Are you sick and tired of your notebooks battery cutting out on you when you need it most? Are you always buying new batteries because your old ones aren’t lasting as long as they should be? If either of these questions apply to you, then read on.

In this article I will discuss some of the things you can do to conserve your batteries power so that your laptop runs longer. I will also discuss some easy things you can do to ensure that your battery gets the long life it deserves.

First, let’s cover some of the things you can do immediately to cut the amount of power your laptop is sucking from the battery.

- Remove all cards from your notebooks slots when you are not using them. Believe it or not, some of these cards will suck power even when not being used!

- If your laptop has a power management function, use it. Things like lowering the brightness of your screen and turning off the screen saver can also help tremendously.

- Turn off your wireless port when not in use. This may seem pointless, but power is used by the wireless port scanning for the nearest “hot spot�

- Put your laptop in sleep or suspend mode rather than rebooting it. Rebooting your laptop uses much more power than simply letting it “sleep�.

- This one is something that many people should do – Carry a spare battery. By purchasing a second battery you can double the amount of time your laptop can go for.

The above recommendations work great for adding some much needed time when it comes to your notebook battery, but nothing will help if your battery isn’t being properly cared for. Below are some general tips you can use to ensure that your battery will function correctly.

- Do not store your battery in extreme temperatures – Not too hot and not too cold.

- A new battery should be fully charged and then discharged when you receive it.

- Discharge your notebooks battery fully before recharging it again. Consider getting a rapid charger/conditioner for this.

By following the above recommendations you can ensure a long life from your laptop battery as well as optimal performance.