Integrated Intel graphics mode will provide increased battery life at the cost of 3D performance, and some laptops will not support external displays in that mode.The settings for the graphics modes on laptops that have switchable NVIDIA graphics are outlined in detail on their own support document, but to summarize: The Battery Life setting will do a number of things to improve battery life, including reduce the screen brightness (which can be turned back up as described above if desired), reduce the maximum speed of the CPU (and any GPUs if present), aggressively control how applications are allowed to use the CPU and GPU, and much more under the hood.

When maximum performance is needed, the High Performance setting will uncap everything and let the system run as hot and power-hungry as it wants, which can dramaticaly reduce battery life and may also increase the noise made by the system fan(s). The system will default on each startup to the Balanced setting, which is usually preferred even when connected to AC power as it helps keep the system running cool and quiet. This screenshot is from a laptop that has switchable NVIDIA graphics, and a laptop that has only Intel graphics will not have those options. Changing power profiles does not require rebooting the laptop. Pop!_OS comes preloaded with the system76-power package, which allows you to select Power Profiles through the System Menu, as shown in the image below. Our laptops don't currently have an ambient light sensor, but brightness can be adjusted manually via the System Menu (see screenshot below) or with the keyboard shortcuts for each individual laptop model, which can be found on the 'External Overview' pages of each model's technical documentation.

Up to 10% more battery life can be gained by reducing display brightness. One of the largest consumers of laptop power is the display backlight. Choosing the right options to match your work or play style can help keep you away from the wall socket. Pop!_OS does a lot to conserve the battery life of your laptop just by default, but there's additional things to be aware of that can stretch that battery life even longer.

Intel battery life diagnostic tool