5 Habits That Extend Your Laptop's Battery Life

Simple, science-backed changes that keep your battery healthier — and your laptop unplugged longer.

Keep charge between 20% and 80% whenever possible. Lithium-ion cells age fastest at the extremes, so most modern laptops now ship with charge limiters — turn them on.

Lower your display refresh rate when you don't need 120Hz. Browsing and document work at 60Hz can add an hour or more to a workday.

Quit background sync apps you don't actively need — Dropbox, OneDrive and Slack are common battery culprits.

Avoid leaving the laptop plugged in at 100% in a hot room. Heat is the single biggest factor in long-term battery degradation.

Calibrate once every few months: full discharge, then full charge, to keep the battery gauge accurate.