The World According to Mitch

We love the device… the only complaint we have is that the battery doesn’t last very long.

That quote is from Theresa, and the device she is referring to is her new HP Stream 7 that I picked up for her and our younger son (see article).  I was surprised, because the promotional material for the Stream boasts up to 8 hours of battery.  I was also getting more than enough from mine… I unplugged it in the morning, watched videos on the train on my way to the office, and then again on the train on the way home.  I plugged it back in, and poof, the day was done.

One day, however, I used the device during the day.  My regular lunch companions were in a meeting, so I watched a video at lunch.  Knowing that I was doing this, I started downloading another video to watch on the train.  When I was finished with my lunch I closed the cover (as I do to put my Surface Pro to sleep) and put it aside.  When I got onto the train home I tried to boot it up to watch my videos, and the battery was dead.

Crap.

Okay, there are a few things you need to know about the Stream.  The first is that, unlike the Surface Pro, it is a pure tablet device and not a hybrid.  Whereas the type cover to the Surface is actually connected electronically to the device so it senses that it is closed, the cover for the HP is just a cover.  The second thing is that, like every other computer in the world, the more it is doing, the shorter the battery life will be.  So the action of downloading the new video (which I usually do when it is plugged in at home), coupled with the fact that the tablet was on all afternoon, drained the battery.

So what can I do to conserve my device’s battery?  Here are a few tips.

While I am writing it specifically about the HP Stream, the following tips will work to extend the battery life of any portable computer.

1. Choose the power plan that is best for you.  A lot of people think they need full power all the time on their device, and it is possible that you do.  However Windows has several Power Plans that you can use to conserve power, and you can access these by clicking on the battery icon in the task bar.  These power plans include different settings for ‘On battery’ versus ‘Plugged in’, so when I am at home downloading my videos, I can set the download working and walk away without worrying that my tablet will go to sleep and interrupt the download.  However when it is NOT plugged in, I now have the ‘Put the computer to sleep’ option set to 4 minutes, so I won’t close the cover and drain the battery.
2. Lower the brightness.  This is part of the power plan as well, but is also easy to adjust.  On a bright sunny day on the train I do need the screen to be brighter, but I have to remember that the brighter it is, the more battery it consumes.  Lower the brightness when you don’t need it.
3. Turn off what you don’t need!  Most devices these days have Bluetooth and WiFi built in, and that is great… but they also consume resources.  If you don’t need the Bluetooth on a regular basis, turn it off.  However Windows includes a great ‘catch-all’ for transmitting and receiving functions… Enabling Airplane Mode disables them all with one button, and then re-enables them when you disable it.  in Windows 8 swipe from the right, click Settings, click on the network option (this may be renamed after your wireless network) and switch it on.
4. Processes running in the background consume resources.  Open your Task Manager and see what is running… and then turn off what you don’t need.

None of these tips are really all that new, but since the concept of using a device all day without plugging it in probably is to most of us, following these simple tips can help extend the life of your battery.  There are probably many more which I haven’t mentioned… I would love for you to put them in to the Comments section!