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Laptops...
One of my all time dreams has been to have a nice laptop to use wireless.
After the last 2 or 3 months of friends calling me with questions about their laptops, I'm not so sure I want one of these beasts.
The brands range all over the place, but what I've seen in common are:
- display problems
- hard drive problems
- motherboard replacement needed
Any of those is enough to make one wonder at the reliability of these creatures of technology. They didn't all get a lot of use, they weren't run over by trucks and they ranged from the el-cheapo economy machine to super-deluxe media whomping monsters with multiple drives and googles of RAM.
I can see that laptops are an ongoing expense. One would be very wise to get a MANUFACTURER's extended warranty. I've heard so many bad experiences with in-store and aftermarket extended warranty companies that I really think one should only get the one that made the product to fix it.
I can see where they fill a niche. But I can't see why the reliability is so low on these things. My desktops run for years of nearly constant use and don't fall apart. Perhaps that's because I'm not moving them around all the time. Probably another part is heat buildup. I think a laptop cooler would be a good investment.
I guess I won't be purchasing a laptop for the far foreseeable future. Oh well, another dream gets dashed by reality!
My 2 cents worth.
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I'm not sure what you
I'm not sure what you perceive the problem to be, I have used portable machines for the last 20 years. Admittedly the early machines certainly weren't laptops, they were luggables and didn't look anything like the machines that we have today.
However, I got my first "conventional" laptop about 12 years ago and in general my various employers have replaced them every three years or so. So accounting for various employments etc I have probably six laptops in my time, plus access to many more. The second machine onwards have had wireless connectivity built into them, although for machines 2 and 3 I actually had to provide a business case to my employers to specify a machine with this...! Which was kind of ironic given that part of the product set for that employer was wireless networks...
In that time I have only ever had one machine fail on me, because of a faulty hard disk, which was fixed overnight because the manufacturer sent me a new disc the next day and I restored one of my daily images of the machine. (To digress for a moment, Windows home server was probably one of the best investments I ever made. It is such an easy solution that has helped me get out of a couple of predicaments with both my home machine and work machines).
In the same period of time I have actually had more grief with desktop machines...
I wouldn't agree that a laptop cooler is a good investment, it is just another one of those products invented for a market that shouldn't exist! The only thing that I would suggest, is not to regularly use a laptop on your lap, because that can create lots of heat that can damage the machine, and can also errrr shall we say in the cases of all the male readers reduce your chances of becoming a father...!
My tuppence worth...
It's interesting that we
It's interesting that we have completely opposite experiences with these machines.
I was talking to a friend yesterday and he says they should be replaced every 3 years. His experience is with large businesses and government sites.
It does sound like Windows Home Server saved you! I'll have to look into that.
My first PC was the original
My first PC was the original Compaq, but I haven't bought a portable since then for various reasons. But from a probability perspective, given the number of laptops and their relatively low hardware failure rate, it wouldn't be rare to encounter three successive or contiguous failures even though the overall rate may be fairly low. Of course the same logic applies to desktops.
This is one I'd just chalk up to the odds
Still, since I don't like to travel with anything that might reduce my ability to lug camera gear, I don't have a need for a portable. Also given my desire to get away from everything when I travel, I don't want to lug one. I don't even like my wife's insistence on bringing a Blackberry, but its a symbol of her soon to be terminated ball and chain status
Its a sign of modern regression to the primitive state that such an accessory is a virtual necessity for negotiating current air travel snafus!
Indeed, I don't see the logic of having a portable unless you need to carry it around -- even the best portable would make a crummy desktop replacement for me, but no doubt others see it differently.
Bruce
BruceCyr wrote: I don't
I don't even like my wife's insistence on bringing a Blackberry, but its a symbol of her soon to be terminated ball and chain status
Are you leaving us? That would be a terrible shame! And with whom would I spar!
Its a sign of modern regression to the primitive state that such an accessory is a virtual necessity for negotiating current air travel snafus!
Yes they need us husbands!
Indeed, I don't see the logic of having a portable unless you need to carry it around -- even the best portable would make a crummy desktop replacement for me, but no doubt others see it differently.
My wife would hate to be called a portable
Quentin
BruceCyr wrote: I don't
I don't even like my wife's insistence on bringing a Blackberry, but its a symbol of her soon to be terminated ball and chain status :-)
Are you leaving us? That would be a terrible shame! And with whom would I spar! :(
Doh! With your wife!
Its a sign of modern regression to the primitive state that such an accessory is a virtual necessity for negotiating current air travel snafus!
Yes they need us husbands! :)
You married a Blackberry?! Sounds like a remake of an old TV series
Indeed, I don't see the logic of having a portable unless you need to carry it around -- even the best portable would make a crummy desktop replacement for me, but no doubt others see it differently.
My wife would hate to be called a portable :jawdrop:
She is what she is!
Bruce
You need to start a blog -
You need to start a blog - your post in no way helps or detriments the original post - it just appears as random verbage - as ever...
Maybe I should start a Bruce
Maybe I should start a Bruce vs. Quentin forum? Might get interesting.
admin wrote: Maybe I should
Maybe I should start a Bruce vs. Quentin forum? Might get interesting. :D
That could have some very interesting results!
I think that Bruce, rather like myself, feels a little injected humour (if you can call it that) helps the day go by, and possibly adds a little spice to the threads.
Oh how we miss Richards contributions 
Quentin
Cheers! Bruce
Cheers!
Bruce
crivon1 wrote: Oh how we
Oh how we miss Richards contributions
He was on here recently. From what he said, I doubt he'll be back though. He has a lot of other interests right now that he's pursuing anyway.
admin wrote: Maybe I should
Maybe I should start a Bruce vs. Quentin forum? Might get interesting. :D
Bruce vs. dragonuser is more to the point, I should think!
Bruce
dragonuser wrote: You need
You need to start a blog - your post in no way helps or detriments the original post - it just appears as random verbage - as ever...
And yet -- you don't mind if I mimic your foray into personal address, do you? -- they seem more pertinent and interesting than yours, don't they?
Bruce
dragonuser wrote: I
I wouldn't agree that a laptop cooler is a good investment, it is just another one of those products invented for a market that shouldn't exist!
That's a tough statement to figure out! The market that shouldn't exist would be that for devices that remove heat from the bottom of a laptop -- I guess? Admittedly, laptop heat build-up is an undesirable situation, but I understand it results from conflicting engineering priorities, that is, the desire to make a minimally small, light package, vs. the desire to pack as much processing power into the package as possible.
You could make the same argument about seat belts. OTOH, you want maximum freedom to move around, while OTOH you want to keep your brain stuffing intact and contiguous!
The fact that I want to keep my brain stuffing together doesn't influence whether I want to try to protect my (non-existent!) laptop's longevity, but the heat removers do seem to work and are relatively cheap albeit cumbersome to carry along.
Of course, if you get a new laptop every three years regardless or, presumably, any time the old one fails, you have little incentive to maximize its longevity. But if its your own nest egg that's vicariously cooking your nether parts, you might have a different take on things
Bruce
BruceCyr wrote: Of course,
Of course, if you get a new laptop every three years regardless or, presumably, any time the old one fails, you have little incentive to maximize its longevity. But if its your own nest egg that's vicariously cooking your nether parts, you might have a different take on things
Bruce
Just because they are provided by work doesn't mean I don't treat them with respect, and neither does it mean that the old ones stop working when I hand them back after a number of years!
dragonuser wrote: BruceCyr
Of course, if you get a new laptop every three years regardless or, presumably, any time the old one fails, you have little incentive to maximize its longevity. But if its your own nest egg that's vicariously cooking your nether parts, you might have a different take on things
Bruce
Just because they are provided by work doesn't mean I don't treat them with respect, and neither does it mean that the old ones stop working when I hand them back after a number of years!
dragonuser,
What you say may be true and and certainly is irrelevant.
The point I put forward in the statement you quote is that you don't have the same evaluation of a laptop as someone who pays for it him/her-self because you get yours from your employer(s).
You also ignore other salient points of my argument, such as the utility of a laptop cooler given the conflicting engineering requirements for a laptop.
But so far as useless verbiage goes, you seem to have mastered that art as well sly usage of non sequiturs. But Hey! As we all have learned in the past seven years or so, logic and common sense are as useless as courtesy and decency in the new world!
Bruce
Whatever!
In the words of a younger generation - whatever...!
"any time the old one fails, you have little incentive to maximize its longevity"
- if it has failed, then you don't have to do anything to aid it's longevity - add appropriate phrase from the parrot sketch here...!
dragonuser wrote: "any time
"any time the old one fails, you have little incentive to maximize its longevity"
That sort of depends on how you use it. My IBM ThinkPad T40 purchased in the summer of 2003 started getting cranky several months ago. I finally trouble shot the problem to the hard drive going bad. IBM hard drives are very expensive (they use a proprietary connector). I finally decided to spend the $250 and purchased a new hard drive.
Since then, the thought to be dead notebook computer has been doing exemplary duty as a testing platform for microphones. Also, I take it with me when I go on personal or business trips and know I need to leave the computer in the hotel room. It works just fine for Internet and e-mail use and would not be a great loss if stolen.
In my case, and possibly others, the incentive to extend the longevity depends on how it is going to be used.
--
Martin Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
Read, "Key Steps to High Speech Recognition Accuracy
Lets get one thing
Lets get one thing straight!!
Just because my machines are provided by my employer, it doesn't mean that I don't care about the laptop's longevity - I do!! Apart fom anything else it helps to keep me employed!
The only statement here I think has a faulty premise is that a laptop needs a cooler - in my opinion it doesn't; however if anybody out there wants to go and buy one - fine I have no issue with that!
As an IT professional of some 20 odd years I care about all hardware whether purchased BY me or FOR me.
And I totally agree with bringing back otherwise dead units back to life - my Windows Home Server is built from many bits of otherwise deceased machines.
dragonuser wrote: The only
The only statement here I think has a faulty premise is that a laptop needs a cooler - in my opinion it doesn't; however if anybody out there wants to go and buy one - fine I have no issue with that!
At last, merciful deity above! A plain statement minus obfuscatory verbiage!
In response, I can only say: It depends.
Some manufacturers sometimes put desktop CPUs into laptops because they're cheaper than laptop CPUs providing similar levels of performance, or else because there isn't a comparably fast laptop CPU.
Other manufacturers skimp on cooling because they can sell at a discount to comparable units with proper cooling.
And so on and so forth.
In these cases, a laptop cooler could be worth the price.
The only comparison I can make involves hard drives. Maybe five or six years ago the machines for which I'm responsible would have a sporadic hard drive failure -- this was about at the same time that some hard drive manufacturers, like IBM and Maxtor, instituted one-year warranties in place of three- or five-year warranties.
So I began researching hard drive coolers and settled on a particular model that featured a large, finned, aluminum plate that clamped onto the top of the hard drive, with small cooling fans blowing across the fins. I bought a half a dozen of these with a volume discount and have been using them ever since with the fans volted down to 5- or 7-volts to minimize noise. I know from empirical tests that they reduce hard drive operating temperatures by a factor of 10°-12°F. Because it costs me next to nothing to keep using these things, and because I haven't had a single hard drive failure since I began using them, I keep using them. Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe they're working, or maybe hard drives have become more reliable, or maybe a combination of these and other factors.
Bruce
PS: If any body wants a deal on a box of old PATA 60-80GB hard drives, send an email to your_ebay_daddy_loves_you
in care of thewideworldweb
In my main tower, there is a
In my main tower, there is a fan on each hard drive. I use drive trays so the fans are really needed to keep their temp down. Had to replace the fans once or twice but they are cheap and work well. I usually get them at Cyberguys. As to noise, it's so noisy here I feel like I'm in a wind tunnel anyway so what's 3 or 4 more fans running?
It's really a challenge to get SR running in this noise too. The Sennheiser ME-3 I use is good at cutting a lot of it (but not all) out of the picture. The problem is the noise comes from behind me, thus direct into any microphone I might use. The real fix would be to move the computer area, if I had a place to move it to.
obfuscatory verbiage
At last, merciful deity above! A plain statement minus obfuscatory verbiage!
It has to be said you like the sound of your own obfuscatory verbiage!
I think you'll find the original statement was plain enough - "I wouldn't agree that a laptop cooler is a good investment, it is just another one of those products invented for a market that shouldn't exist! ".
And in the words of the mighty philosopher Forrest Gump -"And that's all I have to say about ...", about this thread. No doubt I'll meet you in another...
And the band played on...
And the band played on...
Laptops are good
The laptop I usually use I bought in Moscow in 2003. I live in California now. I haven't had any trouble with it. It's a Dell Latitude D400. In my experience, laptops are more trouble-free than desktop computers. I almost never have it plugged in to a network; it's always connected by wireless. I have it turned on virtually 100% of the time.
I did have to buy a cooler for it recently. I frequently set it on my bed, and that's one of the things you're not supposed to do. (Because it can't ventilate freely if not on a hard surface--the bedding or whatever smothers it a bit.) Plus, it appears that the fan has gone out (you can call that trouble, I guess). If it overheats a lot, the system automatically turns itself off as a protective measure. Before the fan went out, I didn't use a cooler in all that time.