It is possible to increase your notebook’s running time on just the battery. In some cases you can extend its usage up to 60 minutes longer.

Most importantly, confirm that most, if not all, of the power saving features are enabled. This includes dimming the screen and disabling the DVD drive. Beware that allowing your hard disk to sleep can shorten its life.

Friedbeef has posted 15 good tips for increasing your battery life. A few of his best are:

1. Defrag regularly - The faster your hard drive does its work - less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery. Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.

3. Cut down on programs running in the background. Itunes, Desktop Search, etc. All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life. Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.

8. Take care of your battery - Exercise the Battery. Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)

A few years ago I posted some tips for making Li-Ion batteries last longer on my blog. They still hold true for today’s Li-Ions.

[Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life via Lifehacker]

[tags]battery, laptop battery, notebook battery, notebook computer battery[/tags]