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Love this PDF? Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag batteryfast.co.uk Hate Issues for Laptops , How to Fix Them Hate Issues for Laptops , How to Fix Them CloudTags: Laptop , Fix , Issues , Hp pavilion dv4 laptop batteries , compaq pavilion dv6 battery life , Hp pavilion dv5 battery care It’s one thing to complain about a notebook’s short endurance, wimpy speakers, or finicky touchpad during the course of a review. But it’s a whole dif- ferent ball game when you need to live with that issue after you’ve purchased a laptop. We’re here to help. Read on to find out how to deal with the biggest pet peeves we have with portable PCs, both through quick fixes and affordable upgrades. And to make sure you never make the same mistake again, we’ll provide the shopping advice you need to get a machine that works the way you want it to right out of the box. Battery Life Is Too Short Having to find that outlet after a couple hours of use is annoying. Here’s how to keep on working longer while unplugged. Quick Tips The number one way to quickly conserve power is to dim your laptop’s screen. We’ve seen time and again on our tests that a notebook’s LCD can consume as much as a third of overall system power. In most cases, adjusting the brightness is as easy as using a Function command. Plus, Windows Vista and Win- dows 7 let you set the exact percentage of brightness you’d like to use when you’re unplugged, and to save that as a profile. Under Power Options in Windows 7, click Change Plan Settings (in our case the plan is Maximum Bat- tery Life). You’ll see a sliding scale for Adjust Plan Brightness that you can tweak. To dig even deeper, click Change Advanced Power Settings. Then, under Display > Display Brightness you can select the exact percentage of brightness you’d prefer to have on when you’re running on dell latitude d630 battery power . According to Mike Trainor, Intel’s chief mobile tech- nology evangelist, extending your runtime often comes down to being more judicious about only using what you need to get the job done. “You can configure your machine and turn off some of the things you’re not using right now,” he said. These things might include disabling Bluetooth, the Ethernet adapter, and visual effects such as Clear- Type. There’s also a Visual Effects menu in Vista and XP that can be adjusted for optimal performance, with the click of a button. Other tricks for squee- zing more juice out of your system include closing any programs you’re not using, and making sure you unplug any USB devices that don’t need to be connected. December 5, 2011 http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/hate-issues-for-laptops-how-to-fix-them/ Page 1

Hate Issues for Laptops , How to Fix Them

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Read on to find out how to deal with the biggest pet peeves we have with portable PCs, both through quick fixes and affordable upgrades. And to make sure you never make the same mistake again, we’ll provide the shopping advice you need to get a machine that works the way you want it to right out of the box.

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Page 1: Hate Issues for Laptops , How to Fix Them

Love this PDF? Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag

batteryfast.co.uk

Hate Issues for Laptops , How to Fix Them

Hate Issues for Laptops , How to Fix Them

CloudTags: Laptop , Fix , Issues , Hp pavilion dv4 laptop batteries , compaq pavilion dv6 battery life , Hp pavilion dv5 battery care

It’s one thing to complain about a notebook’s short endurance, wimpy speakers, or finicky touchpad during the course of a review. But it’s a whole dif-ferent ball game when you need to live with that issue after you’ve purchased a laptop. We’re here to help. Read on to find out how to deal with the biggest pet peeves we have with portable PCs, both through quick fixes and affordable upgrades. And to make sure you never make the same mistake again, we’ll provide the shopping advice you need to get a machine that works the way you want it to right out of the box.

Battery Life Is Too Short

Having to find that outlet after a couple hours of use is annoying. Here’s how to keep on working longer while unplugged.

Quick Tips

The number one way to quickly conserve power is to dim your laptop’s screen. We’ve seen time and again on our tests that a notebook’s LCD can consume as much as a third of overall system power. In most cases, adjusting the brightness is as easy as using a Function command. Plus, Windows Vista and Win-dows 7 let you set the exact percentage of brightness you’d like to use when you’re unplugged, and to save that as a profile.

Under Power Options in Windows 7, click Change Plan Settings (in our case the plan is Maximum Bat-tery Life). You’ll see a sliding scale for Adjust Plan Brightness that you can tweak. To dig even deeper, click Change Advanced Power Settings. Then, under Display > Display Brightness you can select the exact percentage of brightness you’d prefer to have on when you’re running on dell latitude d630 battery power.

According to Mike Trainor, Intel’s chief mobile tech-nology evangelist, extending your runtime often comes down to being more judicious about only using what you need to get the job done. “You can configure your machine and turn off some of the things you’re not using right now,” he said.

These things might include disabling Bluetooth, the Ethernet adapter, and visual effects such as Clear-Type. There’s also a Visual Effects menu in Vista and XP that can be adjusted for optimal performance, with the click of a button. Other tricks for squee-zing more juice out of your system include closing any programs you’re not using, and making sure you unplug any USB devices that don’t need to be connected.

December 5, 2011

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Hate Issues for Laptops , How to Fix Them

Easy Upgrades

If you purchased a netbook or notebook with a low-capacity three-cell battery , step up to a higher-ca-pacity replacement. Lenovo, for instance, sells a nine-cell battery for the ThinkPad X200 . A six-cell battery for the Acer Aspire One D250 netbook costs about $60 F9. Keep in mind that it’s always cheaper to configure your notebook with a beefier battery before you buy.

If you’ve owned your notebook for two years or more, chances are its battery can’t hold a charge as long as it used to. Instead of splurging on a new sys-tem, a replacement battery is the frugal and smart choice. HP sells a six-cell primary battery that’s compatible with such systems as the HP Pavilion dv4000 and Compaq Presario M2000 for $129 .

Want an accessory that will work with any laptop? Check out Duracell’s PowerSource Mobile 100. This Editors’ Choice-winning power supply carries its own charge, thanks to an integrated lithium-ion power pack. It can charge your notebook via its three-prong AC outlet while charging two other devices via USB.

Shopping Advice

Assuming you want to be highly mobile, always opt for the largest capacity battery available at the time of purchase. “It all comes down to system design and Hp 510 batteries design,” said Chris Casper, group manager of product marketing for Toshiba. “If you put in a six-cell with the maximum amount of Li-ion material, you can get up toward the eight-hour range.” In fact, on our tests we’ve seen some six-cell netbooks and notebooks exceed nine hours of endurance.

Although netbooks offer plenty of battery life, not everyone is keen on their small, 10-inch displays. A laptop equipped with an Ultra-Low Voltage pro-

cessor from Intel (with display sizes ranging from 11 to 16 inches) offers a better balance between screen real estate and long battery life. Plus, these ultrathin systems have better performance than Intel Atom-powered netbooks.

For us, the sweet spot for a ULV notebook is the 11 to 13 inch screen size range. “These systems have phenomenal average power and idle power figures,” said Intel’s Trainor. “And the system makers have done a great job of implementing our system level power management recommendations.” For ins-tance, the ASUS UL30A , a 13-inch ultrathin note-book with a ULV processor, lasted nearly 10 hours on our tests.

Takes Too Long to Boot

Yes, Windows 7’s boot times are slightly improved compared to Windows Vista, but there are ways you can start playing, surfing, and working faster.

Quick Tips

Shave seconds off your boot time by telling your BIOS who’s boss. In other words, tell your laptop what should take priority when powering up. To enter your notebook’s BIOS you have to hold down a key (sometimes F1, F10, or Delete, depending on

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your system). Once in the BIOS, enable the Quick Boot option if your laptop has it; this turns off the va-rious hardware device and system memory checks that slow your PC down. Then, go to the Boot Menu to make sure the hard drive is the first item listed in the priority order . You do this by moving it up the list, and should exclude every other item.

Another tried-and-true way of shortening your boot time is to disable programs from loading at star-tup. In XP machines, click Start > Run > and type msconfig. On Vista and Windows 7 machines, you can type msconfig in the search box after you click Start. After that you’ll see a box with several tabs. Click the Startup tab to see a list of Startup items, and then uncheck any programs you don’t necessarily need to load when you turn on your machine. Some examples of what you might not need include Adobe Acrobat, Google Talk, and QuickTime.

Easy Upgrades

If you’d like a little help in telling Windows what not to load when booting, check out TuneUp Utilities 2009, our Editors’ Choice–winning utilities suite. In addition to one-click PC maintenance, this smart software includes a StartUp Manager that uses a friendly interface to help identify and remove hid-den programs in your Startup folder.

Another relatively affordable upgrade is a faster hard drive. With most 5,400-rpm hard drives, you can expect a boot time of 60 seconds or more. For about $80 you can pick up a 7,200-rpm, 320GB drive from the likes of Hitachi, Seagate, or Western Digital that can give you back as much as eight seconds.

Those willing to spend more money to speed up their boot time—and supercharge the rest of their PC—should consider investing in a solid state drive. A good SSD will start Windows in 50 seconds or less, and will dramatically decrease the time it takes to

open applications. Our favorite SSDs are the 128GB Patriot Torqx and the 120GB OCZ Vertex.

Shopping Advice

A lot of notebooks you buy at retail have similar boot times, depending on how much trial software is loaded. In general, the less of this software (or crapware) the better. There are also a number of lap-tops that offer so-called instant-on capabilities. You can opt to boot into a Linux environment (usually powered by Splashtop) in less than 10 seconds, and start surfing the Web, checking e-mail, making Skype calls and more without waiting for Windows to load. Different notebook manufacturers brand this tech-nology with proprietary names. For example, Leno-vo’s IdeaPad S12 instant-on environment is called QuickStart, and on the ASUS K50 it’s ExpressGate. Other Splashtop partners include Acer, HP, and Sony.

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My Touchpad Sucks

There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to control the cursor the way you want to. It may move too fast, but more often the cursor may feel like it can’t keep up with your finger.

Quick Fixes

In Windows, Open Mouse Properties under the Control Panel, and click Pointer options. Here, you’ll find a slider control for adjusting the pointer speed (from Slow to Fast). Try sliding closer to Fast, and click Apply.

Easy Upgrades

A good external mouse should be highly accurate and comfortable enough for extended use. The Targus Wireless Comfort Laser Mouse delivers on both counts. It boasts a 1,200 DPI laser sensor, and soft, flexible side grips. Its tiny USB receiver is small enough to keep in your USB port, or you can store it in the mouse itself.

Shopping Advice

In an effort to stand out, some notebook vendors emphasize aesthetics over usability. “There are ma-nufacturers that opt for a mirrored design that some users find issues with,” said Mark Vena, vice presi-dent of Synaptics’ PC business. “It may attract too much dirt, or create sort of a grimy experience.” In general, we recommend avoiding these touchpads.

Also pay attention to touchpad location. Get a no-tebook whose touchpad is directly underneath the G, B, and H keys, even on systems with separate numeric keypads. Touchpad buttons are equally important, and we prefer two discrete buttons to a single bar, especially one that’s flush with the surface and directly beneath the touchpad.

All of the above recommendations explain why it’s so important to try a notebook out before you buy, even if you wind up making the purchase online. And that goes double for netbooks, because they’re smaller by definition. “With a netbook, kicking the tires is especially important,” said Toshiba’s Casper. “Get a feel for the touchpad, and get a feel for the keyboard in a retail store, if you can.”

Lastly, anyone purchasing a Windows 7 notebook should consider making a multitouch-enabled tou-chpad a check-off item. Synaptics is working to map all the touchscreen features of the new OS to the touchpad. “You’re going to see a lot more application support that takes advantage of pinch, rotate, and other features,” predicted Vena.

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Notebook Runs Too Hot

Even though the latest processors are designed to run cooler than their predecessors, there are plenty of notebooks that can get hot to the touch. Most of-ten you’ll feel the excessive heat on the underside of a system.

Quick Fixes

The environment in which you use your laptop can play a major role in the external temperature. “The most important thing is air flow,” said Ray Sawall, Acer America’s senior product manager. “So if the user has the notebook on a blanket or pillow, lift it up.” Simply adding feet on the bottom of the notebook can make a difference; sometimes even furniture bumpers will work.

Another free option you can try is Notebook Hard-ware Control 2.0, an easy-to-use utility that lets you monitor your system’s processor temperature in real time. If your laptop is running hot, you can reduce the system temperature and reduce power consumption by selecting theMax Battery Power profile.

Easy Upgrades

If you’re willing to spend a little money to make your notebook run cooler, you could spring for an accessory such as the Logitech Portable Lapdesk N315 , which is designed to protect your lap from notebook heat, and comes with a retractable mouse pad. It uses USB power to activate its adjustable fans, and raises the notebook slightly for improved ergonomic comfort.

Shopping Advice

You obviously can’t tell by looking at a laptop whether it will run hot, so if you’re in the store we suggest surfing over to Hulu or YouTube and streaming a video for a few minutes. Put your hands on the deck, the touchpad, and the keyboard itself. Then feel the bottom of the notebook, especially near the battery. We use a temperature gun on our tests, but you should be able to tell easily if that machine will be cool enough for you.

When it comes to technology, notebooks that are powered by Intel’s ultra-low voltage processors tend to use less power on average, but equally impor-tant is how these systems are designed to dissipate heat. For example, Acer’s Timeline Series uses In-tel’s Laminar Wall Jet technology—inspired by jet engines—to move heat away from the laptop’s skin.

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