No matter what device you use, adjusting the settings you want is often a few too many clicks away.  With Windows Mobility Center for Windows 7, you get all the goodies right in front of you with a simple key press.  Here’s the lowdown for using it with your laptop on the road.

What is the Windows Mobility Center?

The Windows Mobility Center is a slick way to access the most used options for your laptop.  Not only that, but it’s a breeze to bring up.  How to do it?  Easy

WINDOWS KEY + X

That’s it.  You’ll see a window that looks a little like this with all the settings you could want right in front of you.

You’ll see that the Windows Mobility Center lets you easily adjust brightness, volume, power options and more.  Here’s the low down on each of the features.

Display Brightness

Simply, a way to adjust the brightness (backlight) of your notebook.  If you’re working in a bright setting, crank it for the best visibility. At night, turn it down to save your eyeballs from staring into the bright void that is your screen.

Turning the brightness down in a dark setting like an airplane is good for a couple of reasons.  First, it will help to minimize strain on your eyes, and secondly it will improve your battery life as the backlight is one of the biggest drains on your battery.

Click the display icon for more power options.

Volume Control

Quickly adjust your main volume, or mute the sound with a single click.  This can be handy, particularly if your laptop doesn’t have a standalone volume control.

Lowering your volume will increase your battery life (if only slightly) if you’re listening to music or other media.  It may also save your ears if you’re listening via headphones.

Click the speaker icon to access your sound properties, and adjust the playback volume of individual programs.

Battery Status

My favourite of the bunch, the battery status box gives you a quick dropdown change your power plans.  Choose from your three main power plans, (Power Saver, Balanced, or High Performance) to tell your laptop to become a energy miser, or to turn up the power to 11 for peak performance.

This is, by far, the quickest and easiest way to get the most our of your battery.  Generally, the Power Saver option will dial down the speed of your computer a bit, lowering your screen brightness, and turning your screen off more quickly when not in use, while the High Performance option will do the opposite.  Use “Balanced” when, you guessed it, you want a good mix of both.

Click the battery icon for quick access to adjust your power plans to tailor the settings to your preferences, with different options available for when you’re plugged it or on the battery.  You can also change your sleep & hibernate options from here.

Wireless Network

The easiest way to turn off your wireless adapter (Wifi).  Though it’s not the biggest deal most of the time in our connected world, if you’re somewhere where you aren’t connected and need the most out of your battery, turning off the wireless adapter can get your that extra battery life boost.

Click the wireless icon to change your wireless network settings.

External Display

Handy if you’re running a dual (or more) monitor setup at the office, the external display option gives you a quick way to change the resolution and setup of your monitors.

Click the display icon to access the display properties for more options.

Sync Center

If you use Windows 7 built in Sync Center for keeping your network files in check, you’ll have quick access to view the status of past syncs, or set up new ones.  Admittedly, not many people use the Sync Center.

Click the sync icon to view the Sync Center settings from the Control Panel.

Presentation Settings

For the business travelers, or just those who watch movies on the big screen, the presentation settings option makes slick presentations a snap.  By clicking “Turn On,” your laptop will turn off the system notifications and prevent it from going to sleep, preventing you from a little technological embarrassment in front of your peers.

Click the projector icon to access more the presentation settings such as volume control, and background settings.

Screen Orientation

Available if you’re using a Tablet PC, the screen rotation feature is a simple way to change from portrait to landscape view.

Click the icon for more options.

Depending on your notebook model, you may not see all of these options (or perhaps more custom ones).

So there you have it, with a simple Windows Key + X key press combo, you can access all of the most useful Windows 7 settings while using your laptop on the go.

Dustin Main

One of the editors of Too Many Adapters, Dustin just can’t get enough travel or technology.

When not directly feeding his above insatiable habits, you can probably find him at some far away ice cream shop taking pictures and tweeting of all the flavors to jealous followers. That, or on top of a mountain somewhere shooting panoramas with his DSLR.