Thinkpad, worth the upgrade?

Yup: 24 x 7 is the best for hard drives, I have no doubt of it. But these days I'm much more conservative with power usage, so I tend to hope my backups are good and switch machines off most of the time. I now only have 2 machines that run more-or-less 24 X 7, one of them this Thinkpad. The others go off at night.
 
That would be all very well, Merc, if Tannin could find his desk! It was last seen somewhere in his back office, buried under a vast pile of paperwork. Unfortunately, he forgot to take a GPS reading of the exact location and drilling has, so far, been unsuccessful. I'm hopeful that it might turn up next time there is a landslide ... sorry, I mean paperslide .... in the office.
 
I was also going to suggest that if you managed to collect a small number of WD drives, you could also make a passable sort of dwelling for your sock puppet, but then there would be the inherent folly of actually collecting WD drives.
 
:) It is only a small pile since they are 250-320GB ea. I am waiting for the 500 MB Samsung M6 to arrive in volume and at a stable price.
 
Actually, I'm not entirely convinced that low capacity drives would be a problem, Lunar. Obviously, you'd have to use more of them to build a same-size house, but that would be OK.

The tricky part will be the roof. The main thing is to be sure to format them first and wipe all the data off so that they aren't too heavy. Oh, and I'll need to use a quality brand of drive for the roofing: last thing I need is a head crash. :)
 
Actually, I'm not entirely convinced that low capacity drives would be a problem, Lunar. Obviously, you'd have to use more of them to build a same-size house, but that would be OK.

The tricky part will be the roof. The main thing is to be sure to format them first and wipe all the data off so that they aren't too heavy. Oh, and I'll need to use a quality brand of drive for the roofing: last thing I need is a head crash. :)
 
Tea said:
The tricky part will be the roof. The main thing is to be sure to format them first and wipe all the data off so that they aren't too heavy. Oh, and I'll need to use a quality brand of drive for the roofing: last thing I need is a head crash. :)
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I recommend a full height MiniScribe. :) However, a Bigfoot might be more apropos.
 
Something to warm Merc's heart:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/03/nvidia_forecast_glitch/

"Nvidia issued some somber news for shareholders today, revealing a financial forecast cut short due to slowing sales, a delayed ramp for new product, and a hefty payout due to faulty laptop chips.

The graphics giant said it expects to pay between $150m and $200m to cover warranty, repair, return, replacement and other costs for defects in certain laptop GPUs (graphic processing units) and MCPs (media and communication processors).

As of yet unspecified notebooks using previous generation GPUs and MCPs manufactured with a particular die/packaging material set are failing at higher than normal rates, the company said.

A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission states the number of notebooks shipped and sold with the defect were in "significant quantities."

"While we have not been able to determine a root cause for these failures, testing suggests a weak material die/package combination, system thermal management designs, and customer use patters are contributing factors," the SEC filing states."
 
DrunkenBastard said:
"While we have not been able to determine a root cause for these failures, testing suggests a weak material die/package combination, system thermal management designs, and customer use patters are contributing factors," the SEC filing states."
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Customers are actually using their notebooks and the ambient temperature is not 20 °C everywhere? How shocking. :)

A pinhead beancounter probably calculated only 4 hours of use per day or something, and the cheapie chips were designed to function just long enough for the warranty period.
 
I've read something to suggest that something similar was done with Xbox360s, hence their extremely high failure rates.
 
I just received my first post-XP-death date Thinkpad.
I didn't ask for it, but not only did I get XP on the T61p I ordered, they also threw in both an XP restore DVD and what appears to be a standard Windows XP install CD.

There's a Vista Business license sticker on the bottom of the unit.
 
That thing is probably overkill, but I know some engineers who would probably kill for one.
Bet it weighs 12 lbs.
 
For my purposes, I don't care about the weight or the battery life. It would constantly be plugged in at home, the office, or my car. Being able to do some serious post-processing on the road would be awesome. It would help me avoid issues like this.
 
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