When it comes to getting more from your Samsung N310 netbook it all comes down to making the most of the device’s power settings. The Samsung N310 can easily manage five hours of life away from mains power using the standard 6-cell battery but using the Power Options in the Samsung Battery Manager you can eek this out to well over six hours, depending on what you’re running. Here we look at the hidden secrets of how to make the most of power settings on the Samsung N310.
There are three defined power settings on the Samsung N310 that allow you to use the netbook in a variety of ways – Maximum Battery Life, Normal and Maximum Performance. Normal offers a mid-level range between the the other two extremes. However, there is a fourth option that allows you to customise these settings to help you work exactly how you want to with the N310.
You can switch between these power modes simply by clicking on the icon in the System Tray found in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. To make even finer controls, double click on this icon and you’ll pull up the Battery Manager suite itself. Here you’ll find Power Mode settings and alongside these an Options button.
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Choose the Options button and you’ll be able to set finer refinements to the system. Auto Run is a neat app that determines whether Battery Manager should start up when you switch the netbook on, or restart it. The default choice is On but you can elect to switch the feature off.
LCD Auto-Dimming is a feature that will automatically drop the brightness of the screen if you stop using the device for a short period. What we like about LCD Auto-Dimming is that you can specify specific apps it won’t work in, such as Media Player to stop the screen dimming during a movie, for instance, using the Register Excluding Programs icon.
To remove a registered program, open the Medialist.ini file in the C:\ProgramFiles\Samsung\Samsung Battery Manager folder by selecting Notepad in Open With dialog box and remove the line including the name of the program to be unregistered.
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If you own a Samsung NC10 then you may be aware that a third power saving, Wireless LAN Power Saving was included. This is no longer an option within the Samsung N310 as it is carried out automatically.
The Samsung N310 is a great all-round netbook and learning to get the most from its Power Mode settings is just one way to get a longer battery and an even better user experience from this premium netbook.
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