How to make your laptop battery last longer with battery saver
Your laptop dies at the worst moment, and a few settings can buy you a lot more time. Here is how to set them by hand on Windows and Mac, and how to ask Key to look at it for you.
Nobody notices the battery until it is at 5 percent and the charger is in another room. The good news is that both Windows and Mac have a built-in saver mode. Turn it on early, and your laptop quietly does less in the background so the charge lasts longer.
This guide covers the saver mode on Windows 11 (the search phrase is battery saver mode windows 11), Low Power Mode on a Mac, and a few simple habits that help on either one.
Turn on battery saver in Windows 11
Microsoft has been renaming this feature. Older versions of Windows 11 call it Battery saver. Newer versions call it Energy saver. It is the same idea and it lives in the same place, so use whichever name you see on your screen.
- Click Start, then open Settings. You can also press Windows + I.
- Go to Settings › System › Power & battery.
- Find Battery saver (or Energy saver) and switch it on. On some versions you click Turn on now. On others you use a switch.
When it is on, Windows turns down some things that use a lot of power. Background activity is reduced, some visual effects are toned down, and the screen gets a little dimmer.
Quick way: click the battery, Wi-Fi and volume icons at the right end of the taskbar. Battery saver or Energy saver is often one of the small tiles there, so you can switch it on in one click.
Make it start by itself
You do not have to remember. In the same Power & battery page, look for the setting that turns battery saver on automatically when the battery drops to a level you choose. Pick something like 30 percent. From then on, your laptop starts saving power before you are in trouble.
Check what is using the battery
On the same page, open Battery usage. It shows which apps used the most power over the last day or week. If one app you barely use sits at the top, close it when you are on battery.
Turn on Low Power Mode on a Mac
A MacBook has a similar switch, and Apple calls it Low Power Mode.
- Click the Apple menu and choose System Settings.
- Click Battery in the sidebar.
- Turn on Low Power Mode. On some versions of macOS you choose Low Power under Energy Mode instead.
Low Power Mode reduces energy use to increase battery life. The Mac may run a little slower for heavy jobs, but for email, browsing and documents you will hardly notice.
The same Battery page also shows your battery use for the last 24 hours and the last 10 days, with the time your screen was on. It also has a Battery Health area that shows the condition of your battery.
Other settings that save power
Saver mode does the heavy lifting, but these small changes add up on both Windows and Mac.
- Lower the brightness. The screen is usually the biggest drain. Even a few notches down helps. On Windows, open Settings › System › Display. On a Mac, use System Settings › Displays, or the brightness keys on the keyboard.
- Let the screen turn off sooner. On Windows, open Settings › System › Power & battery and look at Screen and sleep. Choose shorter times for when you are on battery.
- Close apps you are not using. A video call left open in the background or a dozen browser tabs can quietly use power.
- Unplug extras. USB drives, phones charging from the laptop and other gadgets all take power from the battery.
Ask Key instead
If you would rather not hunt through menus, you can ask Key. Key is a free assistant that lives on your computer. You can speak to it or type to it, and the result is the same. It opens the real Settings window, changes your settings and tells you what it did. It works on Windows 10 and 11, and on a Mac with macOS 11 Big Sur or newer.
Half a sentence is enough. For example, you can ask "What's eating my battery?" or "Turn the brightness down." While it works, a small panel shows what it is doing, and you can stop it at any point. Before it tells you it is done, it checks the result. If it could not check, it says so.
KeyVoiceWhat's eating my battery?
These apps used the most battery today, starting with the one at the top of the list.
If you like changing settings this way, our guide on changing brightness, dark mode and other settings by voice shows more things you can ask for.
A simple routine that works
- Set battery saver to turn on automatically at about 30 percent.
- Lower the brightness when you are away from a plug.
- Once a week, look at the battery usage page and close anything that surprises you.
That is all it takes. A few minutes of setup now means fewer panics later.
Try Key free
Speak to it or type to it. It opens your apps, finds your files and changes your settings, then tells you what it did.
Free, no card. Windows 10 or 11, macOS 11 or newer.