How to maximise your laptop's battery.

Byline: Cliff Joseph

How to maximise your laptop's battery

The point of a lightweight laptop is that you'll use it on the move a lot -- on planes, trains and other places where you may not have easy access to a mains power supply. Obviously, then, battery life is a crucial factor. For those who are relatively new to the world of portable computing, here's a quick guide to getting the best out of your new purchase and squeezing that little bit extra out of your battery.

In Windows XP, click on the Power Options Control Panel applet (Start/Control Panel -- see screen, right) to see your laptop's power management features. The first tab here is the Power Schemes pulldown menu. This includes a number of power 'schemes' -- predefined groups of settings that are designed for different working environments. There will be a 'Desk' setting, which assumes that you're using the laptop on an office desk with a mains power supply. This will leave the monitor and hard disk running most of the time as there's no need to conserve battery power. Alternatively you can select options such as the 'Max Batttery' scheme, which turns off the monitor and hard disk very quickly if the computer isn't used for a few minutes (maybe you're in a coffee shop and you just stopped for a drink). This minimises the drain on the battery in order to keep the machine running for as long as ...