Vista Could Sap Notebook PC Battery Life
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Flashy new OS features could drain laptop batteries faster than XP, hardware vendors and analysts say.
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The keyboards, mice, Webcams and headsets sport features for the upcoming Vista operating system.
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Strip, shutdown, repeat Microsoft has published an article on speeding up Vista, aimed at general users.â¦
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This miniature budget notebook may not be preloaded with Windows, but it ably serves most on-the-go computing needs.
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Those still considering whether to make the jump to Windows Vista will have additional help with today's 2.0 release of Microsoft's Vista Hardware Assessment Tool. The application takes inventory of a computer system and makes recommendations if upgrades are required.
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Taiwanese&#160;laptop maker Micro-Star International (MSI)&#160;plans to add Turbo-battery mode to a laptop PC aimed at computer gamers later this year in a bid to increase battery life and put out a more environmentally friendly product.The laptop will be the next generation of its G-series, which includes the GX600, a laptop with a button users can press to overclock the microprocessor. The Turbo-overclocking button on the current GX600 will gain a new use on the next generation laptop, Turbo-battery mode.Turbo-battery mode will add 20 percent more life to the battery, said Sam Chem, director of notebook computer sales at MSI, in an interview. The battery on the GX600 lasts for around two hours, so the addition of Turbo-battery mode would increase its power to two and a half hours.Turbo-battery mode only kicks in when a user hits the overclocking button while the battery is being used. When the laptop is plugged in, Turbo-battery mode will not come on.MSI&#39;s GX600 was one of the first laptop PCs to include a button for overclocking. Mobile devices in general aren&#39;t ideal for overclocking because of heat issues. When the microprocessor is prompted to work harder, it gives off far more heat. Desktop PCs are bigger and have more open space, as well as cooling devices such as bigger fans, making them more suitable for overclocking. But mobile devices encase the microprocessor and other hot-running chips and components into a much smaller area. Too much heat from one component can damage other parts.But MSI included new thermal technology in the GX600 to ensure its laptops wouldn&#39;t have a meltdown, Chem said. The result is that computer gamers using the laptop can get more performance for their money out of the microprocessor, which is one of the most expensive parts in a laptop. Overclocking can make a 2GHz microprocessor perform like a 2.4GHz or 2.5GHz microprocessor, he said.The GX600 weighs 2.7 kilograms and carries an Intel microprocessor, Nvidia 8600 graphics, 512MB GDRAM (graphics dynamic RAM), has a 15.4-inch screen and includes a number keypad along with the QWERTY keypad.MSI has been making laptops for three years. The company is also known for its motherboards and graphics cards.
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A few more details emerge about the three energy-efficient Turion-powered notebooks.
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Preview Smaller than a laptop, bigger than a PDA - the perfect PC size?
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A cache of flash in a new Samsung notebook hard-drive series will halve boot times and slash power usage, giving battery life a nice bump, the company says. In Gadget Lab. In Gadget Lab.
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WASHINGTON -- Some 526,000 batteries used in ThinkPad notebook computers worldwide are being recalled in the latest problem with batteries made by Sony Corp., the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
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Configuring a PC around the minimum hardware requirements of an application or operating system may not be the best idea for users who hope to get the most out of Windows Vista.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft released details of a study it commissioned that found that total cost of ownership for Windows Vista on mobile PCs is $605 less annually than Windows XP. According to research conducted by Wipro and GCR Custom Research and released Wednesday, total cost of ownership for Windows XP is $4,407 annually, while Vista's cost is $3,802. The $4,407 figure was derived from costs of hardware, software, IT labor, and user costs. Mobile PCs were the focus because these units will outship desktop systems by 2010, said Hiroshi Sakakibara, product manager for Windows Product Management at Microsoft. Peculiarly, the study actually was based on XP usage and extrapolations based on Vista capabilities because there was not a substantial base of Vista clients in use yet when the study was done early in 2007. Now, the installed base of Vista is 60 million PCs, Microsoft said. GCR and Wipro calculated that the Vista upgrade itself saves $251 per year. These benefits include enhancements in security, desktop engineering, service desk requirements, user labor, and hardware and software benefits. Among the improvements noted were in such areas as network diagnostics, backup and restore, self-healing functions, and implementation of security policies. Deploying best practices through Microsoft's Infrastructure Optimization model adds another $236 in Vista savings, while utilizing the MDOP (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack) saves $118 per PC. MDOP features Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization and the Microsoft Asset Inventory Service, while Infrastructure Optimization covers best practices, such as controlling PC configurations. MDOP is available as part of Microsoft's Software Assurance licensing program. Reducing vulnerabilities and utilizing security policies presents savings, noted Bill Barna, principal consultant at Wipro. Security savings alone were estimated at $55. "If you can reduce the number of core vulnerabilities, you can basically have the savings flow throughout the entire security model," Barna said. The survey featured 541 phones calls to users at 131 XP user organizations; one IT decision-maker and three end-users were polled at each user site. While Microsoft is promoting Vista upgrades, a Free Software Foundation project called "BadVista," is pushing free software as an alternative. "We describe it as a campaign definitely against Vista but chiefly to promote free software over Vista," said John Sullivan, a campaign manager at the foundation. Users should replace "proprietary" systems with a free system like GNU-Linux, Sullivan said.
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A lot of teens might think Bill is a bad dad.  He limits his kids' computer playtime to 45 minutes a day during the  week, one hour a day on weekends.  He also uses Microsoft's new Vista software to limit and audit the Web sites his kids visit.
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Get a closer look at some of the programs you can use to get Vista's features in XP -- and to keep XP operating smoothly for a long, long time.
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The wait is nearly over for the first service pack for Windows Vista, according to sources close to Microsoft.Microsoft has said the highly anticipated service pack would be out in the first quarter of this year, but some say it could be available in the next few weeks, more than a month before the quarter ends on March 31.A Taiwanese news outlet Wednesday reported in a story that Vista SP1 would be released Feb. 15, but &quot;that date is as good as any other,&quot; said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. &quot;For all we know, they could make it available tomorrow.&quot;Through its public relations agency Wednesday, Microsoft declined to comment on the Feb. 15 date beyond reiterating the software would be available in the first quarter. Still, several sources who work closely with Microsoft said a mid-February release is not unlikely, and they expect the software to be out before the end of March.Chris Swenson, director of software industry analysis for the NPD Group, said that analysts have heard Feb. 15 as the target for SP1, but it&#39;s not something Microsoft would confirm publicly to give itself time to make adjustments in case of negative feedback on the current release of the software.Microsoft released Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC) in December but then refreshed that software in a public release earlier this month.Several Microsoft partners said they could not confirm Feb. 15 as the date for SP1&#39;s release, but said they expect the software soon for a number of reasons.One of those is the strength of the release candidate, said Brian Randell, a senior consultant with MCW Technologies in Los Angeles. He has been using the SP1 RC, and it&#39;s stable and running well so, &quot;I can&#39;t see why [the final release] wouldn&#39;t be out soon.&quot;Microsoft&#39;s hesitancy to give a firm date for SP1 means the company is confident it can get the final release out on time, said Andrew Brust, chief, new technology for consulting firm twentysix New York. However, he agreed with NPD&#39;s Swenson that the company wants to give itself room for last-minute changes. &quot;They are not ready to promise anything beyond Q1,&quot; he said. Brust is a regional director of Microsoft partners and works closely with the company.Many believe the SP1 milestone is the one that will bring about a new wave of adoption for Vista, especially among business customers that have been awaiting the service pack&#39;s release before updating employee desktops. The combination of SP1 and Windows Server 2008, due out on Feb. 27, is expected to bode well for Vista adoption in the enterprise and medium-sized business sectors.One date Cherry said Microsoft probably won&#39;t release SP1 is the next Patch Tuesday, Feb. 12. Patch Tuesday refers to the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft sends out software patches and updates via its automatic updating services.&quot;Hopefully, they would keep the release of monthly patches separate from the release of a service pack,&quot; Cherry said.
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Users running Vista can supposedly use flash memory sticks to improve boot-up times and boost the start-up speed of their most important software.
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Hewlett-Packard is making a high-stakes bet that it won't get burned by a bad battery. Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu are recalling 7.7 million laptop batteries made by Sony. The batteries can, in rare instances, overheat and catch fire. HP uses Sony battery parts, too, but it is not recalling them. The company believes it is safe because it reviewed and rejected Sony battery parts for nearly a year before buying any, spokesman Mike Hockey says.