The move from Windows 10 to Windows 11 may have brought you more than just improvements. Have you noticed that now the battery life is lower? There are users whose laptop battery is running out too fast compared to the period before the update. Why happens? There are several possible explanations and solutions that we are going to explain in the following lines.
Laptop upgrades to Windows 11 have arrived left and right without giving users much choice. And while we’re not complaining about the improved features and performance, those who’ve seen their battery life cut considerably can’t say they’re happy. In some cases, even in current equipment, the battery does not manage to withstand a working day. How to solve it?
There are several ideas that we are going to give you to apply one by one until you find the one that helps you to make the battery work as well as it did before.
Reduce the refresh rate of your screen
It is possible that some configuration options have been changed with the arrival of Windows 11, although it may also be the case that you have changed it yourself. One of these parameters is the screen refresh rate, or put another way, how smoothly the image will refresh. Ideally, the refresh level should be high, because that will indicate that you will be using the maximum smoothness possible and, in some content, it is crucial, such as when you play games.
But having a high refresh rate is also a problem: your computer will consume a lot more battery life and you will be condemning yourself to having to plug it into electricity before its time. Therefore, check and adjust the refresh rate as follows:
- Click Start and type Settings. Then tap on the gear icon to open the “System” app.
- Go to Screen and then scroll down to “Advanced Screen”.
- In the “Choose an update frequency” field, change the value that appears to a lower one.
If the system does not let you change that value, it will mean that your laptop is not ready for it and that this will not be the solution you need.
Adjust background activity
It is possible that there are many applications that are acting on your computer in the background without your knowledge. It does not have to pose a danger to your system, but they will be consuming battery. Follow these steps while the laptop is not connected to power and adjust the settings to no longer allow such activity:
- Again enter Settings as we have indicated before.
- Click on Power and battery
- Click on “Battery saver” and edit the fields to activate battery saver, define that it activates when the battery percentage is higher than the predefined percentage (it is usually 20%) and activate brightness reduction.
Other possible solutions
If none of that worked for you, we have other options that might hit the key you need to play to get your drums back to peak performance. For example, it is recommended that you change the theme of Windows 11. The best thing in this case is that you opt for a dark one, something that will be especially recommended in the event that your monitor is OLED. With this type of screen, the pixels light up individually and can consume much more battery than normal. Therefore, change the background or theme by following this route which will also customize the file explorer and all other elements of Windows:
- Go to Start and search for “Personalization”.
- That will take you to the Themes menu, where you can choose a dark one that requires less lighting from the screen.
- After that go back to the previous menu and click on “Color”.
- In the first of the options, where it says “Choose your mode”, select “Dark”.
We ended up giving you one more idea, that of configuring the lock screen to activate in a short space of time. It may be the case that you leave the computer unattended for a long time and that it is consuming battery until the blocking is activated. Therefore, it is better that you have it configured for a block when 2 minutes have passed, or even with 1 minute it should not be a problem for you.
Make the adjustment by going back to Settings and Power and battery, but now go to the “Power” section. Of course, keep in mind that we only recommend making this adjustment for when the equipment is disconnected from electricity. If it’s connected you really don’t need to. We hope that one of these solutions helps you!
