[NTLUG:Discuss] SW Development on a netbook was Re: Very nice Linux laptop for sale (2.8GHz, 4gb ram, 8cell, 320gb 7200rpm)

[Robert Pearson]

On 6/17/09, Chris Cox <cjcox at acm.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 2009-06-17 at 12:15 -0500, Robert Pearson wrote:
>  ...
>  > I am seeing "netbook" battery life of 7-8 hours. I still haven't
>  > figured out if a netbook would cover all my needs. For example, can I
>  > do software development be done satisfactorily (performance wise) on a
>  > netbook?
>
>  Netbooks (today) are 32bit.
>  Usually have little ram (max at 2GB)... if that's "little"
>  and.. .have smaller and possibly slower HDs (though some might be SSD,
>  which means they'll be really fast at first and then drive you nuts
>  later down the road).
>  Screen resolutions are low... might be a problem for IDE dependent
>  developers.
>
>  I'd put a current netbook on par with a Pentium-M (pre Intel core arch).
>  So... yes, you can do sw dev on it.  Really depends on your dev needs.
>
>  I'm surprised you're getting 7-8 hrs on a netbook.  I'd say >90% get
>  less than 2hrs.  Just my own observation (unless you get a LARGE
>  battery... which sort of defeats many of the benefits).
>

In the interest of getting everyone on the same page here is where I'm
coming from:
[rdpcomment - Most useful]

Good Idea!
Submitted by JoeW on May 22, 2009 - 2:44 P.M.
---
I like that you found the strap useful because when I saw the 2100-N I
wished that my Asus 900HA had a similar feature.
These netbooks are so handy and full-featured that I find myself
carrying it around all over the place. I have a bag, but why bother?
For a mouse and the tiny power brick?
The battery lasts just fine and the touchpad is very usable (for me).
I upgraded the HD to 320GB, put Jaunty on it and now I can carry
everything I need in a little 2 pound package.
Now I just have to figure out how to attach some straps....
---
[rdpNote]
In following up on this comment I discovered this great "Comparison" chart:
Eee PC™ Comparison List
<http://event.asus.com/eeepc/comparison/eeepc_comparison.htm>
[Download PDF] <http://event.asus.com/eeepc/comparison/ComparisonList.pdf>
[rdpcomment - battery life of 8-10.5 hours are shown]

>From a recent review...
[Article excerpt]
"Batteries are a key point of difference, and the NC10 is one of the
few netbooks that offer just a single battery configuration. The 58-Wh
(six-cell) battery is your only option, but it's a good one. The
NC10's 5-hour, 50-minute score indicates that six-cell batteries are
invaluable on road trips and long flights. Others, like the Acer One
and the MSI Wind, have six-cell options that they offer in addition to
their three-cell ones. The ASUS 1002HA has what it calls a
high-capacity two-cell battery, using lithium polymer (rather than
lithium ion) and yielding a very impressive score of 3 hours 29
minutes. Most netbooks, like the Lenovo S10 and the Wind, top out at
2.5 hours with their three-cell lithium ion batteries."
<http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2337037,00.asp>

[Bottom line]
I'm sure a 6 cell 63 Wh Li-ion battery pack raises the "2 lb" netbook
weight. To what I don't know. 3 lbs? Would it be too fat to fit in my
pocket?
If I am using my "performance" laptop really hard the 1.5 hour battery
life drops to about 45 minutes. If I increase the memory to its MAX
the battery life will drop more.
My "performance" laptop is 2x faster than my older desktops and almost
as fast as my new "high performance" desktop until I start doing
something really stressing on the desktop. Then the desktop doesn't
slow down. It just keeps on trucking. Very fast.
My "high performance" desktop mainly just burns watts and spews out
heat when I am cruising the Internet and researching. A complete
waste.
I wish there was a "green scalable" computer somewhere. I am thinking
about getting "hibernate" working on all my desktops as the price of
electricity goes up. Actually it is the heat from the computer which
makes the A/C run more that is the problem. A/C is much less "energy
efficient" than the computer.