Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!well!wcalvin From: wcalvin@well.UUCP (William Calvin) Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops Subject: Re: Toshiba T1000SE Message-ID: <15506@well.UUCP> Date: 15 Jan 90 04:48:42 GMT References: <16805@megaron.cs.arizona.edu> Lines: 66 Ever notice how little that a laptop manual says about battery life? They must have gotten frustrated with claims. The Toshiba 1000SE manual (and the reviewers so far) suggest about 2 hours with 10% disk use. So I measured. That's indeed conservative. Without economizing (9.76 MHz, backlit constantly, typical disk): 120' to empty on the "gas gauge," another 40' to the red-light and alarm, then less than 10' to shutdown (which uses RESUME mode, thereby saving your HardRAM and working memory for about 12hr more on the backup battery). So nearly 3 hours of hard use. Economy conditions (4.77MHz, 3' screen shutoff, typical disk): 180' to empty, 60' to the red light and beep, 9' more to shutdown- with-save (and that's without disk access, so if you're saving to disk, don't count on even 5'). So that's nearly 4 hours. This is with running WordPerfect off the 1.44MB A: drive, not out of Expanded memory or virtual disk. Addition of a 2MB RAMcard ought to cut down on diskpower consumption while raising the refresh-memory contribution (which, unlike the disk use, ought to be sensitive to slowing the 80C86 down to 4.77 MHz). The manual says that the backup battery will maintain the memory for another 12 hours after the battery back is fully discharged. And the clock and configuration settings for a month more. When recharging, the battery LED is amber, turning green when fully charged (it's visible with the lid either open or closed, as are all the indicator LEDs). They claim 4 hours to recharge if the computer is off, 11 hours if you're charging on the side while computing. The gas gauge adjusts nicely; don't know why it reads empty only 2/3 of the way to the serious warning (I'll try Battery Watch II as soon as it arrives). Though I get 8-9 hours on my T1100+ (4000 amp-hr battery rating), the over-the-pole flight is not the usual away-from-the-AC-outlet condition. Toshiba seems to have designed the T1000SE to keep the battery weight down, aiming for the more typical laptop user who is going to take notes during a luncheon meeting, while visiting the library, or maybe on the train-bus home. Users whose commutes are longer than 2 hours (that's NYC-Chicago or Seattle-LAX) will buy ($79) a light-weight (10 oz.) extra battery; if my times above are any indication of prolonged use, I ought to be able to achieve my typical 8 hour times with just one extra battery pack -- despite the backlit. I think they've gotten smarter about power management in the last three years since the T1100+! Of course, given the chances of being delayed in the departure lounge with no AC outlets near a comfortable chair, everyone ought to carry a spare battery pack. The separate power supply is notably lighter than the 1100's, senses 100-240 volts and automatically adjusts its output (label says 12VDC@0.83A but open-circuit is more like 17 and the battery label says 7.2VDC and 1700 amp-hr). I always pack the power supply in carry-on; with the T1000SE's, I ought to be able to tap into those 230VAC floor-polisher outlets! By looking hard, I've found 115VAC outlets in Austin, DFW, and ORD. So the typical travel weight for computer, power supply, extra battery pack, and a box of disks is about 8 pounds. About 7 pounds less than that of the T1100+ collection with a 230-115VAC voltage converter. Nice. Nice. Nice. Not only are my eyes going to thank Toshiba, but my back as well (I use a student-size daypack with padded rear, rather than a briefcase). William H. Calvin wcalvin@well.sf.ca.us Univ. of Washington wcalvin@uwalocke.bitnet Biology NJ-15 wcalvin@locke.hs.washington.edu Seattle WA 98195 206/328-1192 206/543-1648