Laptops are incredibly useful tools; from work to play, they are a regular feature in many peoples' lives. Of course, charging your laptop is essential to its functions, but sometimes there can be issues that drain its power. If you wonder, 'why does my laptop die so fast?', we have tips on addressing potential causes and increasing battery life.
Too Many Processes Running In The Background
If you find your laptop dying fast, it may have too many processes running in the background. Every command and action given to a laptop uses battery power, and many run without you even noticing. Canceling any unnecessary processes can help you prevent your laptop from consuming excess memory, data, and power.
Heavy Applications Running (Gaming & other desktop apps)
Not all digital activities are created equal. While browsing the web and checking your email are lightweight laptop actions, running games, or streaming video can take a toll. If you are someone who regularly games or edits videos, we recommend always keeping your laptop plugged in for the duration to prevent the laptop battery from dying fast.
Changes In The System Settings
Your power settings, especially your sleep and display ones, have a major impact on battery life. There are typically multiple power plans that adjust your laptop’s settings and battery consumption, with some aiming to save power by limiting brightness or other functions. It may be that you need to switch to a lower-level power setting for daily use.
The System Is Running On High Brightness Mode
Unless you are in direct sunlight, you should not need to have your display or keyboard on high brightness mode. The display is a big energy eater, and high brightness does not help this. Lowering your brightness can bring down the amount of energy your laptop is using and ensure that you can use your laptop for more extended periods.
Too Many Online & Network Connections
While laptops are designed to be on-the-go devices, remembering lots of networks and peripheral connections can drain the battery. Get your laptop to remove or forget any old network connections or peripheral devices that you no longer use to free up memory and stop unnecessary power loss. This short task could be a big help in the long run.
Faulty Driver Or Too Many Peripheral Devices
If your laptop battery dies too fast, you may have a faulty driver or too many peripheral devices. By having many devices connected via or port or Bluetooth, you may be losing added power as these items use power to work.
Disconnect any that you do not need before running diagnostics on your drivers and update them if necessary.
How To Fix Your Laptop Battery Draining Too Quickly
If you are looking to learn how to fix a laptop battery that dies fast, we have some tips that could help below.
Turn Down Your Screen Brightness
To lower your display brightness, go to Settings>Systems>Display and lower the brightness accordingly. For some models, you can use the function key and one of the corresponding buttons at the top of the keyboard; the brightness ones typically have a sun as their icon.
Turn Off Your Keyboard Backlight
To adjust your keyboard’s backlight, try going to Control Center>Mouse and Keyboard and adjusting or toggling the backlight from there.
Close Background Apps & Unused Peripherals
All programs use your laptop’s power to run; unnecessary apps running in the background are a hidden drain that can be easily fixed.
By going to Settings>Privacy>Background Apps, you can turn them all off or toggle the ones you need.
Another method involves using Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc to summon the taskmaster and manually end the tasks yourself.
Remove Bloatware
When you receive your laptop, you will often find many unnecessary preinstalled apps and programs that you will never use. By going into the Control Panel>Programs>Uninstall A Program, you can remove these and free up laptop data and memory.
Minimize Network Connections
To remove old network connections, simply go to System Settings>Network Connections or Control Panel>Network And Internet>Network Connection. From there, you can forget or deactivate connections that you no longer use with a simple right-click.
Adjust Your Power Settings
To change your power plan, go through Control Panel>Hardware And Sound>Power Options or right-click your battery indicator and select power options.
Once there, you will typically be able to choose between Power Saver, Balanced, and High-Performance power settings. We recommend choosing Balanced or Power Saver, depending on how dire your needs are.
How To Check The Battery Life On Your Laptop?
A laptop’s battery typically lasts for 1-2 years or 1000 charges. It is possible to check in on its lifespan on occasion by using the following techniques:
Checking Your Battery’s Health On PC
Checking Your Battery’s Health On Mac
Why Do These Laptop Models Die Quickly? (Causes & Fixes)
HP Laptop
If your HP laptop battery dies fast, it could be due to a few different reasons. Some of the more common ones include brightness. Adjusting your power level and brightness, as we described above, should help remedy the power issue.
Related: How Long Do HP Laptops Last?
If you find yourself thinking, 'my Dell laptop battery dies too fast,' that could be due to the reasons we have stated above. If trying these tips does not work, there may be an issue with your adapter.
Many customers have reported that their charging cable has become frayed, cut, or otherwise damaged. It is possible to order one via customer service, secure another via your warranty, or order another Dell laptop charger on Amazon.
Related: Dell Laptop Battery & Lifespan
Lenovo Laptop
For Lenovo laptop users that find themselves wondering ‘why does my Lenovo laptop battery die so fast?’, it is often due to any of the reasons we have described above. If our tips do not work for you, we recommend contacting Lenovo customer service or replacing your battery entirely.
Related: How Long Do Lenovo Laptops Last?
Toshiba Laptop
If you have a Toshiba laptop battery that dies fast, it is often due to the brightness and the power settings. By following our methods above, you should be able to remedy the issue and extend your laptop’s battery life.
Mac Laptop
If you have gotten frustrated searching ‘my mac laptop battery dies fast’ into Safari or Chrome, there are a few potential causes. Most often, the battery drain is caused by your power settings, brightness, or additional apps running in the background. By adjusting your settings, you should fix the issue in minutes.
Related: How Long Do Mac Laptops Last?
Laptop Battery Dying FAQs
Is it bad to leave your laptop plugged in all the time?
Most laptops stop charging at 100 percent and cannot overcharge. That being said, being connected constantly could cause a lot of heat buildup, which is dangerous for laptops. We recommend charging it to full and using it until it reaches 80 percent or less before plugging it in again.
At what percentage should I charge my laptop?
Most people tend to plug their laptops in when the battery reaches anywhere between 20 and 50 percent. If you are doing advanced activities such as gaming or photo editing, we recommend plugging your laptop in throughout.
Conclusion
No matter what you do, your laptop battery will naturally slowly degrade with time. We hope that these handy tricks have answered your thoughts of ‘why is my laptop battery dying fast’ and a solution has been reached. Remember to be careful regarding heat and monitor your digital habits carefully to prevent added strain on your device.
Jake Redman is a UK-born-digital nomad & founder of Ultimate Quality Content, a collective of high-end copywriters formed to provide detailed insight into everything technology-related. Jake is the definition of a man-nerd. He gets excited over things like processor architecture, ray-tracing, & is an avid E-Sports fan, specifically League of Legends. When he isn’t writing detailed tech-related articles, Jake can be found performing fire-breathing shows & wields a dragon staff, or on the sofa playing Mario Kart.