For any portable device, the battery life is something really important. It’s more important for laptops and that you’ll carry with yourself for a longer period of time.
Linux is, by default, less tolling operating system platform on the battery life. It’s lightweight, fast and highly optimized. Almost all the different Linux distros consume less hardware resource than Windows. However, if you’re using a Linux laptop, there are some more tricks you can do to increase the battery life. Let’s find out.
Battery life improvements
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Using lightweight Linux distros
There are tons of Linux distros available. Some of them are heavyweight, some of them are mid-weight and some are lightweight.
For example, Ubuntu got a number of available flavors – Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu MATE etc. Here, Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE and Xubuntu are the lightest ones.
You can also find out other lightweight Linux distros that consume less hardware resource. The less hardware usage, the less battery consumption.
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Disable startup apps
When you’re using a number of apps, it’s pretty common that some of them are loaded when you start your computer. The more app keeps running in the system, the more battery consumption happens.
That’s why disabling the startup apps you don’t need right away is essential. Don’t worry; it’s pretty simple to do so.
Fire up a terminal and run the following command –
cd ~/.config/autostart ls
You’ll find out all the app shortcuts that are being triggered when your system starts. You can disable the startup action just by deleting the according to “.desktop” file.
rm <program_name>.desktop
Restart your system to take effect.
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Switching to an SSD
We all know that SSD is way faster than the traditional HDD. An SSD also consumes less power than an HDD because there are no moving parts. HDD requires more power for rotating the disks and moving the data read/write head.
If your laptop is using an HDD, consider switching to an SSD. This will not only increase the performance of your system but also consume less energy from your laptop battery. If you need an enormous storage, then you can easily get a portable HDD for the same price!
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Disable unwanted wireless services
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the most common features of any laptop. They allow connecting to a network and sharing data without the hassle of wires. However, running any wireless device requires energy.
If you’re not using Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth, consider turning them off. This way, the hardware responsible for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth won’t consume any power. This can even save you a lot of battery life.
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Change your browser to Firefox
A browser is one of the most basic components of any system. It can also be a major source of pressure on your laptop’s battery life. Google Chrome, for example, is the most popular web browser on both Windows and Linux. Despite providing tremendous performance and features, Chrome is pretty infamous for its hunger for hardware resource.
Almost all the Linux systems ship Firefox as their default browser. Firefox offers similar performance to Chrome, yet consumes less hardware resource. Thus, you can save more energy on your battery.
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Power settings
Every single Linux distro comes up with a number of available power management options. Tweaking the power options can essentially increase the battery backup.
For example, you can lower the screen brightness, change how long the monitor will stay up when to go to sleep etc.
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Unplug unused devices
If you need to use various devices with your laptop, for example, tons of USB flash drives and other USB devices, make sure to pull them off after their usage is complete.
The longer USB devices stay connected, they draw power from the computer. In the case of your laptop, the power source is the battery.
Hopefully, now you can enjoy more battery backup from your Linux laptop.
Enjoy!
