Your laptop battery life depends on the power capacity of your laptop battery and the amount of energy your computer draws. You can maximize your laptop battery life by changing the amount of power your computer draws while in battery mode. If you are a Windows user, within your Control Panel section you will find ''Power Options''. In this section you can change power use and ''low power'' alerts. Windows Vista users will be able to lower the brightness of the LCD panel and extend the battery life considerably. You can also extend your battery life between charges by minimizing the use of your CD and DVD drive operation.