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From: perry@key.COM (Perry The Cynic)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: T1000SE questions (disk/memory options versus battery life)
Message-ID: <1902@key.COM>
Date: 7 May 90 21:50:34 GMT
References: <24345@netnews.upenn.edu>
Reply-To: perry@arkon.key.COM (Perry The Cynic)
Organization: Key Computer Laboratories, Fremont
Lines: 59

In article <24345@netnews.upenn.edu> wickert@grad1.cis.upenn.edu (Dave Wickert) asks:
> #1 -- Regarding the 2Mb expansion memory board.  What is the effect on the
>       battery life?  Is it cut down significant?  or a little bit?  Can
>       anyone comment?
> #2 -- Regarding the XE's 20Mb hard disk.  What is its effect on the battery
>       life?  Is there a way to disable it so that when you are using just
>       the RAMdisk, the hard disk is not drawing battery power?  It would
>       be reasonable if I used batteries with the RAM disk --- and limited
>       using the hard disk to only (well.. only most of the time) when
>       AC is available.
> 
> Does anyone have both?  Like a XE with 2Mb expansion and a external
> floppy?
> 

[Note: I've just returned from a four-week vacation, so don't worry if I
 haven't answered mail lately. I'm still here, happily hugging my T1000XE :-)]

As to #1, I have no personal experience (I don't feel like spending $800 for
a memory upgrade), but from talking to Toshiba techies I'd say that the 2MB
upgrade will drag you down from about 3 hours typical use (with 1MB) to
about 2 hours (maybe a little less). Nothing another battery can't cure; if
you can afford the memory upgrade, $60 for another battery won't hurt much.
Remember that you can switch them on the fly (without shutting down your
program - a ten second interruption).

One more concern, though: in resume mode (standby) with the 2MB upgrade, the
machine must keep three times as much RAM alive. This will cut effective
use time for resume mode down to a third (maybe less, considering the chips
they use for the upgrade). Resume mode will empty a freshly charged T1000SE
with 1MB in about a week (to be on the safe side). With the upgrade, you may
be down to two or three days. Buyer beware.

For #2, the harddrive can be set to automatically spin down after five minutes
of no use. I've just exchanged my T1000SE for a T1000XE last week, so I can't
give you definite numbers yet, but my first (preliminary) impression is that
you don't lose much in normal use. I'm using Framework III with the internal
cache set to minimum size, so every other function goes to disk for an overlay;
yet I still get between two and three hours; pretty much as with the 'ole SE.
And boy does it fly with a harddrive! You'll never drag me back to the floppy
version.

As a point of personal opinion, I'd rather get the T1000XE with 1MB than the
T1000SE with 3MB. It's cheaper (by about $150 I think), gives you 20MB rather
than 2.3MB online storage, safer data (not lost when you run out of backup
battery power), and it seems to be easier on the battery too(!). Unless you
have very unusual disk access patterns, you won't feel much of a difference
in response time (25ms hard disk). If you absolutely need a floppy drive,
get their new 3.5" 1.44MB external floppy (it's powered from the computer
and has a separate port).

BTW, has anybody done a review of the T1000XE while I was away? Anybody
interested? I could do a review of the SE/XE combo from my old notes pretty
easily.
  -- perry
-- 
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Perry The Cynic (Peter Kiehtreiber)		       perry@arkon.key.com
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