Buying new laptop

[timuralp]

for any/everyone that complains about short battery life, you should rarely keep a laptop plugged in when it's new. let it fully charge, and then unplug it and fully drain the battery. then plug it in and once it's recharged, unplug and drain it again. that ensures a longer battery life. just leaving the thing plugged in all the time will kill the battery. i think most battery problems tend to be problems with the users, not the equipment itself.

From what I can find (see prior link), the two factors affecting the capacity change over time is the average capacity level and temperature. It's really about keeping it close to 40%, when not in use, it appears. Taking it out and putting it back in is definitely more of a pain with some models than others. I guess one could also plug in and unplug the cable every 20 minutes but that sounds even more irritating, and I'm not sure if it would be as beneficial as there is periodic load on the battery.

another lovely thing about macs is that every time you shut down the computer, it automatically defrags itself. this is a huge reason mac OSes don't get the same slowdown as PCs.

So... how/why does it do that? Apple certainly claims it does not happen: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1375 Are you referring to caching writes? That's a bit different from defragmentation. Moving files around before shutdown also seems like it could be a high-intensity, long process. I'm very skeptical that it actually takes place. Where did you learn about it?

Edited June 22, 2011 by timuralp

[Behavioral]

This link has a few of the board's most respected and long-time posters saying that modern computers have battery controllers that prevent overcharging; most of the technical talk involving Li-on batteries may be a bit moot if the assertion of the modern battery controllers is, in fact, true:

http://forum.noteboo...100-unplug.html

And a technical link about charging Li-on batteries, cycles, proper charge/discharge, etc. can be found here:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

Edited June 22, 2011 by Behavioral

[timuralp]

Err, I made a significant mental typo in the last post. I meant the charge level in storage and not capacity.

Li-Ion batteries do have circuitry to prevent overcharging. However, this only ensures the battery does not swell up due to overcharging or catches fire. For storing the battery, however, the charge level is important. The difference in degradation over time between keeping a battery at 100% and 40% is discussed on the same site: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_store_batteries (that's the source in the wiki article). This may vary depending on what people do with laptops, but I find that most of the time mine is plugged into an AC power source, so it makes sense to discharge the battery to about 40% and remove it and use it when I plan on not being around AC power for a while (flights, experiments in the city, etc).

[StrangeLight]

So... how/why does it do that? Apple certainly claims it does not happen: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1375 Are you referring to caching writes? That's a bit different from defragmentation. Moving files around before shutdown also seems like it could be a high-intensity, long process. I'm very skeptical that it actually takes place. Where did you learn about it?

it's what the apple people told me at their store. it's also what i discovered myself when i wanted to defrag an old mac. i can't actually do it unless i download third party software because the macs do it themselves with any file under 1 GB each time they're rebooted. i'm not referring to caching writes, no. and moving files around before shutting down isn't high intensity if you regularly turn your computer off and on. anything else?

[timuralp]

it's what the apple people told me at their store. it's also what i discovered myself when i wanted to defrag an old mac. i can't actually do it unless i download third party software because the macs do it themselves with any file under 1 GB each time they're rebooted. i'm not referring to caching writes, no. and moving files around before shutting down isn't high intensity if you regularly turn your computer off and on. anything else?

To do that at shutdown, the file system has to be scanned to find all the fragmented files -- that is an expensive operation. Then it's not just moving files around - it's finding an appropriate space for the file and copying all the fragments. It doesn't seem like that actually happens, but there is a nifty trick in HFS+. I managed to dig up the reference that seems to be what you're referring to:

When a file is opened on an HFS+ volume, the following conditions are tested:

If the file is less than 20 MB in size

If the file is not already busy

If the file is not read-only

If the file has more than eight extents

If the system has been up for at least three minutes

If all of the above conditions are satisfied, the file is relocated -- it is defragmented on-the-fly.

So, HFS+ can indeed ensure small files are not fragmented, but not at shut down. Seems like large files, especially ones that are frequently appended to, can get fragmented anyway: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10328197-263.html

I think in the end how much fragmentation occurs on the disk and how high the benefit will be from placing the files in a contiguous space will highly vary by user.

[HyacinthMacaw]

I apologize if this has been mentioned already, but I just want to suggest to watch out for bloatware. This refers to software that the manufacturer installs on your computer before you even buy it, software that you most likely do not want or need. Bloatware also slows down your startup time and overall performance. With a WIndows PC, open the Task Manager on a brand new computer and see how many processes you have running. You can cut that number in half by doing a clean swipe and reinstalling Windows. You might have to call the manufacturer (HP, Dell, etc.) for the OS and driver discs, but it's still worth it. You'll have a lean, clean machine at the end. Best of luck on your search.

[Andean Pat]

Dell's are terrible computers. Really cheap anywhere they don't expect people to look, and overall just shoddy.

I have an old thinkpad that's served me well and is really robust, but I've had occasional problems and the quality has dropped quite a bit from what it used to be before Lenovo.

The best engineered laptops on the market now are macbooks. You pay a premium, but I'd say it's worth it, and it's what I'm going to be getting next. If you really need windows, your school probably has a license for you for free, and you can dual boot.

 

 

I've had the same Dell laptop for 4.5 years. I've seen people railing against Dell repeatedly and I'm left a bit confused. As far as I can tell, I pretty much got the best value for the $600 I spent on it at the time. Often, the criticism is "runs slowly", but that's not even a hardware issue. I'm not saying that one should only consider them, but I think Dell's getting more flak than they deserve. Also, looking at the actual components they're pretty much the same across the board and one could easily figure out what the brand markup is for every brand. The only thing that really changes is the case.

 

I bought a Dell inspiron about 5 years ago. still working, although with no independent battery, but working magnificently. Three years ago I bought a second computer, a Dell mini, amazing. I take it everywhere. No new investment for me this fall... (gonna save for the following year)  

 

I've only had one problem with my inspiron. I work at a school so it's very easy to get a virus. We teachers use the same computers at the teachers' room and plug in and out our pendrives. Once my notebook got a terrible virus and stopped working. A friend of mine, obviously computer engineer, saved it. 

 

Dell has proved to be, in my experience, excellent technology. I take my netbook around in my handbag, and I love it! But although I like technology, I am not an expert so I'll see what I'll need for grad school next september and work from there