Q: What are my options when the battery on my Windows laptop is going out?
A: If you find yourself tethered to a wall outlet more often than you’d like, your laptop’s battery is telling you that something’s wrong. Over time, all rechargeable batteries degrade, but how you use (or abuse) your laptop plays a big part in how quickly it happens.
Before replacing the battery or the whole machine, it’s worth digging into the data to see if you can make a more informed decision.
Generate a battery health report
Windows 10 and 11 have a built-in tool that gives you a deep dive into your battery’s current health and usage patterns. It’s a great first step to figure out what your battery’s capacity may be.
Here’s how to run it:
- Press Windows key + R to open the run box
- Type cmd and hit enter
- In the command prompt, type: powercfg/batteryreport and press Enter
Windows will generate an HTML file and save it to a path that looks something like
“C: Users[YourName]battery-report.html.”
Copy and paste that path into your browser’s address bar to open the report.
What the report tells you
Look in the “installed batteries” section, compare the “design capacity” to the “full charge capacity.” If your current full charge capacity is under 80% of the original design, your battery has seen better days.
Scroll to the very bottom of the report for a section that shows an estimate of current battery life based on all historical usage since the operating system, or OS, was installed. It includes a side-by-side comparison of how long the battery used to last versus what it delivers now (based on the last date of usage).
If this time of usage is too low, it’s probably time to consider replacing the battery.
Fine-tuning for better battery life
If your battery still holds a reasonable charge, you can likely extend each session by adjusting how your laptop is set up and how you use it:
- Lower screen brightness to the dimmest level that’s still usable, as this is the No. 1 killer of power.
- Use the Power Mode section of the “Power/Battery” Settings to select “best battery life” (Windows 10) or “best power efficiency” (Windows 11).
- Go into your power and sleep settings and shorten the time it takes for the screen to turn off or the system to go to sleep when idle.
- Make sure closing the lid puts the laptop into sleep mode (or hibernate for even better power savings).
- Disable apps and background tasks that don’t need to be running while on battery.
Check for manufacturer’s battery tools
Some laptops include vendor-specific battery tools — Lenovo Vantage, Dell Power Manager, HP Support Assistant, etc. — which may have extra options to extend battery life span or improve charging efficiency. These tools usually live in the start menu or system tray.
Measure the impact
Once you’ve made the adjustments, run through a dozen or so charge/discharge cycles, then generate a fresh battery report. It’ll help you see if those changes made a dent in the battery drain or not.
If your battery’s just worn out, a replacement battery will be cheaper than buying a new laptop, especially if the rest of the system is working just fine.
Ken Colburn is founder and CEO of Data Doctors Computer Services. Ask any tech question on Facebook or X.
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