The most recent Canary release includes optimizations to increase battery life and other improvements.
Windows 11 has gotten several beneficial modifications to help laptop customers obtain greater battery life, albeit these updates are currently being tested.
Microsoft added a few safeguards to the current preview release (27686) in the Canary channel.
The primary change is actually under the hood here. In its blog post for build 27686, Microsoft states that it has implemented numerous “optimizations to improve battery life” without going into specifics.
More recently, as Tom’s Hardware spotted, Microsoft made another change with this build, as the company explains: “We’re beginning to roll out improvements to Settings > System > Power & battery, including the ability to set your Power Mode for both when your PC is plugged in [and] when it’s on battery, along with a few other UI improvements to the page.”
You’ve always been able to modify your power choices based on whether your laptop is plugged in or running on batteries with Windows 11; you simply had to dive deeper into the OS’s settings to do it.
Microsoft is now putting them in a more accessible location, where Windows 11 users will be able to see and adjust these choices directly from the Power & Battery panel.
Analysis: On the cutting-edge of testing
Clearly, having the options for changing your power mode in Windows 11 easy to view and alter is a smart idea. We can’t think that this modification won’t make it via the different testing channels and into the release version of Windows 11 before too long.
The other change in the optimizations to prolong battery life is slightly different. Microsoft is unsure of the impact here, since when asking for input on the change, the software giant notes: “Let us know what you think, and if you are not seeing the battery life on your PC you are expecting, let us know via Feedback Hub.”
As previously said, the Canary channel is the first testing avenue, and hence the riskiest gamble; this is the port of call for testers who want to be on the cutting edge, where the risks are greater than with other builds.
In other words, this early effort to implement power-saving modifications may go wrong, reducing rather than increasing your battery life. At least until any kinks are sorted out – which we think will happen eventually if there are significant flaws.
Microsoft isn’t saying much about this move, but hopefully, it’ll help Windows 11 computers get greater battery life – and making the option to alter power settings more obvious to daily users won’t hurt.