How to check battery health and use Battery saver
All laptop batteries wear out gradually. Windows can show you how much capacity yours has lost, and Battery saver can make a charge last longer.
See your battery's health report
Windows keeps a hidden report, and the usual way to produce it uses a short command. If you are comfortable doing so:
- Right-click Start and choose Terminal or Windows PowerShell.
- Type powercfg /batteryreport and press Enter.
- It tells you where the report is saved. Open that file in your browser.
Look at Design capacity and Full charge capacity. If the second is well below the first, say under 60%, the battery has worn down. If you are not comfortable with this, you can ask us to do it.
Use Battery saver
Windows 11: Settings, System, Power & battery. Windows 10: Settings, System, Battery.
- Click Battery saver and turn it on. In Windows 11, you can choose to turn on automatically below a level, such as 20%.
- It dims the screen a little and pauses some background activity.
- You can also click the battery icon at the bottom right of the screen and choose Battery saver or Energy saver, depending on your version.
More ways to save power
- Turn the screen brightness down.
- Close programs you are not using, especially video calls and games.
- Under Screen and sleep, make the screen switch off sooner when on battery.
- Switch off Bluetooth and keyboard lights when not needed.
Looking after the battery
- Heat is the biggest enemy, so avoid leaving the laptop in a hot car.
- Many laptops have a battery care or charge limit in the maker's app. This can help if the laptop is usually plugged in.
- Do not let it sit at 0% for weeks.
When to get more help
Get in touch if the battery lasts under an hour on a full charge, if it shows as not detected, or if it looks swollen, hot or smells odd. In those cases switch off, unplug and stop using the laptop. Never open it yourself.