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electrical:12v:laptop [2018/03/25 19:19] frater_secessus [use a power-sipping laptop] |
electrical:12v:laptop [2023/09/08 00:26] princess_fluffypants [DC adapters] |
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====== Charging and powering laptops ====== | ====== Charging and powering laptops ====== | ||
- | Laptops are the most power-hungry of the nomad' | + | Laptops are the most power-hungry of the nomad' |
- | There are several techniques for successful | + | There are two basic approaches to keeping your laptop |
- | ===== use a power-sipping | + | - charge whenever possible |
+ | - use less power when not charging | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===== opportunity charging ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Sit near outlets** whenever possible. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Be ready to charge** - keep the laptop' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Install | ||
+ | ===== Use a smaller | ||
{{ : | {{ : | ||
- | If you don't already own a laptop, consider buying one that uses less power. | + | If you don't already own a laptop, consider buying one that uses less power. |
+ | |||
+ | One crude measure will be the wattage rating of the AC adapter. | ||
Sometimes the adapter will give watts on the back label or in the documentation. | Sometimes the adapter will give watts on the back label or in the documentation. | ||
If the label only shows output in volts and amps we can use Ohm's law to calculate watts. | If the label only shows output in volts and amps we can use Ohm's law to calculate watts. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Example from secessus' | ||
+ | * Full-sized (16"+) gaming laptops: **200-300w** | ||
+ | * Larger 15" corporate or engineering laptops, **90w-140w** | ||
+ | * MacBook Pro, most 13-15" laptops **65w** | ||
+ | * Entry level/ | ||
+ | * Chromebooks, | ||
---- | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== use laptop substitutes ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Checking email on a phone will use much less power than doing the same thing on a laptop. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Watching movies on a tablet or even a phone will use less power than a laptop. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== DC adapters ===== | ||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | Using a DC adapter for your laptop rather than an [[electrical: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Almost all small-to-medium modern laptops run off USB-C, which is commonly rated for up to 90w; a [[https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dell sells a 12v power supply for their older/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | For larger/ | ||
===== reduce power consumption ===== | ===== reduce power consumption ===== | ||
- | You can't affect how fast the laptop charges, so we will focus on reducing power consumption. | + | You can't affect how fast the laptop charges, so we will focus on reducing power consumption. |
==== screen brightness ==== | ==== screen brightness ==== | ||
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==== tune laptop-specific settings ==== | ==== tune laptop-specific settings ==== | ||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | Common settings: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * dim screen after X minutes of inactivity | ||
+ | * blank monitor after X minutes | ||
+ | * suspend/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Set the timeouts as aggressively as you can stand. | ||
==== reduce cpu load ==== | ==== reduce cpu load ==== | ||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | Extraneous applications running on your laptop consume CPU cycles, which in turn consumes more battery power. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first place to look is **the System Tray** (see image to the right). | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right-click on each icon in the System Try to see what it is. If t is not necessary disable or uninstall it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The second place to look is the **Startup folder**. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Navigate to your Startup folder and delete any icons for programs that are not necessary for automatic running. | ||
==== eliminate cpu-taxing animations ==== | ==== eliminate cpu-taxing animations ==== | ||
+ | Some webpages have animated or multimedia elements that consume CPU cycles when they are visible. | ||
+ | If you want to allow the animations but not have them consume as much power you can switch to another tab so the animation is no longer rendered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== disable networking ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you don't need networking for the current task, consider disabling wifi and bluetooth. | ||
+ | ==== reduce bandwidth ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[communication: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
- | ==== reduce networking ==== | ||
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===== charge at the right time ===== | ===== charge at the right time ===== | ||
+ | If you charge your laptop while driving or [[electrical: | ||
+ | ===== virtual servers ===== | ||
+ | If you are running a PC or laptop because some client or service needs to be active, consider moving that client/ | ||