I've had this laptop for about 3 years now, and it used to last almost 8 hours, but now it barely makes it to 2 hours even when I'm not doing anything heavy. Is it normal for the battery to degrade like this, or is there something I can do to improve battery life?
After 3 years that drop is pretty aggressive, so before you resign yourself to replacing the battery I'd check two specific things. First, go into power settings and see what processes are eating up your battery (Windows shows it directly in "Settings > System > Battery" or in Task Manager; on Mac it's "System Preferences > Battery"). Sometimes an app got stuck running in the background consuming power without you noticing.
Second, dust buildup in the vents and around the charging port heats up the battery unnecessarily, which degrades it faster. If you're not the type to clean your laptop regularly, that could be the culprit. Run a small vacuum or compressed air along the sides and ventilation areas.
Now, after 3 years the battery's probably also gone through quite a lot of charge cycles anyway. If you check that stuff and it's still a mess, the battery's probably reaching the end of its lifespan, which is normal. It's not uncommon for a laptop battery to degrade by 20-30% after several years of use, but going from 8 hours down to 2 suggests something else is going on there beyond just natural aging.
Degradation is normal, but dropping from 8 hours to 2 is pretty drastic, so there's probably something you can do about it. First, check what apps are running in the background (there are tons that drain battery without you even noticing), turn down the screen brightness, and disable Bluetooth/WiFi when you're not using them. If it's still bad after that, the battery is probably pretty worn out after 3 years and so many charge cycles, so it might be worth replacing it with a new one 🔋 (it's usually cheap compared to what a new laptop costs).
Have you noticed if the laptop gets hotter than normal even when you're not doing anything? Apart from the background processes that others mentioned, the battery can also degrade much faster if the internal temperature keeps rising, especially if the notebook is always plugged in or in a hot area. It's worth cleaning the fans and air vents, because they often accumulate dust and the battery suffers more from the heat. If it still only lasts 2 hours after that, then the battery itself is probably worn out and you'll need to replace it, but at least you'll have ruled out that it's just an overheating issue.
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