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Article ID : 00127402 / Last Modified : 07/12/2017Print

How to increase your VAIO's battery autonomy

    Battery autonomy (or battery life) is the time you can use your VAIO without having to recharge the battery pack.

    Your VAIO's battery autonomy depends on two factors:
    • Your individual usage of the VAIO and the actual amount of energy it requires.
    • The condition of the battery pack. A Lithium-Ion battery pack's maximal capacity will decrease through normal use and will need to be replaced once it's capacity becomes too low for the user's battery autonomy requirements.
    The easiest way to increase your VAIO's battery autonomy is to ensure that no power is wasted on features you do not require. Please find a number of ways to reduce the power consumption of your VAIO below:

    1. Reduce the Display Brightness
      You can control the brightness of your VAIO's display with the Fn+F5 and Fn+F6 hotkeys. The backlight of the display consumes more power when it has to emit more light. You should only use as much backlight as your environment requires. When running on battery power, using between one and two thirds of the maximal brightness is recommended.

      +   .

    2. Choose an appropriate Power Plan
      A power plan consists of a number of settings, such as default display brightness while plugged in or on battery, time thresholds to turn off the display, the hard drive and similar choices. A number of power plans are preconfigured on each computer. To view them, proceed as follows:
      1. In the Start Menu, type "power options".
      2. In the power options window, check which power plan is selected.
      3. Choose a plan with a high battery life (or energy saving) indication.
        Note: If you previously changed the settings of the power plans on your VAIO, you may want to click on Change plan settings and then on Restore default settings for this plan.




    3. Use Hibernation to avoid unnecessary standby time
      By default, Windows Vista and Windows 7 use a feature called Hybrid Sleep, which combines Standby and Hibernation. Standby leaves your computer running, but turns off display and hard disk. Hibernation saves your computer's current state to disk and then turns the computer off. Resuming from standby is faster than resuming from hibernation, but leaving your notebook running until it goes to standby and then later goes into hibernation via Hybrid Sleep wastes battery power.

      If you want to stop using your VAIO to resume at a later time, hibernate your VAIO manually by using the Fn+F12  hotkey.
      +

      Alternatively, you can configure the power button to trigger hibernation via Power Options and Choose what pressing the power button does.

      To disable Hybrid Sleep completely, proceed as follows:
      1. Type power options in the start menu and confirm with Enter.
      2. Click on Change plan settings for the plan you are using.
      3. Click on Change advanced power settings.
      4. Find Sleep in the tree structure and expand it by clicking on the + next to it.
      5. Change Allow hybrid sleep to Off for "on battery" and/or "plugged in".


    4. Use Sleep when you are not using your VAIO for short periods
      For shorter breaks and moving around with your notebook, send the system to sleep. This not only protects your hard disk drive from being damaged by being moved while it's operating, but avoids wasting energy on keeping all components running while you are not using them. Sleep consumes more power than hibernation, but allows you to resume using the system almost instantly.

      You can configure your VAIO to automatically enter sleep mode when you close the display lid via Power Options and Choose what closing the lid does and selecting Sleep there.

    5. Use chipset graphics when external graphics are not required
      Some VAIO notebooks feature more than one graphics chipset. If your VAIO has this feature and your use of the VAIO permits this, switch to STAMINA mode. If your VAIO has a three-way switch with Auto as option, use the Auto option instead. 




    6. Disable idle WAN, Wireless LAN,  Bluetooth and GPS modules
      All wireless module that your VAIO features consume power even when idle and not connected. If you are not using any wireless function of your VAIO, slide the Wireless switch to OFF. If you are using some of the wireless features, leave the Wireless switch on, but use VAIO Smart Network to disable the features you are not using. 




    7. Disable unused devices 
      The VAIO Power Management can switch off some individual devices completely. If you typically do not use one or more devices on the go, e.g. the analog modem or the i.link port, then disabling those will avoid wasting the power these devices consume while idle.
      1. Type power options in the start menu and confirm with Enter.
      2. Click on Change plan settings for the plan you are using.
      3. Click on Change advanced power settings.
      4. Click on the VAIO Power Management tab. 
      5. Disable any of the features you do not use.



    8. Disconnect unused external devices
      Charging your mobile devices via USB, using a ExpressCard or PCMICA device, using USB lights, a webcam, flash memory drives or USB powered hard disc drives will negatively impact your battery autonomy.
    9. Close unused applications
      Don't leave applications you'll not be using for the time being running. The impact may be minimal or massive depending on the background activity that the application has.

    There are many other steps that you can take, most with negligible impact and some with potentially considerable impact. Unfortunately the steps with considerable potential to save battery power also have the potential to compromise the stability and security of your Windows installation and should only be applied by advanced computer users, for example:
    • Review the installed security software packages and their processor load. Consider using security features that are part of Windows or offered by Microsoft instead of  third party software. 
    • Review the list of installed software and remove no longer required or redundant items.