Battery Drains Faster While Running the Video Conferencing Applications

The Laptop Battery is used up quicker when the laptop is under a heavy load

You may have noticed that your systems battery charge is being used faster than expected; especially when running heavy-loading applications such as video conferencing applications like Zoom, Skype, and others.

Battery life is highly variable and depends on several factors. These include the screen brightness, the number of applications in use, and the number of applications running in the background. It also includes those resources that are needed to run the applications.
 

Now that the remote work trend is increasingly relevant, the impact of video conferencing applications on battery life is being noticed. We have identified that running some video conferencing applications may have a significant impact on battery life. The system run time can be impacted by up to 65% vs. during normal usage. Video conferencing apps have a similar effect on other mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Whether you are using any video conferencing applications and/or other high-intensity applications can explain why you are observing a fast battery drain issue. You can launch Task Manager to check your processes list and power usage. They should confirm whether these applications are in heavy use. In order to prevent a low battery life issue, we recommend you keep the AC adapter connected to the system; especially while running these heavy loading applications. You can also manually adjust the battery and power behavior in the Windows Settings menu. See the following Microsoft article for more information about this:

• Battery saving tips, Applies to: Windows 10 

You can also take advantage of the Dell optimizer, which is preinstalled on all 2020 Latitude laptops. Through Express Charge power management, the Dell Optimizer application intelligently improves the battery's performance. It dynamically adjusts the settings to extend run time. It enables fast charge (up to 80% of capacity within one hour and 35% within 20 minutes). We recommend you keep the two options Adaptive battery performance and Dynamic charge policy enabled after installing or opening the Dell Optimizer.

Dell Optimizer setting:

(Figure.1 Dell Optimizer Power Screens)

There are other symptoms of a system under a heavy load that can be mistaken for issues with your PC, such as load and fast fan spin or the system running hotter than normal. If you think you are seeing one of these issues, you can refer to the following articles for further support:

• Identifying High Temperature, Heat, Thermal Concerns, Fan Noise on Dell Laptops
• System Temperature on a Dell Inspiron, XPS, Vostro, Latitude, and Precision Laptop is High When Using CPU Intensive Applications
• Fan noise on Inspiron, XPS, Vostro, Mobile Precision, and Latitude Laptops