Old pc faster than ecent

[cameron conner]

On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 01:12:16 -0600, Brad Johnson wrote:
> 
>>> On the other hand. Some laptops can handle a 7200RPM drive just fine. My
>>> IBM T42 Laptop has a 1.7GHZ processor, 15" screen, 7200RPM HDD (stock),
>>> 1GB RAM and my battery life is over 2 hours. My HDD temp is 33 C which
>>> is below body temperature and sensors-applet shows the cooling fans even
>>> turn off at times. 
>>> 
>> 
>> You consider 2hrs of battery life okay? Mine gets 3-4, and that's with 
>> wifi and bluetooth. It's only got a 4200rpm drive, but I know ones 
>> similar that have 5400rpm drives get about 3 hours, and they have 
>> bigger screens.
> 
> Your comments got me thinking. The 2hr battery life was measured by
> unplugging my docking station. I did not un-dock the laptop. With the
> laptop un-docked my battery life is reported as 2 hours 54 minutes
> (essentially 3 hours). I also have wifi/bluetooth and both are switched
> on. 

What is estimated is almost always wrong. It doesn't take into account 
processor usage, which can't really be guessed at as it doesn't know 
what you're going to do.
 
> I personally would gladly trade a 4th hour of battery runtime for
> desktop-like performance. I'm sorry, but I do not subscribe to the
> "we're going to slow your entire laptop down to achive longer battery
> life and then sell it as a feature" mentality of many manufacturers.

http://www.barefeats.com/5472.html

You'll notice that the speed increase isn't that great, and actually 
it's a decrease on the random read, however that may be due to other 
factors. 

Obviously a 7200rpm drive will be faster. The question is if the speed 
increase is so noticeable to warrant giving up the battery life and 
adding a lot of heat. This isn't a worry in desktop systems or some 
laptops.

I personally don't have any issues with my 4200rpm drive in my iBook 
G4, and I work with lots of big photoshop files.  I just don't notice a 
problem. I don't have the ability to do a direct comparison though. 
However I agree that the jump from 4200rpm to 5400rpm would be really 
noticeable, I think it'd be debatable if you can truly tell with normal 
operations the difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm. I saw a really 
good comparison awhile ago, but can't seem to find it now.

> The originator of this thread was complaining about the performance of
> his laptop. My suggestions were made in the spirit of helping him out.
> It was not my intention to alienate those with slower HDDs.

I'm sorry if you thought I was accusing you of alienating people with 
slower HDDs. That wasn't my intention either, I was just continuing the 
discussion of slower spinning HDDs vs battery life and such.

> Brad

peace, cameron
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