Start with the work being interrupted
“The battery is terrible” is a starting point for a conversation. Ask which part of the working day the laptop cannot complete: a train journey, a meeting away from a socket or an afternoon of site visits. Record the expected duration and what was running when the problem occurred.
For Windows 11, Microsoft documents powercfg /batteryreport as a way to produce an HTML report about battery usage and estimated capacity. Use that as evidence alongside the user’s account, rather than making a purchasing decision from a complaint alone.
Collect the report through your support process
Microsoft’s instructions open Command Prompt as administrator, run powercfg /batteryreport and then open the HTML file at the location printed in the command window. Ask your support team to do this through its normal authorised process. Do not give users permanent administrator access just to collect a report.
Microsoft highlights Installed battery, Recent usage and Battery usage as useful sections to start with. Record the device asset identifier and the report date in the ticket. Keep the report in the approved support location rather than asking people to publish it in a public forum.
Agree a practical comparison
Our suggested support exercise is to repeat a representative piece of work and note the start and finish charge levels, elapsed time and activities. Keep the comparison simple enough to repeat. A meeting dominated by video calls should not be compared with a previous afternoon spent reading offline documents as if the workloads were identical.
Imagine a fictional surveyor who needs two hours between site visits but currently returns to a charger halfway through. The useful question is whether the device can reliably support that work, and what intervention is reasonable. Avoid setting a universal replacement threshold from one number without considering the person’s job and the manufacturer’s service advice.
Choose an action and a review date
Agree the next step with the device owner: further diagnosis, a manufacturer service assessment or a replacement proposal. Record the reason, who owns the action and when the user will report whether it helped. This is an editorial support workflow, not a hardware diagnosis.
If the battery expands beyond the enclosure, Microsoft says to stop using the device immediately and avoid pressure or puncturing it. Do not continue the comparison exercise with that device; follow your organisation’s safe handling and manufacturer support process. Finish with a ticket that describes the business impact and a named next action.
Sources
Practical suggestions in this article are editorial recommendations. The source supports the guidance attributed to it.
- Microsoft Support · Caring for your battery ↗
Checked 25 September 2026
Something needs correcting?
Get in touch to explain which claim needs attention and share the supporting source.