Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Bill Geschwind" <geschwin AT email.unc.edu>]

I haven't tried manually increasing the brightness of the screen, since the
dimmer setting has never bothered me. It was just an observation.

Also, FWIW with my machine I get about 3 1/2 hours of use running on battery
with all the default settings, which for my purposes is good enough.

With regard to the video RAM, my machine uses the ATI Radeon IGP 32m chipset
which does use shared memory. Generally (but not always) machines at such a
low price point will use shared rather than dedicated memory for the video.
Regardless of whether the machine that Colleen is looking at uses shared RAM
or not, I would still recommend upgrading the RAM by at least another 128MB
if she plans on using Windows XP with it. The machine she is using seems to
be very similar to the laptop that I have, but not identical to it (mine is
an HP Pavilion ze4800).

Now, are there better laptops out there than my HP or the Compaq that she is
looking at? Without a doubt. But at $399 (even after mail in rebates) I
think it is still a bargain and if it does everything she needs it to do I
don't see any reason for her not to go for it. 

- Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Sil Greene
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 3:36 PM
To: Internetworkers
Subject: RE: [internetworkers] Laptop Recommendations



from Bill Geschwind:
>
> Also, the screen is noticeably dimmer when running on battery
> power than when running when plugged in.
>

Bill, have you tried manually increasing your brightness?  My laptop (and 
many others) will automatically set the brightness lower when shifting 
from wall-power to battery, but I can use the brightness hotkeys to 
adjust it upwards if I want.  It does eat into the battery life pretty 
quickly though.

I'd be surprised if yours actually has a lower upper-brightness-limit when 
on battery than when on wall-power, but if that's the case, let us know.



>
> buying RAM I am very partial to www.crucial.com).
> Even though XP can run on less than 256 MB of RAM, I wouldn't try it 
> with less than that, and ideally not with less than 384 MB of RAM, and 
> since that laptop likely uses shared RAM for video it will have less 
> than 256 MB available for the operating system if it comes with 256 MB 
> installed.
>

I looked at the specs of the Presario and they did claim that the 
32mb of video ram was "dedicated", which should mean it's in addition to 
the 256mb of system ram.  "Should", unless HP marketing has redefined the 
term "dedicated".  :-/

I believe Colleen mentioned they had a video card upgrade available,
with 64mb ram, for $25.  HP's website indicates this is a separate
video card (the 32mb is a GeForce 420, the 64mb is a 440), but who
knows.  The 25 clams could be Office Despot's service charge for 
changing the BIOS' shared video ram setting from "32" to "64".


--S
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