Laptop Best Practices
Posted by , 4 years ago
Shut down your laptop.
Leaving for the night? Traveling? Working from home and you’re done for the day?
These are the recommended times to shut down your laptop. If you are going to be leaving your laptop unattended for a long period, you should shut it down. Shutting it down prevents your laptop from overheating and stops any internal components from being damaged, batteries, etc.
Restart your laptop.
Having a minor issue or two? Things not running the way you expect them to? These are examples of good times to restart or “reboot” your computer. Many small issues can be solved by simply restarting your computer. Note: Before you restart, be sure to save any work that is still open. You do not want to lose that work you have been doing!
Plug-in vs. Battery Power
This topic is essential for anyone who uses a laptop computer for any reason. Over the last several years, batteries have become longer-lasting, while maintaining their life span. Although improvements have been made, they are still not perfect. Here are a few things to consider optimizing your laptop’s battery life.
• Laptops and batteries are made to be mobile. While they work great as a desktop replacement when connected to a docking station, they need to be unplugged occasionally. The recommendation is to undock or unplug your laptop at least twice a week and run on battery power.
• To aid in battery performance, they need to be cycled. This means they should be used on battery power for a while, draining it down to less than 10%. Once you’ve reached the 10% remaining mark, you will be warned, so there should be no worry of losing your work, as long as you have saved it periodically. At that time, connect the laptop to a charger or docking station, and allow the battery to charge 100%.
• If you are always on the go or use your laptop on battery power more times than not, it is a good practice to let your laptop charge 100% before unplugging it from the charger.