A few days into owning my T42 2379DXU - 1st set of questions

[Jeremy31]

Hi,

Well I got my DXU and I love it!

A few questions (though warning, there will be more! ) :

1) Others have reported that they get a good 4 hours out of the battery.. I haven't actually tested it, but at the rate that it seems to discharge, it seems I'd get MUCH less than that.. It starts saying about 4 hours, but 10 minutes later, it says 3 hours sometimes.. Does this mean there's something wrong with my battery? I haven't fiddled with power saving features yet, so they're left the way the machine comes...

2) My machine comes with the ATI Mobile Radeon 9600 with 64 megs. I've been experimenting with using an external monitor as an extended viewing space (so using both the laptop screen and the monitor) but it seems that I can't get the monitor to look readable unless either a) the laptop screen is folded down or b) I set the external monitor resolution at 1024x768 (it's a 19" monitor!). Otherwise, it will only refresh at 60hz and it looks awful... Any suggestions?

3) I bought a mini-dock... I'm used to leaving my desktop computer on just about 24/7 - running a few apps like messenger, etc... Is it bad for a laptop to have it on all the time or is it built for that like a desktop is?

Thanks,

Jeremy

[Flightvector]

I've got a T42 2378DXU, which is the same exact model, save for the 2 extra years of warranty that you have.

1. The predicted rate is not calculated as well as it could be done, I bet there has to be a better way, maybe by taking average wattage or something. But you will only get 4 hours on "Super Power Saver" or possibly "High Battery Performance" (only difference is LCD backlighting). Also add to this that you have to be at most, consuming 11-13 watts of discharge average (i.e. absolutely no games, DVD movie watching, or high HDD usage). The time remaining gauge is often inaccurate because the measurements are too immediate and not normalized, but using your average wattage and remaining battery capacity, you can manually estimate.

2. First try pressing Fn + F7, then click "Manage Schemes," click "New," then after clicking Next, select analog monitor and extended desktop. See if the resolution and refresh rate settings on the next page work for you. If you are using DVI and have issues trying to get 1600x1200 resolution, then you need to install ATI Catalyst drivers with Mobility Modder: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... al+monitor

3. The question you ask is likely to be one of the more common ones. I can't really say that computers are specifically "made" to run 24/7. There are compromises in all cases and some things will fail earlier either way. If you really have a really good reason (i.e. server, etc..) then it's fine, but leaving it on will cause hardware like the HDD and fan to have a greater strain, not to mention that if you get dust buildup, leaving it on can accumulate a large amount of dust. Also, laptops are more particular and sacrifice sheer durability for weight and size, and their HDDs are more expensive.

The reduction of CPU life by turning it on and off is likely, but realistically, we won't even approach half this CPU lifespan in our usage, making this reduction of life a moot point. So it kind of is a bit ambiguous either way, but I'd generally consider the non-solid state items a bit more.

[dalee18]

There are compromises in all cases and some things will fail earlier either way. If you really have a really good reason (i.e. server, etc..) then it's fine, but leaving it on will cause hardware like the HDD and fan to have a greater strain

I must respectfully disagree with this. It's better for your hard drive to run 24x7 than to be turned off and on many times each day. Now, personally, I wouldn't leave my laptop on all the time. I do leave my desktop on all the time. Other components will wear out faster, but the hard drive is not one of them