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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: It's Geek to me: Translating computereze
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
I would suggest sticking with looking for a 2.5" external hard drive as you've pretty well ruled out other options.
Shop around, you'll be able to find a cheaper deal at some point. a word about Seagate products the - FreeAgent GoFlex drives are very much premium products with bells and whistles that 95% of users will never need (like swapping the interface for a different one) so you can afford to look for a lower-end Seagate drive like the Seagate Expansion. The equivalent lower Western Digital model would be the WD Elements - both WD and Seagate drives are of equally high quality (Seagate seem to have recovered after sitting on their laurels for a few years) and I wouldn't ever suggest anybody buy any other brand of hard drive.
I would suggest shopping around online over the rest of this weekend and buying from somebody reliable* - with Black Friday and Cyber Monday you will be unlikely to get a better deal until after Christmas.
The best tests for whether an online vendor is reliable I can suggest would be...
1. the site has a "select your location" button somewhere.
2. it can show pricing in your local currency with the applicable sales taxes like VAT or GST included.
3. the shipping address detail page has the correct options for your country's postal system, for example offering Australian customers a choice of Australian states/territories instead of US states and postcode instead of Zip Code.
4. they offer shipping options which name which real provider in your country will be used, not generic "standard," "express" or whatever.
5. if you're a very cautious person who would prefer to pass up some of the best prices and be more sure of what's going on, limit yourself to companies with a 'real' presence in your own country, whether that be an office, a business registration number or being the online operation of a company that has bricks-and-mortar stores.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
You are limited to 500GB but just checking on Amazon and the do exist for around £40.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
500GB will last her out! I don't really want to use Amazon, but as with so many things they're just so much cheaper it's hard to resist... ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif)
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Sorted, and without using Amazon. It turns out after a great deal of rummaging (and trying to buy something from a firm whose web page would let you add it to the basket, but then refused to let you go to checkout... very sensible!) that Maplins* have an ebay store, and I've bought from there. I presume that they are selling surplus stock that way rather than in store.
Thanks, everyone!
AG
*UK chain of electronics, and DIY electronics, stores - who I've always had good experiences with. While I've found a page of shit reviews online, it took a lot more finding than any other firm's bad reviews.
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Sorted, and without using Amazon. It turns out after a great deal of rummaging (and trying to buy something from a firm whose web page would let you add it to the basket, but then refused to let you go to checkout... very sensible!) that Maplins* have an ebay store, and I've bought from there. I presume that they are selling surplus stock that way rather than in store.
Thanks, everyone!
AG
*UK chain of electronics, and DIY electronics, stores - who I've always had good experiences with. While I've found a page of shit reviews online, it took a lot more finding than any other firm's bad reviews.
Lots of retailers have eBay storefronts which are just as much a part of regular business (not just dumping surplus stock) these days. The retail industry does not do any favours to businesses that refuse to move with the times.
I wouldn't worry too much about online reviews, nobody should be taking them seriously unless they are consistently referring to a particular shortcoming and also verifiable by other means. In the world of tourist accommodation, for example, it is quite common for people to try and blackmail places into giving them upgrades or extras by threatening to post a bad review on TripAdvisor!
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Well, that was interesting. I deleted my free trial run of a particular anti-virus software after its expiry, and suddenly Outlook is now loading within 2 minutes instead of 15, despite my having tried to turn off add-ins, email shields and so on, and the computer is starting up very speedily.
Any recommendations for a quick, light, friendly (preferably free) anti-virus software for an ageing computer running Windows XP SP3?
AVG and Avast are both off the list now. I don't need anything fancy, just something that does the job and doesn't have a complicated interface.
[ 02. December 2012, 12:18: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
What's wrong with avg ?
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Slows the pc noticeably and is difficult to uninstall. I was picking bits out manually for quite some time after the uninstall.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
@Ariel -- alternatively set everything up the way you want it; keep your personal files on a separate drive (and back up regularly); make a disk image of the set up, and then simply run free without any anti-virus or other 'safety' clutter. Chances are you won't pick up anything nasty if you. or yours, are not in the habit of visiting the more suspect parts of the web. Should disaster strike, wipe the system disk clean, restore the system from the image (or images) you have created for just such a situation, and away you go again. Not quite easy peasy, but actually not that hard either, and as already mentioned, you may well find not something you have to do very often, if at all.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
Norton Internet Security 2013 works quite fast for me on all three machines (XP SP3 and Win7). I know it's not everyone's taste, but hey...
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink:
What's wrong with avg ?
It's adware, the free version consumes lots of system resources but doesn't detect anything, and computers infected with it can perform even worse than if they have a 'real' virus. It's such a shit product that it couldn't possibly be any use as a good advertisement for their paid version so I would be worried about what their real motivation is with providing it for free and what it's doing that I don't know about.
I agree with Alisdair, ditch the lot and use a good backup solution instead to reclaim the computer's performance, and be careful what you download (i.e. no pirated software with key generators). Or upgrade to Windows 7 while you still can and use Microsoft Security Essentials.
I would also suggest using an email provider which provides the virus scanning of attachments for you, such as Gmail or Fastmail.net, something that ISP-based POP email accounts generally don't provide.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I have used avg for years with out any noticeable infections.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
Correlation ≠ Causation.
If you haven't downloaded anything that turns into a noticeable infection then you won't have a noticeable infection. Running AVG free edition, disconnecting your internet at the plug when you're not using it or cleaning your teeth at least twice a day would not make any difference to that.
The difference between the AVG free edition and other internet security packages like Avast, Kaspersky is that the others include real-time monitoring to pick up the execution of malicious code, while AVG (the free edition at least) relies on doing a scan of files to pick up anything.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Any recommendations for a quick, light, friendly (preferably free) anti-virus software for an ageing computer running Windows XP SP3?
Nerdy answer - Linux. Recorded Windows viruses: about 500000, recorded Linux viruses: about 30 but though none worked.
Initially I installed Ubuntu (a version of Linux) alongside Windows as I was a bit nervous. I could boot either so learned a bit of Linux and increasingly stopped using Windows.
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"controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
I'd second that; unless you are a gamer, running Linux is not at all a bad solution to digital nasties and corporate slavery.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Funny thing, though. If all the Apple and Linux evangelists were successful, obscurity, a large component of their security would be rendered useless. Inherently, Apple is the most vulnerable, architecture wise. Linux is the most secure, but also requires the more knowledge in general.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
It's the old old story: caveat emptor
Or, to put it another way, horses for courses. Either way the punter needs to be bothered/able to educate themselves about what they need and what is available to meet that need.
Computing as an appliance is fine if all we want to know is how to throw the On/Off switch, but we have to accept that beyond that all the knowledge and control will lie in someone else's hands. Not necessarily a problem at all; but it can be very useful to at least have a choice---and to know what that choice is and why it might be worth choosing.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Funny thing, though. If all the Apple and Linux evangelists were successful, obscurity, a large component of their security would be rendered useless. Inherently, Apple is the most vulnerable, architecture wise. Linux is the most secure, but also requires the more knowledge in general.
Less knowledge is needed these days. Linux Mint comes with Firefox & Thunderbird and LibreOffice which lots of people are already using on Windows (well "some" in the LibreOffice case). My wife - not at all into computers - says she doesn't see any difference between Linux and Windows (except clicking once where it used to be twice). Admittedly she had me to set it up in the first place.
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"controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
The difference between the AVG free edition and other internet security packages like Avast, Kaspersky is that the others include real-time monitoring to pick up the execution of malicious code, while AVG (the free edition at least) relies on doing a scan of files to pick up anything.
I'm moving to avast because AVG keeps trying to make it the default search.
Avast has an annoying "your avast database has been updated" sound a few times a day, that I can't find how to turn off. Any clues?
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Never found out how to do it. It's especially annoying when it pops up when listening to Spotify.
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
The difference between the AVG free edition and other internet security packages like Avast, Kaspersky is that the others include real-time monitoring to pick up the execution of malicious code, while AVG (the free edition at least) relies on doing a scan of files to pick up anything.
I'm moving to avast because AVG keeps trying to make it the default search.
Avast has an annoying "your avast database has been updated" sound a few times a day, that I can't find how to turn off. Any clues?
It's a while since I last used it (on a Mac now) but I think back then there was a setting for audio alerts hidden somewhere.
Alternatively, look for WAV, DAV or even MP3 files in the install folder, if they are stored in any of those formats you can replace them with a 'blank' sound file that just contains silence.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
Thanks. I missed it because it called it the silent/gaming mode.
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
Thanks. I missed it because it called it the silent/gaming mode.
Yep, that definitely rings a bell - primarily because the one time I forgot to leave it on that setting when I was actually gaming it announced "a threat has been detected" just as my opponent's army started rolling towards my base! Useful program, helping me in my pwnage and getting rid of tracking cookies.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
Open Avast. 'Settings' tab, 'sounds' from the left hand menu, un-tick 'Enable avast! sounds'.
Or you can choose which sounds you want to disable and keep some of them.
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
Ohhhh, God! How I long for my Macintosh computers! Alas, both are unwell and I haven't the $$ to fix them... anyway, some PC laptop advice is needed pronto!
My wives are always playing games on the laptop (bought in April of 2012) and K. downloaded these games that Dell sells on their website. The collection is called Wild Tangent Games and she also plays all the Sims games too.
The other day I was trying to be helpful by cleaning up the hard drive and getting rid of duplicate applications and crap that is always showing up whenever we open Internet Explorer. Anyway, I accidentally got rid of the Wild Tangent application and all hell broke loose at home. You would've thought I killed one of our cats, the way K. went on and on, yelling and ranting and... CRYING! Yeah, she's emotional! Anyway, I tried to do the little trick where you go back to an earlier time to get the application/program back and it came back... but only the logo. When I try to open the damn thing it says it doesn't exist! K. paid for a lot of extras in these "Virtual Villagers" sim-type games and now can't get her account even to be recognized. What the hell can I do to fix this? She has the receipts for the games and extra items she purchased but I don't see anyplace on the Wild Tangent website where one can contact them should such a thing happen. I'm sure I'm not the only one that this has happened to... I hope, anyway! I already feel like an idiot.
We're using Windows 7-Premium Home Edition, if that helps. Please save me from more marital strife!
Geeks, you're my only hope! ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
I can only shut the stable door - create an admin account that only you know the password to, and demote all other accounts to standard user. Then they can't install rubbish that'll suddenly be your responsibility in the future.
In the short term, if system restore doesn't bring it back, then it's likely that nothing will.
[ 12. December 2012, 08:57: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
Absolutely agree with K:LB
Although it should be noted that if your partner has an actual account with Wild Tangent then there ought to be a mechanism to re-install the software and restore the add-ons/enhancements.
Wild Tangent is just an online games company, part of the point of which is that you can install the game onto any old machine, log in with your credentials, and get all your crap back because it's all stored centrally.
So I'd be getting on to Wild Tangent customer support and saying "We had a whoops, I've reinstalled, WTF isn't it working?"
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Snags:
Absolutely agree with K:LB
Although it should be noted that if your partner has an actual account with Wild Tangent then there ought to be a mechanism to re-install the software and restore the add-ons/enhancements.
Wild Tangent is just an online games company, part of the point of which is that you can install the game onto any old machine, log in with your credentials, and get all your crap back because it's all stored centrally.
So I'd be getting on to Wild Tangent customer support and saying "We had a whoops, I've reinstalled, WTF isn't it working?"
Yeah... we tried to contact Wild Tangent about this but even though my wife is a registered user (hell, she gave them enough of her money, dammit!), the Wild Tangent website keeps saying "User Not Found" so we've given up with downloading games. This morning we found all her downloadable games are also on disks (discs?), so we're going to purge our laptop of ALL downloadable games and just buy the ones we want in a hard copy and then, in the future, back everything up to an external hard drive. Too many weird things seem to happen with buying downloadable content on the PC--it's just not worth the heartache.
Thanks for the advice, though! As soon as we discovered all her games were available on disk, happiness and tranquility replaced hours upon hours of hand-wringing and angst. Wife Kristine is a disabled veteran and has many PTSD issues, playing computer games really helps her deal with a lot of things, so not being able to access those games really took a toll on her. Sheesh! I hope I don't have to go through this again, any time soon! ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif)
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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The Rogue
Shipmate
# 2275
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Posted
Discs for me. YMMV.
This Christmas I am keen to learn to touch type - at the moment I am staring at my keyboard and not spotting things like cAPS lOCK and reaching the end of a line (not everything I do has word wrap!). I will be off work and have some time.
When I Google touch typing courses about a zillion come up. So I am asking if anyone has any recommendations which have worked for you. I don't know how realistic my ambition to pick it up over a week or so is but hopefully I will learn enough to get me going. As they say: practice makes perfect.
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If everyone starts thinking outside the box does outside the box come back inside?
Posts: 2507 | From: Toton | Registered: Feb 2002
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Back in the days when I learnt, it was not so much touch type as thump type, since it was on a manual typewriter. As I recall, we started with the letters under the index fingers plus the thumb for spacebar, then the middle fingers and so on. And it was just practice, practice, practice. And now of course I mainly use a virtual keyboard and it's back to one finger pecking....
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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The Machine Elf
Irregular polytope
# 1622
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Posted
I failed to learn to touch type for years on qwerty and got fed up with trying.
So over the Christmas holidays one year, I switched my keyboard settings to Dvorak layout, and by the time I returned to work I wasn't much slower than I had been. Because the keys are not what is marked on the physical keyboards, I pretty well have to touch type.
I don't know whether I actually am faster than if I had learned to touch type on qwerty, but I didn't. It certainly made spelling 'manoeuvring' easier, which was useful when I worked writing aircraft simulations, and possibly explains why the tests done on military personnel are more positive than others.
On the other hand, I have worn out the pips on the home row of a couple of cheap Dell keyboards since.
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Elves of any kind are strange folk.
Posts: 1298 | From: the edge of the deep green sea | Registered: Oct 2001
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
Can anyone recommend FREE photo editing software that enables you to batch resize photos? If possible not Picasa because I have tried that and just can't get on with it.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
There's usually some kind of photo editing software that comes with your digital camera. It might be worth having a look at that to see what it can do, as some do offer batch operations.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
My stock editor is Irfanview. Download both it and its plug-ins. I use it because it manipulates my 125Mbyte slide scans easily and keeps them with 14 bit depth, whereas GIMP always converts them to 8 bit. Oh, Yes. It does work in batch-mode.
[ 20. December 2012, 09:14: Message edited by: Latchkey Kid ]
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
Can anyone recommend FREE photo editing software that enables you to batch resize photos?
Faststone Image Viewer.
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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chive
Ship's nude
# 208
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Posted
Complete non geek checking in here. I've just bought my first ever laptop. Will it damage the battery if I leave it plugged in most of the time? Also, is it ok to leave it on standby most of the time or should I turn it off when I'm not using it?
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'Edward was the kind of man who thought there was no such thing as a lesbian, just a woman who hadn't done one-to-one Bible study with him.' Catherine Fox, Love to the Lost
Posts: 3542 | From: the cupboard under the stairs | Registered: May 2001
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chive
Ship's nude
# 208
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Posted
Just got my first ever laptop. Will it damage the battery if I leave it plugged in most of the time and will it be a problem to leave it on standby instead of switching it off?
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'Edward was the kind of man who thought there was no such thing as a lesbian, just a woman who hadn't done one-to-one Bible study with him.' Catherine Fox, Love to the Lost
Posts: 3542 | From: the cupboard under the stairs | Registered: May 2001
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lily pad
Shipmate
# 11456
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Posted
I tend to use the battery power until it goes right down and then charge it up. Otherwise, I leave it plugged in. I try not to let it only partially charge and then unplug it. I have no idea if this is advisable or not for today's laptops but that is what I was told to do when I bought my first one and now it is a habit. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Standby or hibernate is fine. I think hibernate uses less power. Every so often it is a good idea to reboot.
Hope you enjoy your new level of portability!
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Sloppiness is not caring. Fussiness is caring about the wrong things. With thanks to Adeodatus!
Posts: 2468 | From: Truly Canadian | Registered: May 2006
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Lithium batteries, which I assume your laptop has, do best when stored at ~40% capacity. Since you do not need the battery to run the laptop* it is recommended by some that it be removed during normal operation. Leaving it plugged constantly will shorten the life of the battery, not sure how fast. FWIW, I leave my battery installed and the laptop plugged in.
I do not like standby. If you do not completely turn the computer off, small errors can accumulate, causing programs to not run efficiently. As long as you do not have too many thing running on startup, it should boot fairly quickly as it is new.
*unless you have power drops.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Lily Pad,
No! That advice is for nickel based batteries. Lithium based do not care to be run down all the way. And there is no benefit to doing so. This can actually
shorten the batteries life if run down too far.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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lily pad
Shipmate
# 11456
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Posted
I stand corrected! And will be the better for it. Thanks!
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Sloppiness is not caring. Fussiness is caring about the wrong things. With thanks to Adeodatus!
Posts: 2468 | From: Truly Canadian | Registered: May 2006
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
FWIW, my experience of lithium laptop batteries is that if you always use the laptop on mains power (and so never discharge the battery very much), the battery will have a much reduced lifespan. They like to be used, so if you fairly regularly run the laptop on battery only (no need to drain it to the dregs), it will be a happy battery for a lot longer.
Taking the battery out of the laptop may be okay on some models, but in my experience laptops don't like it and either won't run at all, or lose some functionality, i.e. the base system expects a battery to be present, even if it's dead, and won't run at all/fully if one is not in place.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I have had several work with no battery present. Depend upon how the power is routed, I would guess.
If a battery in a plugged in laptop were not drawing and sending power, it would be akin to storing said battery at full charge. Not the best for maximum life, but not the worse.
Lithium batteries have a finite number of full cycles, regardless of the depth of the discharge. (Save for complete drain)
So, I think it likely your computers were constantly charging and discharging in tiny amounts.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Lithium batteries, which I assume your laptop has, do best when stored at ~40% capacity. Since you do not need the battery to run the laptop* it is recommended by some that it be removed during normal operation.
Some manufacturers do not recommend this. Multi core and graphics processors require a lot of power, which the power adapter may not be able to supply on its own. Macs, for example, can run without a battery but slow down the processor speed to prevent excessive power drain. It's also not advisable to run a Macbook with a Magsafe adapter without a battery as the things can detach very easily so you risk losing work!
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2332?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
[ 22. December 2012, 09:39: Message edited by: Mr. Spouse ]
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
![[Confused]](confused.gif) How can a battery supplement the power adaptor which is both keeping it charged and running the computer? By that logic, one could only operate the computer for short intervals. One would then need to shut down the computer and recharge the battery.
The potential for the power adaptor becoming disconnected is a real and valid point. I manage to knock mine loose occasionally.
ETA: I read the link on the Apple site. And, thinking about it, realise they are likely referring to short bursts of activity, rather than sustained. Which is rubbish if true as it means they have under-designed their power adapters. Cheap bastards.
My laptop is designed for gaming and does have a massive power adaptor.
[ 22. December 2012, 13:55: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
It's a moot point anyway, Apple have not been selling computers with removable batteries for nearly four years now, that's work that needs to be done at a service centre.
What I'm struggling to work out is how many peripherals you would need to be running to draw more power than a 85W Magsafe charger could supply, and whether any MacBook or older-style MacBook Pro even has enough ports to do that. I suppose it might be theoretically possible with one of the old 17" MBP models with the first i7 processors, but the 85W Magsafe charger is more than adequate for 99% of the time. An MBP is not a gaming laptop like Dell's Alienware range, it's designed for portability which demands having a power supply that does not require a large truck to transport.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
ISTM, their advice not to remove the battery, when that was possible, is to prevent "you did not tell us we could not remove both the batter and power adaptor and still run the computer." comments.
I believe in some systems, the battery can help condition the power. Not sure if laptop batteries work this way.
[ 22. December 2012, 14:50: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
It's only USB that powers peripherals and the computer limits that power anyway. If you have many then the peripherals need their own power or a powered hub.
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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