@ZoomerGirl There's one more place to check a few settings. Hit Windows key-R and enter "control" without quotes, then click Hardware and Sound > Power Options. Switch to High performance (it might be hidden until you click Show additional plans) and see whether this helps by itself. If not, go back to this screen and click "Change plan settings" for the high performance option. Then for both battery and plugged in, change the value for "turn off the display" to 30 minutes and "put the computer to sleep" to 45. Turn up the brightness for both as well, either to the max or to something close that looks good to you, and make sure they match. Then restart your computer.
These aren't optimal settings for a laptop; the point is to see whether they make a difference. If they do, we can experiment with the settings to figure out the best balance between screen brightness and battery life. Please also let me know if this merely pushes back the time when your screen dims to 30 minutes, or whatever the default setting is before you change the "turn off the display" value.
Finally, if the doesn't help either, go back to the "Change plan settings" screen, click "Change advanced power settings," open Display, and set "dimmed display brightness" to 100% for plugged in. (You can set it lower if you prefer; the point is to raise it from its current setting.) If this doesn't make a difference either, please open every category under Display and post a screenshot so I can see all your options. These can vary greatly from one system to another, so I have no way of knowing what other settings your laptop might offer.