Windows 11 Has an Energy Recommendations Screen—Here’s What It Changes

If your laptop battery does not last as long as you would like, Windows 11 has a useful place to start before installing battery utilities or changing obscure settings.

Open Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations.

Windows collects several settings that can materially affect power use in one place. Depending on your computer, those recommendations can include reducing screen brightness, changing power mode, shortening the time before the display turns off, putting the computer to sleep sooner, and changing certain USB or display behaviors.

You do not have to apply everything

Microsoft provides an Apply all option, but reviewing recommendations individually is often more useful.

For example, automatically dimming or changing screen brightness may save energy but could be annoying when doing photo or video work where consistent display behavior matters. Microsoft specifically notes this tradeoff.

Some recommendations also depend on hardware. Features involving presence detection, for example, require a computer with the appropriate sensor.

Energy Saver is another option

Windows' power settings also include energy-saving controls designed to reduce background activity and other power consumption. Screen and sleep timeouts can likewise reduce unnecessary battery use when the computer is sitting idle.

None of these settings can restore capacity to an aging battery. If the battery itself has physically degraded, software cannot make it new again.

But if the computer is simply using more power than necessary, Energy recommendations is a sensible first place to look.

Sources and Further Reading

Microsoft Support — Learn more about energy recommendations: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experience/power-battery/learn-more-about-energy-recommendations

Microsoft Support — Power settings in Windows 11: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experience/power-battery/power-settings-in-windows-11