Re: Illogical emotional attachment?

Matt Clara wrote:
> "DD" <roxy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1e402f717cc1317e989985@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> In article <ORlBf.44559$V.36244@fed1read04>, "Mark²" <mjmorgan(lowest
> even number here)@cox..net> says...
>>> I think you can forget about the battery life you want - ain't gonna
>>> happen, no matter how much money you throw at it.
>>
>> If you do a little research, you'll discover differently...but for
>> the first
>> time.
>>
>>> I have had no fewer than 6 laptops in the past 7 years or so. From
>>> Toshiba, to Dell, to HP, to Mecer, to Compaq to Sahara (current).
>>> They all promised incredible battery life and they all failed to
>>> deliver.
>>
>> According to independant tests, it appears that...for once...these
>> claims are in keeping with reality.
>> They are also in keeping with real experience with their even smaller
>> laptop, the tiny TX series.
>>
>>> Somehow I doubt Sony is going to give you anything better. As soon
>>> as you start an application that battery life goes for a ball of
>>> poo. If I can get an hour out of my Sahara laptop with Centrino
>>> 1.5GHz and 1GB RAM I would be amazed. They promised 5-8 hours when
>>> I bought it. Sure, it's a cheap machine, but I have had expensive
>>> ones too.
>>
>> Again, things are simply better than you think...but only very very
>> recently.
>> -But heck...even my 5 year old Dell laptop STILL runs programs for
>> well over
>> 2 hours, and that's on the 5 year old batteries that came with it!
>
> Consider yourself lucky. The Sahara notebook is only about 14 months
> old. I was looking at pictures in Windows Explorer the other night and
> after about 15 minutes the power level had dipped down to around 65%.
> If I run somthing like PS it goes even quicker.
>
> The Dell P3 I had when I still worked at the bank about five years ago
> was hopeless.
>
> I'm gonna take your word for it, Dallas. I've only had three laptops
> in the last 6 years, but I've experienced the same as you.

It all depends on a vast array of variables though.
The newest processors from Intel are extremely power effecient compared with
5 years ago.

My 5 year old Dell is a Pentium 3 1GHz machine with a large, 1600x1200 high
res screen.
A few months ago, I played the Lord of the Rings first film on it, using the
laptop to feed the DVD film to my computer projector for home a "movie
night..."
At the END of the film, I realized I had forgotten to plug the laptop
n. --It ran the entire film (more than 3.5 hours!) without extinguishing
the battery! This was with the screen off most of the time, but normally,
playing movies with a DVD drive spinnning the whole time is pretty taxing on
a battery. I was impressed.
But again, this was with both batteries installed (you can insert one, or
both). -Not bad for 5 year old tech and batteries.

The latest laptops that are designed specifically for road use are becoming
incredibly miserly when it comes to power use. The downside has always been
the performance loss that typically comes with power savings...until lately.
The latest dual core processors from intel, combined with the excellent idea
of offering two internal video cards...one for normal use (low power) and
one for graphics-intensive stuff...is a great solution! This means you can
flip a hardware switch to immediately toggle between the two video cards to
suit the need. For photo reviewing in the field, you don't need much video
power, which means you can run a lot longer. For presentations using
video-hungry programs, you switch to the "real" video card, and ramp up the
power use, shorter term. I have always wished for something like that, and
they finally came up with it. In a time where Sony has been blasted (and
deservedly so), they've hit on a good thing this time.

-Mark

BTW--
-Forgive me...for I have sinned.
....I just ordered a Sony laptop today... :( Yipe!
I'll be the first to admit/announce it...if/when they tick me off...
-Hopefully they deliver on the goods this time.
The units I've seen in person work a charm, and none have had the specs this
one offers.
We'll see...



.

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