Microsoft rebranded Battery Saver to Energy Saver in Windows 11 24H2.

3 Lower the Display's Refresh Rate

High-refresh rate displays that are available on mid and high-end laptops consume more power. When battery life is a priority, you don't need the best visual experience the display can offer. It's better to lower the refresh rate by following these steps:

1. Open the Start menu, type advanced display settings, and hit Enter.
2. Click the dropdown next to Choose a refresh rate and select 60Hz.

This small compromise in visual fidelity will help your Windows 11 laptop last longer.

Some OEMs bundle an app—for example, Armoury Crate on my Asus TUF laptop—which automatically lowers the refresh rate when using battery power. In such cases, you don't need to reduce the refresh rate manuallly.

4 Change Screen and Sleep Settings

Screen and sleep settings can help you save battery when you're not using your laptop (even briefly). You can define an interval after which the display powers off or the computer enters sleep mode by following these steps:

1. Press Win I to open the Settings app and head to System > Power & battery > Screen and sleep section.
2. Pick an appropriate duration (3 or 5 minutes) for the On battery power, and turn off my screen after option.
3. Select a time limit (5 minutes or more) for the On battery power, put my device to sleep after option.

5 Disable Startup and Background Apps

Startup apps reduce battery life because they start running the moment you log in to your PC. To disable them, visit Settings > Apps > Startup section. Turn off the toggle next to apps that you don't need.

For example, you can disable game clients and collaboration apps like Microsoft Teams, third-party apps, etc. Don't turn off the touchpad or display apps.

While Battery Saver takes care of background apps to some extent, Microsoft states that some apps or their features (notifications or updates) continue to run in the background. To turn these off, you must first identify the power hogs.

Remember that only some apps have an Advanced Options page that lets you change the background permissions. You can follow these steps for those apsp:

1. Type Power & battery in the taskbar search box and press Enter.
2. Click the View detailed report option.
3. Then, click the ellipsis icon and select Manage background activity.
4. Go to the Background apps permissions section and select the Never option.

Now, the app won't run in the background, and you won't get any notifications.

6 Modify Video Playback Settings

You can lower video playback settings in Windows 11 to boost battery life. Go to Settings > Apps > Video playback and set Battery options to Optimize for battery life.

If your laptop has an HDR display, Windows will turn the feature off on battery power. However, if it doesn't have an HDR display and you use the HDR streaming option, you must configure it. Here's how:

1. Open the Settings app and navigate to System > Display > HDR.
2. Set Battery options to Optimize for battery life.
3. Disable the HDR video streaming option for maximum savings if you don't need it.

7 Configure Graphics Settings for Apps

If your laptop has a dedicated GPU, you can force the apps to use the integrated GPU (part of the CPU) to save power. Here's how:

1. Search for graphics settings in the taskbar search box and press Enter.
2. Click on any app on the page to reveal the additional settings.
3. Click Options, select Power saving, and hit Save.
4. You might have to restart the app to apply the changes.

8 Adjust Windows Search Indexing Settings

Windows builds a search index in the background to help you find items faster. But you can force the Indexing feature to take a backseat while using battery power. Here's what you need to do:

1. Press Win S, type Windows Search settings, and hit Enter.
2. Enable the toggle next to Respect power settings when indexing.

9 Use Power Saving Mode in Browsers

Browsers are indispensable tools for most productivity tasks you do online. Be it reading or editing documents, researching, conducting virtual meetings, etc. But browsers consume a lot of power and memory while doing so.

However, Edge and other popular browsers have power-saving features that can extend your laptop's battery life. Edge is a fantastic choice for saving power on Windows laptops due to its efficiency mode and sleeping tabs feature.

Similarly, Chrome has a built-in Energy Saver mode that lowers the background activity and visual effects. All these features will force the browser to gulp less battery.

10 Experiment With a Custom Power Plan

You can create a custom power plan in Windows 11 that adheres to your battery-saving requirements. By doing so, you can control the processor power management, display and sleep settings, wireless adapter settings, and more. However, you'll have to do a lot of tinkering to understand what settings work for your use case.

It's a bit complex to set up and is useful only if you want to leave no stone unturned to maximize battery life on your laptop. You can also check the battery report on Windows to understand your laptop's battery capacity and whether it needs replacement.

Overall, with these settings tweaks, you should be able to get your Windows laptop to last much longer on battery power. But if none of these tips made a noticeable impact, it's probably time to replace the battery or upgrade your laptop altogether.