Have you ever felt like your laptop battery wasn't performing as well as you thought it should?

Everyone who buys a notebook wants to know how long its battery will last. The brief answer – it’s highly variable depending on how your use your laptop. Batteries for laptops come in three main types: nickel cadmium (NiCad), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), and lithium ion. You can recharge each of these batteries with an AC adaptor. In most cases, it will give you between one and two hours of computer use, depending on a number of factors.

Following are five tips to help you get the longest battery life possible

• Keep Your Screen as Dim as Possible – LCD screens are one of the biggest battery drainers. Adjust your setting so you have enough brightness for comfortable computing. During an overnight flight, for example, you can dim your brightness yet still see clearly. Most notebooks have simple applications you can use to control LCD brightness; consult your user’s manual.

• Use Power Wisely – Turn off unused devices; each of them drains power. Most notebooks have power-management options. When you’re not using your laptop, you should have it on sleep mode, or your notebook’s equivalent. This mode keeps enough power running to maintain minimal function, so you can resume full power with very little delay when you’re ready to return to your work or play.

• Cut Down on HD Activity - You can cut down on how hard your hard drive must work by defragmenting it regularly. This can be done automatically at selected regular intervals once you’ve located the Disk Degragmenter in the Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools menu and follow the prompts.

• Disable Startup Items – Every time you boot up (on Windows), startup items load into memory, causing other open programs to add to your CPU’s power load. You can easily disable startup options simply by clicking Start/Run, entering C:\MSCONFIG and following the prompts.

• Keep Your Battery Fit! - Yes, you can actually condition your battery. When you buy your laptop, charge the battery to its full capacity, then discharge it completely. Next, fully charge it again. This way your battery actually learns how much electrical charge it can hold. Always make sure when you charge your battery that it reaches 100 percent.