Clete’s Blog

I recently found out that when laptop makers state that their batteries begin deteriorating in 18 months, they mean that their batteries are completely useless within 15 months. I could not find what they consider to be “normal usage,” but I guess one charge every other day is much more than “normal usage.”

For the past six months, my battery life has been gradually deteriorating from its maximum of 3 hours per charge to about 2 hours per charge. This past week, I was on laptop, using battery power for the first time since the beginning of the summer. I decided to test out my battery and see how much time was left on it. My battery drained normally to 85% or so. I figured the battery was okay, so I stopped looking at it. Within a minute or two, the battery light was flashing at me and telling me that 7% of the battery was left. This was quite a shock to me, as I received my laptop in May of last year. I try to use my battery as little as possible, because I know a replacement battery is around $150.

I thought that maybe my battery meter was incorrect, but the BIOS also reported 7%, so I shut it down and let it charge. I noticed that my battery was fully charged in about twenty minutes. It generally takes over an hour to fully charge my battery. At this time, I still thought nothing of it, because it had to be a fluke. It turns out that I was wrong. Two days later, the same phenomenon happened. The weird thing was that I checked the “battery health meter” in both the BIOS and in Windows and they both reported no problems. I also checked the lights on the battery itself to see if it reported deterioration, but it did not.

I then called Dell and went through the support process. Even though Dell states that batteries should last for approximately 18 months before they even begin to deteriorate, they told me that the warranty on them is only 12 months and my battery was given to me 15 months ago. So, I ordered a new battery for around $160 with shipping. It is due to arrive today or tomorrow. I was very pleased with this, especially since it was not supposed to ship until September 2nd. The support technician, as usual, was very friendly and endured my pushing for a free battery. I knew I was fighting a losing battle because of their policy, so I did not push too hard (so that I would not get negative notes on my record).

Later that day, this happened again, so I first checked the battery, and it reported 60% deterioration. What? This is strange. So I checked it on the computer and it told me that I needed to order a new battery. Well, finally. I do not understand why it went out all of a sudden or why the battery and the laptop were unable to report deterioration until it failed on me completely. I can now get about 10 minutes of battery time.

I spoke with a few friends and they have also had to order a new battery shortly after a year from the time they received their laptop. Ashley’s battery is also going out. She used to get 5 hours of battery time and now she only gets 2 hours maximum.

Batteries don’t last as long as they say they do.

For those of you who have not heard from me much (or at all) in the past few weeks, I apologize. I have been fairly busy, with days packed from 8AM to 9PM or so. I have, for the most part, enjoyed RA training (or at least camp), but I am really looking forward to getting move-in day behind me. I am very much looking forward to starting classes. My floor curently has five or six people living on it and I have met three of them so far. My roster indicates that I should have thirty-eight people on my floor by the time this coming weekend is over.

I found out last week that my floor (5A in Laurel) is the international floor, so I have been trying to theme my floor towards that. The hall-wide theme is a beach theme and I will try to fit that theme some, but I wanted to predominately theme my floor as a sort of “world travel” floor. For my first bulliten board, I have printed out a world map, a Pennsylvania map, and a New York map. I will be making slips of paper with the residents’ names on them for the residents to tack onto their hometown or country. It should be pretty interesting to see where people come from. I have already met a resident from Ireland.

I have been out of touch with the world recently; I have no clue what is happening in the world at the moment. I haven’t watched any news and I haven’t been reading up on my favorite geek blogs. Hopefully, once the semester starts, I will have time to relax, play some games, and catch up on the events in the world.

Until next time,

Clete R. Blackwell II

The “High Definition” fad continues with Kodak’s new miniature “HD” video camera, the Zi6. The Zi6 (product webpage) boasts that the camera records in 720p at 60 frames per second. This new “HD” video camera only costs $180 USD. The webpage markets the camera as if it will look wonderful on your shiny HDTV. My guess is exactly the opposite. I have seen a lot of these “HD” camcorders on the market that are the size of normal amateur camcorders. They cost about $1,000 USD and they still don’t look a whole lot better than a normal “Standard Definition” camcorder. If that kind of camcorder can’t record in high-quality “high definition,” why would this pocket-sized camcorder be able to? There is no way that this new Zi6 camcorder, with its small lens diameter, can output anything better than any other pocket-sized camcorder on the market.

The sad thing is, people listen to this false marketing. The video camera simply shoots at a resolution of 1280×720. There isn’t anything special about it. It is all hype. However, thousands of people will still purchase this product over another product that may be better, but doesn’t boast “HD” capabilities. Now, I know it’s all about the marketing and I know sales will be much higher than if they didn’t push the “HD” hype, but it’s still misleading.

For example, I have the Nikon D2H, which shoots at only 4 megapixels. Friends of mine have 10 or even 12 megapixel point-and-shoot cameras. The D2H still blows them out of the water with megapixel quality. A point-and-shoot camera has many things working against it. For one, the lens diameter is smaller, allowing it to take in less detail than a lens ten times its size. The cameras simply can’t take in that much information with such a small lens. The point-and-shoots also have less expensive and less “advanced” CCDs. They do not interpret the light that they take in as well as the D2H or any other professional camera could. A 4 megapixel DSLR will always beat out a 12 megapixel point-and-shoot.

This same concept applies to camcorders. There is simply no way that this Zi6 can record a picture that is distinguishably better than a “normal sized” consumer camcorder that is not “high definition.”

Until next time,

Clete R. Blackwell II