Increase a MacBook’s battery life

Give your MacBook a battery boost with Lou Hattersley’s OS X power tricks

Apple has created a mini marvel In the form of Its Maceook. Despite skinny frames. Apple's laptops have enough battery power to last eight- to 12 hours. depending on the model. Here are a few tips to make them last even longer.

 
Maximising battery life:

Use Software Update: Keep up to date with the latest OS X. Click on Apple o Software Update.

 
Use Energy Saver System Preferences:

Open System Preferences (Apple - System Preferences) and click on Energy Saver. Click on Battery and Move the Computer Sleep and Dlsplay sleep sliders to five minutes. Tick Put The Hard Disks to Sleep when possible.

 
Dim your screen: 

Press the F1 key to turn the screen brightness down.

Turn off Bluetooth: Click the Bluetooth icon in the Menu bar and choose Turn Bluetooth Off (or System Preferences - Bluetoolh and click Turn Bluetooth Off.) Turn off WI-Fl: This makes sense if you're not using the Intemet or email. Click AlrPon In the Menu bar and then choose Turn Wi-Fl off.

 
Eject a CD/DVD:

if your Maceook has a SuperDrive, inserted disc media will occasionally spin up, draining the battery. Mute sound: Tap the Mute Sound button to stop any extraneous alerts.

 
Remove peripherals: 

Disconnect SD cards, external drives or 416 modems.

 
Avold graphlcally lntenslve apps:

Don't use any games with 3D graphics or video-editing apps if you can help It. Close unused apps: Speaks for Itself. Don‘! leave your MacBook plugged In:Over time this can afiect the battery capacity, so make sure you regularly discharge the battery.

 
Check apps that use a lot of energy:

Mac OS X now informs you If any apps are using slgnlflcant amounts of energy in the Battery menu. Click the Battery Icon in the Menu bar and check under Apps Using Significant Energy. Google Chrome is one of the main offenders: so quit energy-hungry apps like it and use low-energy alternatives instead.

You can also get more detailed information on energy usage using the handy Activity Monitor app.

Open the Activity Monitor app (you can find this in Applications/Utilities).
Now click on the Energy tab and Energy Impact header to view the apps and processes that are currentiy using the most energy on your Mac.

The Energy impact area of Activity Monitor is a good way to choose apps based on their impact on battery life.

 
Check for runaway processes:

A common cause of rapid battery drainage is often a ‘runaway process‘. This could be due to an app running erratically, or something else buried in Mac OS X going wrong. Sometimes parts of the operating system goes awry and causes the processor to work overtime. You can use the Activity Monitor to check that you haven't currently got any runaway processes in progress.

- Open Activity Monitor
- Click the CPU tab
- Look for any application that's consistently taking up more than 70 percent of the CPU's workload.

if ifs an application such as Safari or Mail. you should first try to quit it normally. if it's not a regular program, or It's not responding. you can terminate It via the ActMty Monitors Oult icon. found in its top lefl-hand corner.

 
Extrema energy-saving tricks:

Turn off Notifications: 

Click on System Preference - Notiications and limit the apps that can check for these. To do this, click the app's name and select None as the alert style and then tick the boxes. 

Turn 0ff Mail": Auto Chock mode": 

open Mall - Preferences and change the Check for New Messages tab to Manually.

Turn off Spotlight: 

Open Spotlight preferences. select the Privacy tab. and drag your Mac's hard drive to the Privacy list. Spotlight will now be disabled.