More power to your notebook

If you’ve just acquired a new notebook, then there are a few free utilities that can help you get the most out of your battery life. Since new notebook batteries are often quite an expensive investment, these are well worth downloading to save both money and confusion over exactly how much power you have remaining.

Most notebooks come bundled with their own custom software for battery status info but in my experience, these are often limited. One thing I always have problems with is the battery indicator. The status information is invariably either inaccurate or lacking in detail. Notebook BatteryInfo displays a separate battery symbol on your toolbar which accurately shows exactly how much time you have remaining, the capacity of your battery and even it’s power consumption. So no more nasty surprises when your battery expires before you expected it.

If your notebook’s battery life is not long enough, then you can extend it with Battery Doubler. The program works by more intelligently monitoring the power use of your notebook. It uses standard techniques such as dimming the screen light, hibernating etc. but also finds out what is not being used and turns it off such as the USB ports. The developers claim this can double the life of your battery although I’ve found that it offers around a 20% longer life than under my normal manager.