I'm BACK, Hello Everyone, KennyV

[JDgreen]

I first saw this at BB and it seemed OK... then it came up on Woot for less than $400, so I figures I has to get it...
I have never has much laptop use time, I will keep that battery drain time in mind...

It has a 6 cell batt, just a tad end heavy, but run time looks very good, A friend was using it the other day and got just a little over 5 hours on it, took it down to 8%, she got a little worried and shut it down because it recommended a plug into power... Didn't have an AC power source at the time... :smile:KennyV

Your friend did the right thing by shutting it down, these big screen models slurp up the last of the juice very fast....they will usually shut themselves down when the battery power gets low enough IF things go right but if not you will have complications upon the next boot up. 5 hours is an excellent run time for a 17.3 screen my Toshiba struggles to make 2 1/3 hrs on battery power.

 

[KennyV]

5 hours is an excellent run time for a 17.3 screen my Toshiba struggles to make 2 1/3 hrs on battery power.

We were in low light most of the time & the brightness was set low, but I will see if it continues with this type of batt run time...
Wow didn't notice how late it is... I'm going to have to quit for the night...
I will leave things with the remaining 107 users on line... Good night all... :smile:KennyV

 

[Smartaleck]

Welcome back indeed. I saw people asking where you were. I'd be utterly lost without my computer so I feel for you, and it takes an age to set up a new one. I'm on my fourth since I started using one and each new one is a pain to set up, even with back ups!

 

[twall]

Speaking of laptops, my acer aspire 15.5" - I'm not sure how long the batt lasts.......never ran it down low. I ran it for 3 hrs the other day, and it didn't complain. That battery meter in the tray is rather useless. It said I had 80% left from minute one to hour three! My Sylvania netbook said the same....80%, then chirped and shut down. because the batt was dead!:laughing: Question, Kenny: were you tethered during that 5 hours? I know my phone is on 'charge' while it's tethered. Also, when I'm tethered, I shut off my WiFi radio, to give me a little more life.

My woman just got a toshiba, because the HP was sold out at walmart. Cost her an extra $50, but from what I hear, Toshiba is good stuff (even though it's sold at walmart). She loves it thusfar.

Isn't it odd, seems a few years back, the 'recovery disks' used to come in a baggie WITH the computer. Now you have to buy DVD R's and burn your OWN.......and that process took me upward of two hours. I guess, if the manufacturer can save a few bucks.......

Also, what happened to the MS bible that used to come with the computer? Now, it's all online in PDF. AGAIN, you can have a manual, if you want to print for three days! The 'walkthrough' on my acer was a laugh. My girl's toshiba had a scannable box code that she scanned with an app on her Android phone, and the tour was there, along with the specs and the like. Took me trying to download a 32-bit driver (and it not working) to see if it was 64 bit......:laughing:

 

[JDgreen]

Twall, bought my oldest Toshiba early in 2005, it had a small print manual and a full set of restore disks. My 17 inch Toshiba is not even two years old yet, the printed manual is a joke and I had to create my own restore CD's. About four years ago our niece bought a laptop at Best Buy and she tossed the restore disks, well the hard drive failed and she had to pay close to $50 to buy a set of restore CD's. IMO it's penny pinching when computer makers fail to provide a decent owners manual. The "create-your-own-restore-disks" is party because of software piracy, Microsoft doesn't want extra copies of Windows floating around.

To me, the "online owners manual" that comes with new computers these days is a stupid joke...fat lot of good it does when your computer doesn't work. But to be honest, my computers have been so reliable I don't even need to refer to the owners manual, only time I have ever doen so is to be sure I was following the correct procedure to add memory modules.

 

[KennyV]

Kenny: were you tethered during that 5 hours? I know my phone is on 'charge' while it's tethered. Also, when I'm tethered, I shut off my WiFi radio, to give me a little more life.


Isn't it odd, seems a few years back, the 'recovery disks' used to come in a baggie WITH the computer. Now you have to buy DVD R's and burn your OWN.......and that process took me upward of two hours. I guess, if the manufacturer can save a few bucks.......

Also, what happened to the MS bible that used to come with the computer? Now, it's all online in PDF. AGAIN, you can have a manual, if you want to print for three days!

twall,
No, not the whole time... started out tethered, but I kept getting phone calls and that would put internet connection on hold, so after the 2 or 3rd I switched to the air card...

It's amazing how large the recovery program + all the data, almost 3 full DVD discs... (oh I did end up having to use them ... (4 times), it was my fault... but they do work well, I am glad to do it when there is not a lot of additional things to add... but the updates after recovery are intense...

As to the printed BOOKS ...I think someone at the land fills must have complained that they were running out of space, ...I still have a lot of 'documentation' from early DOS days... :smile:KennyV



Smartaleck... I guess the 'time' saved in using computers balances out the time spent making them work...
Tax time would be a bear without programs... I remember doing it all long hand with many trips to the accountants... well I guess it still takes a lot of time & work to get that done but there MUST be some reason to justify all the grief in having a computer... OH yeah, it is so we can be on LMF... now I remember... :smile:KennyV

 

[twall]

JD, Piracy really isn't the issue. You had it right. Straight up penny-pinching. The restore disks are hard to make a pirate copy of Windows out of, because it's just a snapshot of what's on the HD. It's configured for THAT machine alone, and won't work on another one. I know. No, not because I'm a pirate. I had 2 computers running win 98se, and lost one recovery set. Needed a restore. Tried using the recovery set from the other computer. Would not work. Hardware could not communicate with the software.

That brings me to Kenny, that's why the recovery set is so huge (4 DVD's.....not CD's.....my recovery set is 14gigs large). It's EVERYTHING you have on the disk (including viruses, which is why they say do the recovery burning before you plug into the net). I personally plug in, update, configure, install what I want, log into my most used sites, THEN make a recovery set. That way, it'll be closer to what I've been using all along. Yes, this is dangerous. But, the gains far outweigh the danger. My computer (and all the passwords stored in IE) are just a restore away now.

 

[KennyV]

... I personally plug in, update, configure, install what I want, log into my most used sites, THEN make a recovery set. That way, it'll be closer to what I've been using all along. Yes, this is dangerous. But, the gains far outweigh the danger. My computer (and all the passwords stored in IE) are just a restore away now.

HEY ... I like the way you think...:thumbsup:
Wish I would have done that, you better believe I will the next go... :smile:KennyV

 

[twall]

OMG.......didja see what KennyV's 3 posts away from?

 

[KennyV]

OMG.......didja see what KennyV's 3 posts away from?

Wow ... I had not noticed that but ... what the Hey...
I just as well pop this balloon on this thread.. With the next post........................ after this one. :smile::smile:KennyV