Chapter 4 Traveling with Your Notebook This chapter covers all aspects of using your notebook while traveling
Battery and Power Saving The internal rechargeable Li-Ion battery can power your notebook. The Li-Ion should keep you on the road for about 2 hours. Higher performance typically reduces the battery life. When you make your notebook work harder, e.g. by playing sound and video, or by running disk drives, battery life will be reduced faster. You can dramatically improve the battery life of your notebook by taking full advantage of the power management options described below.
battery charge level here. You can also make changes here to the power management settings used during Windows sessions. Responding to a Low Battery When your notebook alerts you to a low battery, we strongly recommend that you either immediately use the AC adapter to connect you notebook to a suitable AC power outlet, or you immediately save all your work and either suspend your computer to disk, or use the Windows Shut down item in the Start menu to turn off your system.
2. Allow your battery to fully discharge, ignore any warning alerts, and leave the system alone until it automatically turns off. 3. After fully discharging your system, connect the AC adapter until the battery is fully charged. This operation carried out every few weeks, will maintain the battery efficiency and help calibrate the electronics that monitor and maintain the battery charge. Over time, as the battery is charged and discharged, it gradually stores less charge.
Figure 4-2: Removing the Battery 4. Slide the battery out towards the left until it is completely free. You can then remove the battery. LEDs Button Area Figure 4-3: Battery 5. The top of the battery has an extra battery charge indicator. The indicator consists of a button and four small LEDs. When you press the area on the right side of the indicator, the button, some or all of the red LEDs will start flashing, depending on how much charge is left in the battery.
Power Management In order to make the most of the mobile computing capabilities of your notebook, you will need to be aware of how to manage the power consumption of your system. Aggressive power conservation can provide extended computer usage. Sometimes aggressive power conservation will not be needed, or you might prefer not to engage it. You should set the default to match your most common needs.
1. Your notebook has power management features built into the System Configuration Utility program. The utility program provides a more extensive array of power management options than the Windows power management discussed below. See Chapter 3 for more information on the System Configuration Utility. 2. Windows has built-in power management features that can be used when running under the Windows operating system.
If you are operating your notebook on battery power, a fully-charged battery can maintain a Suspend-to-RAM for many hours. Suspend-to-Disk Suspend-to-Disk is really another way of turning off your computer. When you suspend to disk, the contents of your computer’s memory are copied to your hard disk drive as a file. When the contents of the memory have been safely stored to disk, your computer turns off.
Modem Your notebook might come with the optional built-in software fax/modem that allows you to take full advantage of the fax and communications abilities of your system. In some countries, local regulations may not permit the use of the fax/modem that is designed for this system. Note that the telephone jack is covered with a cap and not present if your notebook does not have the fax/modem option built-in.
can also be used with login protocols to connect to certain providers and online services, including those provided with Windows. You should always try to connect at the highest rate of connection available. Your modem will automatically negotiate the connection and establish the actual rate of transmission of information. To connect to anything with your modem, you will usually need to sign on with some provider or dial-in to another computer already set to receive such connections.
! Avoid high and low temperatures when shipping or storing your notebook. Do not place the system in close proximity to a source of heat or dust. ! The batteries will not operate as well under extremes of temperature. If a battery is left in the sun and gets quite hot, it is apt to fail to charge. Once it cools down, you will be able to charge it again. ! Protect your modem. It is designed to work on an analog phone system. Before you hook up your modem, check to find an analog line.
Remember to pack: ! Your notebook ! Your AC adapter/power cord ! Any optional expansion modules ! Any international converters for your adapter ! A spare length of phone cord ! Printer cable ! PC cards ! Spare battery packs ! Bootable diskettes ! Spare diskettes for easy file exchange ! Manuals for any critical software or device Also remember to: ! Charge your battery ! Change your power management settings to more aggressive settings, if appropriate ! Transfer the files you need Us
Lock Anchor Figure 4-5: Anchor point for a Kensington-type security cable To use this cable follow these instructions: 1. Loop the cable through or around some part of a heavy object. Make sure there is no way for a potential thief to slip the cable off the object. 2. Pass the locking end through the loop. 3. Insert the cable’s locking end into the anchor point on your notebook, give the key a quarter turn and remove it. The computer is now securely locked.
