diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 55c2776ae699..e59c523aed1a 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -1627,6 +1627,19 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 			}
 		}
 
+		/*
+		 * In laptop mode, we wait until hitting the higher threshold
+		 * before starting background writeout, and then write out all
+		 * the way down to the lower threshold.  So slow writers cause
+		 * minimal disk activity.
+		 *
+		 * In normal mode, we start background writeout at the lower
+		 * background_thresh, to keep the amount of dirty memory low.
+		 */
+		if (!laptop_mode && nr_reclaimable > gdtc->bg_thresh &&
+		    !writeback_in_progress(wb))
+			wb_start_background_writeback(wb);
+
 		/*
 		 * Throttle it only when the background writeback cannot
 		 * catch-up. This avoids (excessively) small writeouts
@@ -1657,6 +1670,7 @@ free_running:
 			break;
 		}
 
+		/* Start writeback even when in laptop mode */
 		if (unlikely(!writeback_in_progress(wb)))
 			wb_start_background_writeback(wb);
 
@@ -1823,23 +1837,6 @@ pause:
 
 	if (!dirty_exceeded && wb->dirty_exceeded)
 		wb->dirty_exceeded = 0;
-
-	if (writeback_in_progress(wb))
-		return;
-
-	/*
-	 * In laptop mode, we wait until hitting the higher threshold before
-	 * starting background writeout, and then write out all the way down
-	 * to the lower threshold.  So slow writers cause minimal disk activity.
-	 *
-	 * In normal mode, we start background writeout at the lower
-	 * background_thresh, to keep the amount of dirty memory low.
-	 */
-	if (laptop_mode)
-		return;
-
-	if (nr_reclaimable > gdtc->bg_thresh)
-		wb_start_background_writeback(wb);
 }
 
 static DEFINE_PER_CPU(int, bdp_ratelimits);