Windows 10 has many unique settings all related to the power that you can tweak. Windows also comes by default with groups of these settings called Power Plans so you can quickly select one of the Power Plans that best suits your needs.

The default setting for everyone’s Power Plan is for it to be set to Balanced, which is a mix of performance and efficiency. Should you choose, you can select a different Power Plan to get better performance or efficiency.

Early versions of Windows 10 would offer its users Balanced, Power saver, and High-performance power plan options. Then starting from Windows 10 build 17083, the Ultimate performance power plan became an option as well.

Different Power Plans Available

The details of each are as follows:

  • Balanced. The Balanced power plan doesn’t just middle out your performance and efficiency; rather, it will ramp up the performance when you need it, and back it off to conserve power when you don’t. This is the power plan that most people should use, and it’s also the default setting in Windows 10.
  • Power saver. The Power saver power plan reduces performance and turns down the screen brightness. For some this may make the screen too dim; for others, it can be a great way to make sure that your laptop battery lasts throughout the day.
  • High performance. The High-performance power plan maximizes performance and turns up the screen brightness. This plan makes sense for when gaming but also comes at a cost: it uses the most battery power both in short and long-term, so your device won’t last as long today, and the battery will need replacing sooner as well.
  • Ultimate performance. The Ultimate performance power plan offers what Windows 10 considers to be the ultimate experience for higher end laptops.
  • Custom power plan. The Custom power plan can be made up by yourself or if your computer manufacturer has created one for your PC already. Custom power plans comprise of any mixture of settings that you or the OEM likes.

Note: The default Power Plans that you get from the Power Options menu in Control Panel varies depending on your version of Windows 10. More recent versions only offer the Balanced Power Plan and the Power saver Power Plan while the High performance power plan appears hidden. You can unhide it by tapping/clicking on the “Show additional plans” arrow.

Change Advanced Power Settings of a Power Plan in Power Options

There are numerous ways you can open the Power Options ion Windows 10.

1. Find the battery icon—either in your notification tray or tucked away in the extras show you can find by clicking on the small arrow— and then click on Power Options from the menu. (click to enlarge screenshot below)

Note: You can also do it this way if you’ve using a laptop.

2. Open Control Panel and then click on Power Options from the list of All Control Panel Items when you’re showing it in items view. (click to enlarge screenshot below)

3.Open the Win+X Quick Links menu and then click on the Power Options link from the menu.

4. Open the Settings app and then navigate to System > Power & Sleep in the left menu > Additional power settings under the Related settings heading in the right side. (click to enlarge screenshot below)

5. Now that you’ve got Power Options open, click on the Change plan settings link that is available next to the power plan that you have active. (click to enlarge screenshot below)

6. Here you have three options: Turn off the display, Put the computer to sleep and Adjust plan brightness. For more, click on the Change advanced power settings link. (click to enlarge screenshot below)

7. From the drop-down menu in Power Options’ Advanced settings, select the power plan that you would like to change the settings for.

8. Then use the scroll bar to scroll through the list of advanced settings that you would like to change.

That’s all.

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