery” appears on your laptop, it’s probably time to replace the battery. A laptop battery doesn’t last forever. Even if they work fine for years, they will last less and less time on a single charge before they can’t be used, and you will have to buy a new battery.
After roughly three years of use, the battery life of laptops often starts to decline significantly (sometimes even sooner). You will feel the laptop battery draining faster, but in reality, its capacity has decreased with age; this is normal.
In this situation, your only options are to replace your laptop’s battery, operate your computer without a battery, or keep the laptop plugged in.
However, if your laptop is relatively new, or if you haven’t used it frequently since you bought it, its rapid battery drain is probably due to other fixable problems. Let’s examine them below!
Laptop Overheating Issue
It is common knowledge that laptops heat up. Many individuals call them “lap warmers.” It is because laptops must perform stronger to produce the required power. This additional effort might cause laptops to overheat, so reducing their battery strength.
During overheating, the laptop’s processor begins to work overtime to cool the device. This additional effort leads the system to consume more energy, hence becoming a reason for laptop battery draining fast. This is more common with gaming laptops because it has more powerful specifications.
In some situations, the laptop suffers a complete power failure and restarts to prevent more damage. Multiple methods can be used to prevent your computer from getting overheated. One is to ensure that sufficient ventilation is present. You may also utilize a cooling fan or a laptop desk.
Keeping The Screen Brightness To Maximum
The display is one of the essential components of your laptop, and it has a significant amount of battery usage, mainly when its brightness is set to maximum. Maintaining your display brightness at a high level for most of the time may accelerate battery drain.
You can modify your screen’s brightness from the display settings option in the general setting so the laptop.
Wrong System Settings
Our previous discussion regarding brightness is related to changing your laptop’s settings. A built-in battery saver is present on your laptop. The threshold for these settings to activate when your laptop screen dims and you receive a notification is around 20 percent.
Most people believe that this is simply a low battery alert. They are wrong. This power-saving mode is entirely customizable and packed with several battery saver settings. You may configure when the mode activates, what it modifies, and how it prioritizes power efficiency above performance.
Many laptops feature built-in sliders that allow users to fast and easily choose between high performance and extended battery life. When it comes to system and battery options, this is just exploring the possibilities. There are numerous adjustments that may be made to increase the efficiency of your battery and get rid of the laptop battery draining fast problems.
How to stop my laptop battery from draining?
Now you understand why does my laptop battery drain so fast; it is time to learn the possible solutions. Laptop batteries drain fast, requiring constant plugging in. To overcome this, use one of the techniques listed below.
Change Your Laptop’s Power Settings
Changes to your system’s Power settings may potentially contribute to solving battery difficulties. Ideally, it is similar on computers of all brands and is simple to fix. Simply navigate to Settings > System > Power & Sleep and modify the settings for sleep and screen time when the system is on or in hibernation.
Furthermore, you may navigate to “Additional Power Settings” from here to optimize or balance the system’s power consumption. You can also see which connected devices or programs running in the background consume more battery. You can also select to customize your battery saver mode from this page. Proper power settings can help you make your laptop faster.
Adjust Your Screen Brightness
The display is one of the primary parts that requires sufficient electricity to function effectively. If you set the display’s brightness too high, you may get the Windows 10 battery draining issue. You can adjust display brightness from settings on Windows 10.
Step 1. Press Win + I to enter the Settings panel, and then choose the system.
Step 2. Select a display from the left panel and then click Changing screen brightness on the right.
Step 3. Adjust the screen’s brightness to a lower setting.
Don’t forget keyboard backlighting
Similarly to powering the display backlight, the keyboard backlight can cause the computer battery to drain faster. First, ensure that the keyboard backlight is turned off when not in use. Secondly, every operating system features settings that disable keyboard backlighting after a specified amount of inactivity.
This setting differs by the manufacturer on Windows 10; however, generally, it can be accessed through System Preferences > Keyboard.
Disable the Fast Startup
The next step is to disable Windows 10’s “fast start” feature.
- Navigate to Start -> Settings -> System.
- Click Additional power settings under Power options.
- Choose the function of the power button on the left.
- Then, click Settings that are currently unavailable.
- Uncheck the box labeled Enable quick startup (recommended) and click Save changes.
- Restart your computer.
Longer battery life or best performance
It is advised that you switch between the two power modes, “Best battery life” and “Best Performance,” if you are working on ordinary office activities without using heavy programs. Simply click the battery icon in your taskbar to find the perfect compromise between performance and energy conservation.
Battery saver
Laptops, like smartphones and tablets, go into battery saver mode when the battery level drops below 20%. To see if the battery saver is on, go to Settings > System > Battery. You can also check other battery settings here.
Email and calendar synchronization, push notifications, and background program execution are all disabled when the power saver mode is activated.
Tips to improve your laptop battery timing
Here are some quick tips to solve your query why does my laptop battery drain so fast:
- Maintain your display’s brightness at medium
- Maintain your battery in balanced mode
- Disconnect the unwanted peripheral devices
- Plug in the charger when the battery is at 15 percent, and unplug it when charging reaches 80 percent
- Turn off the keyboard’s backlight when there is sufficient ambient light
- Turn off unnecessary programs running in the background and don’t run too many processes simultaneously
- Maintain proper laptop ventilation
Conclusion
You should now have a better idea about why does my laptop battery drain so fast and what you can do to prevent this from happening.
It’s not always possible to extend the life of a single charge, as you saw in the examples above. However, there are several options and changes you may use to increase the duration between charges.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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