WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.680 What if I told you you could speed up your PC just by moving a slider towards go faster? 00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:10.080 Well, something similar to that is actually built into modern versions of Windows. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:14.000 The performance power slider was introduced in Windows 10, 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:18.080 and the point is to give laptop and tablet users an easy way to trade off between 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:22.000 performance and power savings, which is important for stretching out your battery life. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.160 In the past, the only real option Microsoft gave you to do that was switching between the 00:00:26.240 --> 00:00:30.480 various power plans that you had to dig down into the control panel to find. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:35.280 The power slider was developed as a simpler, easy-to-understand way to tweak your system's 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:40.560 energy consumption right from the notification area, without having to hunt around or think too much 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.400 about how individual programs or settings are affecting the overall power drive, 00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:47.920 is this connecting to that or what's- it's all over that place? 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.400 Of course, this isn't a super granular, analog-like slider that you see on those 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:56.880 old-school stereo equalizers. There are only four settings you can have the slider set at, 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:01.360 battery saver, which you won't see if the PC is plugged in, better battery, which is sometimes 00:01:01.360 --> 00:01:06.480 called recommended, better performance, which is the Windows default, and best performance. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.480 Now, if you don't see the power slider, it's probably because those confusingly similar, 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:15.760 but definitely different, power plans still exist in the control panel, and you don't have 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:21.200 yours set to balanced. You see, the legacy power plans actually control more things than the 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:26.240 performance slider, so if you have a plan other than balanced enabled, that will essentially act 00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:32.400 as an override for all your power settings, and you won't see the slider show up. Aw. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:37.200 But if you pick balanced, the slider will use the balanced plan as a starting point 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:41.520 and tweak performance according to what you select. The settings on the slider only affect 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:46.480 factors that directly impact performance, so it won't control, for example, how long it'll be 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:52.240 until your display turns off. So in reality, each slider setting is like a mini power plan. 00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:56.480 Instead, you'll notice more or less responsiveness in your programs depending on where you have 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:01.040 the slider set. One major difference between each of the settings is the behavior of background 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:06.240 programs that you're not directly interacting with at a given moment. By default, Windows 00:02:06.240 --> 00:02:11.120 throttles the CPU frequency for these programs to save energy, but if you're noticing sluggish 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:16.400 performance, you can change the slider to a higher setting or just set it to best performance, 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:22.560 which disables background throttling completely. But is there a best setting to use most of the time? 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:27.600 Unfortunately, we can't answer that question due to the near infinite number of use cases and 00:02:27.600 --> 00:02:32.240 hardware configurations out there, and on top of that, computer manufacturers can actually 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:38.000 customize what exactly each setting on the slider does before your PC ever makes its way to you. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.960 This is to better adapt each setting to that PC's specific needs. For example, some Lenovo 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:48.480 laptops tie in fan speeds to the performance slider. And speaking of laptops, the slider only 00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:54.960 shows up by default on laptops and other devices that run off a battery. A manufacturer can enable 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:59.680 it for desktops, but if your desktop doesn't have it, you can change the same settings under 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:04.880 power mode in the new settings app. Ultimately, you'll have to play around and see which setting 00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:10.000 gives you the best balance of power savings and performance in whichever situations you use your 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:15.760 computer for. Or just set it to max, plug it in, burn some extra money on your power bill if that 00:03:15.760 --> 00:03:19.760 makes you feel like a big man. And I'd say it's pretty big of you to watch all the way to the end 00:03:19.760 --> 00:03:24.160 of this video. Thanks for that. Hey, if you liked the video, like it. 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