> Well, every laptop *I* have seen, the battery loses the ability to 
> recharge after a few months, maybe a year.

Never seen that here, and all the people in my department use laptops a lot. 
I have seen two laptops with dead batteries, they were at least 3 years old 
and we just got new batteries for them.

> I've got, like, 4 laptops on my office floor here that all behave this 
> way.

How old are they and what brand?  If they really are only 4 months old then 
just ask for a free replacement.

> How big is this mouse?

You can get them in all sizes, ranging from the tiny travel ones up to full 
size mice.

> My dad has problems to this day with computers randomly dropping their 
> network connections or just plain not seeing the WiFi router at all. To 
> the point that he's lifting floorboards to run cables round the building 
> to make his gear actually ****ing work properly.

Hmm maybe bad/cheap access point/network card/drivers?  I have 3 machines 
running at home over wireless continuously with no problems, in addition 
even my phone, PS3 and Wii connect to it!  At work it's the same, no 
problems.  I guess buying an access point and NIC from the same company 
might help?  Dunno, should be a solvable problem, it's not like nobody can 
get a wireless network to work correctly.

> Plus, AFAIK, WiFi is currently much slower than Ethernet.

About half the speed, but your internet connection will probably be the 
bottleneck.

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message 
news:4935265c$1@news.povray.org...

> The problem is, after 4 months the battery in a laptop stops working, so 
> it must be permanently connected to the mains anyway.

It does?
Strange, I've had mine for a year and a half and the battery still has the 
same life it had when I bought it.,

> It is virtually impossible to use a computer without a mouse, so you must 
> have a mouse connected too.

It is?

The only time I use a mouse on my laptop is when I'm playing games. For 
surfing and normal work I don't need one.
I was given one of these, so it's sooo easy to cary in the laptop bag. 
http://www.newtonperipherals.com/index3.html

> If you want Internet access... well, personally, I would never, ever use a 
> wireless system. I don't trust them. Too easy to steal my data and my 
> connection. (Plus the problems of it not working half the time.)

Encryption + MAC address filtering for your home wireless network.
If you're using someone else's wireless (hotel, conference center, etc) be 
aware of what you're sending and use SSL as much as possible and install a 
good firewall.

Post a reply to this message

"scott" <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote in message news:49353934@news.povray.org...
>
>> My dad has problems to this day with computers randomly dropping their 
>> network connections or just plain not seeing the WiFi router at all. To 
>> the point that he's lifting floorboards to run cables round the building 
>> to make his gear actually ****ing work properly.
>
> Hmm maybe bad/cheap access point/network card/drivers?  I have 3 machines 
> running at home over wireless continuously with no problems, in addition 
> even my phone, PS3 and Wii connect to it!

Agreed. My deskop and laptop use wireless, the server and xbox have network 
cables plugged into the router. I can work anywhere in the flat on the 
laptop and still see the wireless.
Signal's a bit low in the bedroon (thick, very solid walls) I may have to 
pick up a repeater sometime.

Generally cheap routers/access points cause bad signal.

Post a reply to this message

>> Well, every laptop *I* have seen, the battery loses the ability to 
>> recharge after a few months, maybe a year.
> 
> Never seen that here, and all the people in my department use laptops a 
> lot. I have seen two laptops with dead batteries, they were at least 3 
> years old and we just got new batteries for them.

Heh. *My* laptop came from PC World, so it had a 6 month warranty 
instead of the usual 12 months. Also, if you want support, you *must* 
get it through PC World. (If it had been bought anywhere else, we would 
have got it direct from the manufacturers.)

Also, it apparently took my mum many, many months to find a replacement 
battery. Apparently she had to buy an exorbitant sum to have one shipped 
over from Korea specially. (Or at least, this is what she told me...)

>> I've got, like, 4 laptops on my office floor here that all behave this 
>> way.
> 
> How old are they and what brand?  If they really are only 4 months old 
> then just ask for a free replacement.

All different versions of Acer TravelMate. None of them are young any 
more. (Maybe 2, 3 years old?) A few of them will run on battery power 
for, like, 20 minutes. But none are very reliable. Apparently they were 
when new.

>> My dad has problems to this day with computers randomly dropping their 
>> network connections or just plain not seeing the WiFi router at all. 
>> To the point that he's lifting floorboards to run cables round the 
>> building to make his gear actually ****ing work properly.
> 
> Hmm maybe bad/cheap access point/network card/drivers?  I have 3 
> machines running at home over wireless continuously with no problems, in 
> addition even my phone, PS3 and Wii connect to it!  At work it's the 
> same, no problems.  I guess buying an access point and NIC from the same 
> company might help?  Dunno, should be a solvable problem, it's not like 
> nobody can get a wireless network to work correctly.

My dad bought a Belkin WiFi router which comes with a free Belkin WiFi 
adaptor for your PC. In other words, the entire rig is same-brand - and 
a pricey brand at that! But no, he had endless problems with it.

Actually, he bought a cheap "there isn't even a brand on the box" WiFi 
adaptor from Maplin, and it worked much better than the supplied Belkin 
one. But even so, if you move too far away from the router... no signal. 
(Or rather, intermittent signal. Some days it's fine. Some days it won't 
work for toffee.)

>> Plus, AFAIK, WiFi is currently much slower than Ethernet.
> 
> About half the speed, but your internet connection will probably be the 
> bottleneck.

Well, that's true enough...

BTW, is WiFi faster or slower than Bluetooth? Every time I have to use 
that thing, I'm struck by how utterly low it is. (10 minutes to transfer 
a few KB??)

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:22:56 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

>
>All different versions of Acer TravelMate. None of them are young any 
>more. (Maybe 2, 3 years old?) A few of them will run on battery power 
>for, like, 20 minutes. But none are very reliable. Apparently they were 
>when new.

Rechargeable batteries are funny things before Li-ion batteries, the best thing
you could do for them was is to "work" them. That is charge and completely
discharge them regularly. With Li-ion batteries that does not work and in fact
it is counter productive. Li-ion batteries can be kept on charge all the time, I
believe.
You might be able to put some new life into your old laptop batteries by
discharging them completely then charging then again a couple of times but if
your laptop shuts off immediately on switching the power off then I fear that
they are goosed.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 2 Dec 2008 16:12:11 +0200, "Gail" <gail (at) sql in the wild (dot) co
[dot] za> wrote:

>Signal's a bit low in the bedroon (thick, very solid walls) 

Not a bad thing in itself ;)


A strong firedoor is recomended too.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

> Heh. *My* laptop came from PC World, so it had a 6 month warranty instead 
> of the usual 12 months.

Regardless of the warranty advertised, if a battery fails within an 
"unreasonably" short time, you can request a refund or replacement free of 
charge.  If it failed within 8 months, I think most people (including a 
judge) would think that unreasonable.

> Also, if you want support, you *must* get it through PC World. (If it had 
> been bought anywhere else, we would have got it direct from the 
> manufacturers.)

It's the place you bought it from that is legally responsible to 
fix/replace/refund anything broken, not the manufacturer.

> Also, it apparently took my mum many, many months to find a replacement 
> battery. Apparently she had to buy an exorbitant sum to have one shipped 
> over from Korea specially. (Or at least, this is what she told me...)

Oh, our IT guy just phoned up Dell and they were here the next day, I think 
they were something like 50 pounds each.

> All different versions of Acer TravelMate. None of them are young any 
> more. (Maybe 2, 3 years old?) A few of them will run on battery power for, 
> like, 20 minutes. But none are very reliable. Apparently they were when 
> new.

I would say that after 3 years hard use, 20 minutes battery life is not that 
surprising.  Batteries don't last forever, which is why replacements are 
readily available from the usual manufacturers.

> My dad bought a Belkin WiFi router which comes with a free Belkin WiFi 
> adaptor for your PC. In other words, the entire rig is same-brand - and a 
> pricey brand at that! But no, he had endless problems with it.

Belkin, pricey? :-O

> But even so, if you move too far away from the router... no signal.

Oh yeh you wally, you should have told him to get the router with infinite 
output power :-D

> BTW, is WiFi faster or slower than Bluetooth? Every time I have to use 
> that thing, I'm struck by how utterly low it is. (10 minutes to transfer a 
> few KB??)

Bluetooth is way slower, I don't think it's meant for data-heavy 
applications, but 10 minutes for a few KB is too slow for BT.  I can usually 
send an MP3 (about 3MB) to my phone in 10 seconds or so.

Post a reply to this message

"Stephen" <mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom> wrote in message 
news:5niaj4p1phtgnacpkb7honq0832ldbhbiq@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 2 Dec 2008 16:12:11 +0200, "Gail" <gail (at) sql in the wild (dot) 
> co
> [dot] za> wrote:
>
>>Signal's a bit low in the bedroon (thick, very solid walls)
>
> Not a bad thing in itself ;)

The entire building has very thick, very solid walls. It's a 30 year old 
block of flats, from when buildings were built properly.

Post a reply to this message

> You might be able to put some new life into your old laptop batteries by
> discharging them completely then charging then again a couple of times but 
> if
> your laptop shuts off immediately on switching the power off then I fear 
> that
> they are goosed.

Don't you need to maintain a minimum level of battery power in a Li-Ion in 
order to stop it completely killing itself?  I believe if you drain one 
completely then you might as well just chuck it in the bin.  Maybe this 
happened somehow due to a bad battery control circuit in the laptop?

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message 
news:493544bf@news.povray.org...
>
> Actually, he bought a cheap "there isn't even a brand on the box" WiFi 
> adaptor from Maplin, and it worked much better than the supplied Belkin 
> one. But even so, if you move too far away from the router... no signal. 
> (Or rather, intermittent signal. Some days it's fine. Some days it won't 
> work for toffee.)
>

I'd replace the router, quite honestly.
See if you can buy/borrow a wi-fi detector and see how well the thing's 
transmitting.

Post a reply to this message