$399 XP Asus 1000HE Netbook in oz.

RAM is quite power hungry, even at idle. Skip a few posts down, someone else has done some math.

I just noticed they have the current specs for the 2GB module too. In some cases the 1GB module is higher, what-the? You'd have to actually compare the 2GB module used to the 1Gb module it replaced. Likely to be large differences between brands etc.

Dave.

--
================================================
Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast:
http://www.eevblog.com

perhaps I should have specified, what I mean is more res on the vga external output.

when it can run my 22-24" screen, and have the power of my PC, then I don't need a PC anymore.

Don...

--
Don McKenzie

Site Map:            http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email
Web Camera Page:     http://www.dontronics.com/webcam
No More Damn Spam:   http://www.dontronics.com/spam

Breakout, Prototype, Development, & Robotics Boards:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/sparkfun-electronics.html

I paid over $800 for mine a few months ago!

Only if the ram power down time is very very short and there is no power and significanttime penalty on spin up.

I thought the idea of HD spin down was to save power when the machine was idle. So, if the cpu is doing work over a certain load, it would be expecting to use the HD swap space or access the HD anyway and thus have it spinning.

Yep, the usual price of consumer technology over time. Might be;

1) end of Life for the model, 2) approaching end of line, 3) having a cash shortage, 4) decided there needs to be more out there to boost demand (marketing tactic), 5) ???

There is also the possibility that they have a successor in the pipeline and they want to move as much of the old stuff before word gets around.

With tons of memory, don't need a swap under normal circumstances. Windows by default likes to swap everything, with 2 gig I like to do a No Swap File. Will make it faster. But if you decide to do video editing it will crash.

I would expect the current draws to be fairly similar, the main difference that I would expect is that there are twice as many cells to refresh on the 2gig part so, in terms of watt hours it will be more power hungry. However, I wouldn't expect it to be hugely different.

Maybe I'll work up the enthusiasm to put the original DIMM back in and check the difference, but it is not easy so set up a completely controlled test.

However, I find the battery life good enough for most purposes and significantly better than the Dell Lattitude laptop that my employer provides me with, that could not manage much more than 2.5 hours even when it was new.

Whatever the reason, it's still a bargain ;-)

I've been carting full sized laptops around for the last 13 years, but I find the netbook much more pleasant to travel with, smaller, lighter, and if you do use it on your lap, much cooler too. If all you want is something neat to sit on the desk, then a conventional laptop is great, but if you are going to cart it around and use without furniture, then the netbook has the advantage.

And why do Asus only fit 1 Gb memory with an easy to open hatch for upgrades?

Micro$oft won't supply XP home to manufacturers who peddle 2 Gb netbook machines.

:-)

Cheers Don...

-- Don McKenzie

Site Map:

E-Mail Contact Page: Web Camera Page: No More Damn Spam:

Breakout, Prototype, Development, & Robotics Boards:

why

Boards:

Mr Google finds many mentions, and explanations:

Cheers Don...

--
Don McKenzie

Site Map:            http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email
Web Camera Page:     http://www.dontronics.com/webcam
No More Damn Spam:   http://www.dontronics.com/spam

Breakout, Prototype, Development, & Robotics Boards:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/sparkfun-electronics.html

In article , snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com.au said... : :Jeßus wrote: :> In article , snipped-for-privacy@migo.com :> said... :> : :> :keithr wrote: :> :> :> I'm using one now, the 10" screen is fine (1024x600) my only problem :> :> with it is the tiny shift key. :> :>

:> :> The claimed 9 hour battery life may be a bit expectant though, I've :> :> never managed much better than 6 hours with the screen turned down, :> :> WiFi, camera and bluetooth turned off, and the CPU at the lowest clock :> :> speed. Realistically with WiFi on the battery lasts 4 hours give or :> :> take. :> :> I have put a 2 gig DIMM in in place of the 1 gig supplied. :> : :> :Probably goes some ways to explaining the decrease in battery life. :> :> Would RAM really chew that much extra power though? : :Very unlikely, SODIMM RAM uses very little power

That's what I thought.

In article , bitchin snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com said... : :Jeßus wrote: :> In article , snipped-for-privacy@migo.com :> said... :> : :> :keithr wrote: :> :> :> I'm using one now, the 10" screen is fine (1024x600) my only problem :> :> with it is the tiny shift key. :> :>

:> :> The claimed 9 hour battery life may be a bit expectant though, I've :> :> never managed much better than 6 hours with the screen turned down, :> :> WiFi, camera and bluetooth turned off, and the CPU at the lowest clock :> :> speed. Realistically with WiFi on the battery lasts 4 hours give or :> :> take. :> :> I have put a 2 gig DIMM in in place of the 1 gig supplied. :> : :> :Probably goes some ways to explaining the decrease in battery life. :> :> Would RAM really chew that much extra power though? : : :Wouldn't make that much difference : :More memory will use more juice, but your saving less access to the :disk and the disk would be powered down more often. So it sort of :balances out.

Good point on the HDD, I didn't think RAM would use much power. CPU is another story, of course. Not that you get to upgrade many CPUs in laptops :)

In article , snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com said... : :Jeßus wrote: :> In article , :> snipped-for-privacy@migo.com said... :>>

:>> keithr wrote: :> :>>> I'm using one now, the 10" screen is fine (1024x600) my only problem :>>> with it is the tiny shift key. :>>>

:>>> The claimed 9 hour battery life may be a bit expectant though, I've :>>> never managed much better than 6 hours with the screen turned down, :>>> WiFi, camera and bluetooth turned off, and the CPU at the lowest :>>> clock speed. Realistically with WiFi on the battery lasts 4 hours :>>> give or take. :>>> I have put a 2 gig DIMM in in place of the 1 gig supplied. :>>

:>> Probably goes some ways to explaining the decrease in battery life. :>

:> Would RAM really chew that much extra power though? : :Some back of envelope calcs: : :Taking a random 1GB SODIMM datasheet: :

:(not sure if it's actually compatible, but should give a reasonbale estimate :anyway) :The typical active standby current is almost 1A @ 1.8V, or 1.8W, and that's :doing nothing. Can be over 6W peak when doing stuff. : :The 1000HE battery pack is around 90Wh (8700mAh @ 10.8V), so would use :roughly 10W for 9 hours. The standard 1GB SODIMM would take almost 1/5th of :that power just sitting idle doing nothing. Likely to be significantly :higher in actual use, so say the SODIMM might be as high as 30% of the :consumption. :So the double capacity SODIMM would be a fairly significant extra :consumption, and the figures would roughly match up to what Keith gets.

That really surprises me - 1.8/6W! Very interesting, thanks Dave.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@migo.com said... : :Jeßus wrote: :> In article , :> snipped-for-privacy@migo.com said... :>>

:>> keithr wrote: :> :>>> I'm using one now, the 10" screen is fine (1024x600) my only problem :>>> with it is the tiny shift key. :>>>

:>>> The claimed 9 hour battery life may be a bit expectant though, I've :>>> never managed much better than 6 hours with the screen turned down, :>>> WiFi, camera and bluetooth turned off, and the CPU at the lowest :>>> clock speed. Realistically with WiFi on the battery lasts 4 hours :>>> give or take. :>>> I have put a 2 gig DIMM in in place of the 1 gig supplied. :>>

:>> Probably goes some ways to explaining the decrease in battery life. :>

:> Would RAM really chew that much extra power though? : :RAM is quite power hungry, even at idle. Skip a few posts down, someone else :has done some math.

Indeed, I had no idea they consumed so much power. I guess given the large capacities these days explains why.

Mine has been "shipped". Not sure what that means, but they have given us a tracking number.