diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 396ecee281d0..606d0bb46091 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -2194,6 +2194,13 @@ static unsigned long do_try_to_free_pages(struct zonelist *zonelist,
 		if (sc->nr_reclaimed >= sc->nr_to_reclaim)
 			goto out;
 
+		/*
+		 * If we're getting trouble reclaiming, start doing
+		 * writepage even in laptop mode.
+		 */
+		if (sc->priority < DEF_PRIORITY - 2)
+			sc->may_writepage = 1;
+
 		/*
 		 * Try to write back as many pages as we just scanned.  This
 		 * tends to cause slow streaming writers to write data to the
@@ -2765,12 +2772,10 @@ loop_again:
 			}
 
 			/*
-			 * If we've done a decent amount of scanning and
-			 * the reclaim ratio is low, start doing writepage
-			 * even in laptop mode
+			 * If we're getting trouble reclaiming, start doing
+			 * writepage even in laptop mode.
 			 */
-			if (total_scanned > SWAP_CLUSTER_MAX * 2 &&
-			    total_scanned > sc.nr_reclaimed + sc.nr_reclaimed / 2)
+			if (sc.priority < DEF_PRIORITY - 2)
 				sc.may_writepage = 1;
 
 			if (zone->all_unreclaimable) {