Simple Ways to Conserve/Improve Linux Netbook Battery Power

For frequent travelers who just can’t live without having a computer with them, the netbook has become an essential device as it is extremely portable. However, its portability has sacrificed a few important features. --One of which is battery life.

Netbooks are usually sold with 3-Cell Li-Ion battery that when fully charged can last up to 3 hours on normal usage. But if you are looking for ways to extend your netbook’s battery power further, then you came to the right place. The tips that I’m going to share might sound “common sense” to some of our “computer expert” readers, but for the benefit of the non-experts out there, these could come in handy.

Take note that all of these tips are specifically targeted towards Linux netbook owners, but some may also apply to netbook users who utilize other operating system. So without any more delay, read these simple ways to conserve and improve your netbook’s battery power:

1. Use lightweight desktop environment and applications
Using resource-hungry applications means using more battery power. Try out different lightweight desktop environments, window managers, and desktop applications; or if you know how, ditch your X window session and use the terminal while surfing the web with text-mode browsers, or while checking the mail with a text-based email client.

2. Power management settings must be correctly set
Power management options will let you control some of your hardware activities like when changing sleep and brightness settings. One of the important rules to remember is to always turn the brightness down when on battery power.

3. Disconnect unused USB devices
Connected USB devices like iPods, mouse, or flash drive can quickly drain your battery juice, so it’s better to eject them if they are no longer used.

4. Disconnect unused wireless adapter
If you are just typing a document or editing photos and will not be using the Internet, you should turn off the built-in wireless adapter because it’s just consuming unnecessary battery energy.

5. Install PowerTop
PowerTop is a user-friendly tool that monitors each and every application and tells you which of them are causing your computer to put away more power. It also provides you with tuning suggestions to achieve low battery power consumption.

To those who have brighter ideas than mine on conserving or improving battery power on Linux netbooks, don’t hesitate to share it to us thru comment.