2008

2007

2006

December 31, 2006
December 29 2006
December 18 2006
November 26 2006
November 23 2006
November 4 2006
November 3 2006
November 3 2006
October 30 2006
October 14 2006
October 9 2006
October 9 2006
October 8 2006
September 29 2006
September 26 2006
September 26 2006
September 9 2006
September 6 2006
September 4 2006
August 31 2006
August 29 2006
August 28 2006
August 27 2006
August 26 2006
August 25 2006
August 22 2006
August 20 2006
August 16 2006
August 12 2006
July 28 2006
July 25 2006
July 3 2006
June 26 2006
June 25 2006
June 21 2006
June 21 2006
June 17 2006
June 16 2006
June 9 2006
June 7 2006
May 28 2006
May 23 2006
May 12 2006
May 6 2006
May 5 2006
April 24 2006
April 22 2006
April 20 2006
April 17 2006
April 15 2006
April 14 2006
April 11 2006
April 7 2006
April 7 2006
March 24 2006
March 11 2006
February 26 2006
February 24 2006
February 19 2006
February 17 2006
February 16 2006
February 11 2006
February 10 2006
February 9 2006
February 6 2006
February 3 2006
February 3 2006
February 3 2006
January 31 2006
January 26 2006
January 25 2006
January 21 2006
January 20 2006
January 20 2006
January 18 2006
January 16 2006
January 14 2006
January 11 2006
January 10 2006
January 10 2006
January 9 2006
January 7 2006
January 3 2006
January 2 2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

Wednesday, January 25 2006
1:24:37 AM

So, the laptop is going back in the morning. After 5 days of fucking around with it, non stop, I have just given up on trying to get the hardware to play ball.

The short list of issues that I had with it?

• The IDE Controller attached to the ATI chipset, is bunk. 1.27 mb/s read speeds are the best it could muster.
• Battery life and power management was miserable. Fully charged battery lasted less than 45 minutes on average.

• CPU Usage and System load were always very high. Even idling, with nothing but openbox running the GNOME System Monitor would show a load of around 20%.
• DVD's would not play back, at all. Well, they would, but playing with skips and jitters that would frighten small children.
• Soundcard was not supported at all.
• The system ran exceptionally hot, even doing nothing.
• It was LOUD. My desktop has quieter fans.

All is not lost in lappy world though, I am going to do some more shopping, and actually take some Live CD's with me this time, and try the machines out, and I actually have a little better of an idea of what I do want in a machine.

• 64 bit CPU.
• 512 mb Memory, expandable to at least 2gb.
• 14" wide screen. This is my sweet spot.
• More than 2 USB Ports.
• At least 1 Firewire port.
• TV and VGA out.
• Dedicated Video Memory.
• Wireless B/G.
• Built in Compact Flash reader.
• 60gb or larger, 5400 rpm disk.
• Dual Layer DVD+/- RW.
• Spare Battery.

The sound card not being supported, I can deal with that. Same with if it does not have the card reader, I can get around that. Everything else is going to be mandatory though. Shopping starts in the morning, wish me luck.

---

This conversation has been archived, and no further comments are allowed.

---

This brain fart has been read at least 158 times.

All words © 1997-2006 Dan Roscoe.