Checking the battery

You can check the level of charge on your laptop PC battery by clicking the power icon in your system tray,.

The power icon looks like a battery with a wall plug to its left.

The window indicates how much charge remains in the battery and enables you to select a power plan to manage how your laptop PC uses battery power.

The power icon provides information about battery charge and power plant in use.

Another option is to use the HP Battery Check utility.

Understanding Power Plants

Windows Vista includes three default power plans:

Balanced: Offers as much power as the laptop PC can deliver during periods of activity but significantly reduces power consumption during idle periods.

Power saver: Saves power by reducing system performance whenever possible. High performance: Maximizes system performance and responsiveness to user input. Battery life can be reduced by as much as 50 percent from balanced values when the PC uses this power scheme while running on battery power.

HP Recommended: Offers slightly different settings from those for Power saver when running off the battery but with faster time-outs when running plugged in to an external power source. Power saver: Same as the Windows Vista default power plan of the same name.

The HP Recommended plan replaces the Windows default balanced power plan. It makes sense to select HP Recommended for most situations in which the laptop PC switches between plugged-in and battery-powered usage.

In Classic view, double-click Power Options. For any of the power plans shown, click Change plan settings, and then click Change advanced power settings.

The Power Options dialog box opens, displaying individual power plants in complete detail

Optimizing Battery Life

You can achieve optimal battery life by storing the battery at temperatures between 35 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit (typical refrigerator temperatures) at a 40-percent charge level. Before you take the laptop PC on the road, charge the battery up to 100 percent.

Reference: HP Learning Center

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