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Close to getting a laptop, what else do I need

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by mpcincal, Jun 6, 2010.

  1. bydesign77

    bydesign77 Active Member

    This explains so much
     
  2. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Knocks 20 degrees F off my laptop's processor core temperature ... and heat is the enemy of silicon processors. When my laptop is on my desk I always use it but not when I'm out and about. It's noisy, though ... more so than a desktop PC's cooling fans.

    Not so much. On most laptops, the air intake grilles are on the bottom of the chassis, so if your laptop's flat on that hard surface your air intakes are covered. If it can't breathe, it runs hotter. When I'm out and about with my laptop, I try to make sure its corners under the screen are raised up slightly to let outside air into the bottom (the black plastic caps from Powerade bottles make great "laptop feet").

    Depends on how you use it. I have my desk set up with a kludged-together docking station so my laptop's screen is on at eye level (using this monitor stand to hold the laptop); obviously, that puts both the keyboard and the touchpad out of reach, so I have a Bluetooth keyboard¹ and mouse² for "docked" use. The mouse comes with me, though. It's just easier than the touchpad and is nicer ergonomically.

    Completely random laptop and web browser note: I don't have any empirical testing data to back this up, but Google's Chrome web browser makes my laptop run a lot hotter than Firefox does and hits its hardware (disk, memory, processors) much more. There's a software architecture reason for that which I won't bore y'all with, but the result is that Google Chrome will (I suspect) guzzle laptop battery power faster than Firefox. Your mileage may very with the usual variable conditions.
    ________________
    ¹Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000. Very nice. Much nicer than their software, in fact.
    ²It's from Targus and it eats battery power. Fortunately it comes with rechargeable AAA batteries and a USB cord to recharge as needed.
     
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