Submitted by Bet_the_Flop t3_z74hiv in explainlikeimfive
I assume this applies to other electronics as well: When my laptop is plugged into a wall outlet when I am using it, it is significantly faster and more responsive than when it is using battery power, even at full charge. It is especially noticeable when using more cpu/gpu power, such as when I am gaming. Why is this? Does the nature of the power source affect computer speed?
Gotcha. Can a user bypass this?
Laptops generally have pre-installed power management software that can throttle performance to ensure good battery life. If you haven't changed any settings, the default will usually reduce performance any time it's on purely battery power, regardless of charge. The assumption being that, as a laptop, it's more useful to have 6 hours of operation at 50% performance than 2-3 hours at 100% performance. It can always take more time to get something done, but once the battery is low, you can't do anything.
However, if you're connected to an external power source, the laptop will generally assume that power is plentiful, so it will give you 100% performance as long as it can also charge the battery as it does so.
Not really these power saving features are applied at the BIOS level. There may be some settings you can tweak to push battery performance closer to what it is on mains power, but these will significantly reduce battery life.
On some laptops yes. On others, not without headaches.
Sometimes. If you got to power or battery related settings, there might be a way for you to ask for more performance instead of battery life.
They don't generally run more efficiently, but they do run faster.
Laptops are designed to run off battery, if need be. Most people want the computer to run longer when on battery, rather than running fast and spending the battery quickly (particularly if you are working), so the laptop is designed to conserve energy by running the processor and other components in a slower low-power mode. Some even switch from a powerful graphics chip when plugged in, to a simpler graphics chip when running on battery (graphics can use lots of power).
When the laptop is plugged in, there's plenty of power and you're not worrying about the battery running out, so the laptop cranks up the speed of everything.
The thing is, it might be more efficient in the low power mode because it's going out of its way to not be wasteful (by default), and using more power might not speed it up as much as it uses more energy.
Try the Windows Power Settings to adjust some settings. Others may be in the laptop BIOS or are locked by the manufacturer.
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Often yes, but dont be surprised when it dies from gaming after 20 minutes.
I doubt what he said is right - I wager that (in case of gaming laptops at least) battery just is not capable of supplying 150W or more that is required for full power operation
lollersauce914 t1_iy4mehz wrote
The laptop underpowers its components when not plugged in to conserve battery life. That's really the long and short of it.