Interesting Tech Articles

[mevinyavin]

https://uk.pcmag.com/mobile-phones/92897/charging-your-phone-overnight-battery-myths-debunked

Note that this article applies to SMARTphones. Dumbphones CAN be damaged if charging overnight. Personally, I charge my phone daily during Shacharis and this is enough. If I have been using it a lot, I also charge it during bein hasedorim.

[biobook]

https://uk.pcmag.com/mobile-phones/92897/charging-your-phone-overnight-battery-myths-debunked

Note that this article applies to SMARTphones. Dumbphones CAN be damaged if charging overnight. Personally, I charge my phone daily during Shacharis and this is enough. If I have been using it a lot, I also charge it during bein hasedorim.

Interesting article.  What about charging of laptops? The manual for the Acer Swift 3 (Thanks for the recommendation, @mevinyavin) says

In addition, the useful lifespan of the battery is adversely affected by the following usage patterns:
• Using the computer on constant AC power.

and a few sentences later, to optimize battery life:

You are advised to follow the suggestions set out below:
• Use AC power whenever possible, reserving battery for mobile use

Aren't these two sentences contradictory?  What am I missing?

[mevinyavin]

Interesting article.  What about charging of laptops? The manual for the Acer Swift 3 (Thanks for the recommendation, @mevinyavin) says

In addition, the useful lifespan of the battery is adversely affected by the following usage patterns:
• Using the computer on constant AC power.

and a few sentences later, to optimize battery life:

You are advised to follow the suggestions set out below:
• Use AC power whenever possible, reserving battery for mobile use

Aren't these two sentences contradictory?  What am I missing?

They are definitely contradictory.
I cannot speak for Acer, but here's my take on battery usage for laptops in general.

1. If your computer is rarely used on battery OR your battery life is way more than you need, activate a battery saver option that caps the charge at 80 or 85%. This will extend the life of the battery. (Where this option is located varies. Google it or check the company's support page.)

2. If you occasionally or consistently run the battery down to 0, don't do that. When it is convenient, charge the battery back up to avoid running it down completely.

3. Don't fret about using it off the plug if at all convenient (despite what Acer says). Prioritize AC use only over running the battery down completely.

4. Although it is true that running the battery down completely is "bad" for the battery, it isn't SOOO bad that it is worth driving yourself crazy. Chazal say, "Better to use the crystal goblet and have it smash than never to use it at all." Replacing the battery isn't so terrible if you get one from the company.

5. Use AC power whenever possible, but make sure the computer can breath when charging. The heat is worse for the battery than the full charge. In any case, when the battery is full, it is designed to stop charging. Either way, it is better for the battery to run it on AC than to charge it down...

[biobook]

They are definitely contradictory.
I cannot speak for Acer, but here's my take on battery usage for laptops in general.

So if I'm working on the laptop all day and I have a nearby outlet, I should charge the laptop just till 80-85%, then unplug it.  Work on battery till it gets down to 20-40%, then plug it back it in. And repeat all day.

But if I'm taking it somewhere where I won't have a convenient outlet, then it's okay to charge it beforehand to 100% and use it for 8 hours on battery as it drains down to 0%, just try not to do this too often.

Is that right?

[mevinyavin]

So if I'm working on the laptop all day and I have a nearby outlet, I should charge the laptop just till 80-85%, then unplug it.  Work on battery till it gets down to 20-40%, then plug it back it in. And repeat all day.

But if I'm taking it somewhere where I won't have a convenient outlet, then it's okay to charge it beforehand to 100% and use it for 8 hours on battery as it drains down to 0%, just try not to do this too often.

Is that right?

No, not exactly.
If you will usually work plugged in, CHANGE THE SETTINGS so that the battery never charges past 80/85 (whatever the setting says) and work plugged in always.
If you sometimes may need that extra juice, it's okay to charge it till 100. It is still better to use the laptop on AC than to keep draining the battery.
IN GENERAL, it is best to try not to run the laptop down to zero WHEN CONVENIENT. (When not convenient, just do use it up. It doesn't pay to drive yourself crazy.)

[mevinyavin]

A quick snapshot of SSD tech and speeds over the last few years.
2 years ago: The fastest drives averaged 3.5GB per second write speed for large files. A 4TB drive that was slightly more conservative (3.0GBPs) costed around $600 if you were lucky.
Last year: The fastest drives averaged 7.0GB per second write speed for large files. A 3.0GBps drive ran around $450, and the faster drives were more like $750.
Now: The fastest drives can write at 12GB per second for large files. A 3.0GBps drive can be found at $160, faster drives at $220, and the 12GBps drive gets an MSRP of $600... before sales.


https://www.pcworld.com/article/1811977/crucial-t700-nvme-ssd-review.html

[biobook]

No, not exactly.
If you will usually work plugged in, CHANGE THE SETTINGS so that the battery never charges past 80/85 (whatever the setting says) and work plugged in always.

Ok, thanks, I found the setting under Care Center, and set it to 80.

[mevinyavin]

https://www.howtogeek.com/842137/has-the-time-for-32gb-of-ram-finally-come/

My take: 4GB still works (but bottlenecks), and my personal experience has been that even basic users (typists+internet) sometimes get a bottleneck with 8GB of RAM. One can still consider buying A) cheap computers with 8GB of RAM and B) expensive (anywhere more than $450) can come with 8GB of RAM ONLY if the RAM is upgradeable, so you can see if 8GB is a bottleneck in your use patterns.
You absolutely IMHO should not be spending $500+ on a system with 8GB of RAM if you cannot upgrade it.
Should you buy 16GB of non-upgradeable? Yes if your usage is normal, no if your usage is intense (read: gamers, graphics/video pros, programmers, data science, and the like).
Note that the non-upgradable LPDDR4X runs about a GHz faster than vanilla DDR4, and the same advantage applies to LPDDR5X versus DDR5. Just know what you are giving up.

[mevinyavin]

[cgarf]

No, not exactly.
If you will usually work plugged in, CHANGE THE SETTINGS so that the battery never charges past 80/85 (whatever the setting says) and work plugged in always.
If you sometimes may need that extra juice, it's okay to charge it till 100. It is still better to use the laptop on AC than to keep draining the battery.
IN GENERAL, it is best to try not to run the laptop down to zero WHEN CONVENIENT. (When not convenient, just do use it up. It doesn't pay to drive yourself crazy.)

What would you suggest setting a dell laptop that has an adaptive mode? I use it plugged in most of the day. Should I allow the system to optimize the settings or should I custom set as suggested?

Thanks

[mevinyavin]

What would you suggest setting a dell laptop that has an adaptive mode? I use it plugged in most of the day. Should I allow the system to optimize the settings or should I custom set as suggested?

Thanks

Whichever. We aren't talking huge gains either way.

[mevinyavin]

Bit of background to my recommendation to avoid touchscreens whenever possible. This article is from last month's PC Pro, but I've seen Lee Grant mention this problem loads of times. I would ignore their advice regarding specific laptops, which appears only because this is a box in context of a larger article comparing various laptops.

[mevinyavin]

[mevinyavin]

https://www.neowin.net/news/the-latest-opera-gx-feature-makes-it-the-most-morbid-browser-around/

Opera GX has just snatched the crown for the most morbid browser that you can download thanks to its latest feature. It has been given ‘Fake My History’ which replaces your browsing history after your death or after two weeks of inactivity so nobody finds any questionable browser searches.

The new feature doesn’t just clear your browsing history, which could be viewed suspiciously in and of itself. Instead, it populates your history with fictional history entries that are ‘surprisingly pleasant’, according to the company.

"In life, there are no saves, respawns or checkpoints - anything can happen. When it does, what will you be remembered for? With 'Fake My History,' we're wiping the slate clean and replacing your scandalous digital shenanigans with a totally fake version of your browsing past," said Maciej Kocemba, Product Director, Opera GX.

Some of the things that the history faker will populate your browsing history with include:

Local volunteer opportunities
Free online courses for personal growth
How to encourage voting in my community
How to build a birdhouse
If you enable ‘Fake My History’ the browser history will be repopulated with sanitized entries after 14 consecutive days of inactivity. If you want to use the feature immediately, there is an option to ‘Pretend I’m Already Dead’ and the repopulation of your history will be done straight away.

It’s an interesting feature, even if it's a bit morbid. It does shine a light on an interesting aspect of technology that people don’t think about a lot: what happens to all my data when I die?

Popular online services like Facebook and Google have options about what should happen to your account after you die but many services do not. Perhaps other software developers should integrate more features into their products to account for this inevitability.

[mevinyavin]

https://www.howtogeek.com/5-ways-direct-sunlight-can-damage-your-laptop/#overheating-the-obvious-one

[mevinyavin]

...and on the same theme:
https://www.fdnysmart.org/be-fdnysmart-when-using-any-devices-powered-by-lithium-ion-batteries/

[mevinyavin]

https://www.howtogeek.com/what-is-bypass-charging-and-why-you-want-it/

An excerpt:

While bypass charging isn't common on smartphones and tablets, it's relatively common on laptop computers. After all, it's expected that laptops will spend more time plugged in than running on battery power. Still, since so few laptops have removable batteries these days, it's always worth double-checking that the laptop you plan on buying does indeed have bypass charging so you'll get the most life out of it as possible.

[mevinyavin]

More on battery charging of laptops / keeping them plugged in.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2038685/laptop-always-plugged-in-is-that-bad.html

[Alexsei]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/22/23841167/microsoft-excel-python-integration-support

[mevinyavin]

https://www.neowin.net/news/a-quick-look-back-at-the-launch-and-promotion-of-windows-95-28-years-ago-today/
Edit: Some less-tznius videos embedded in the article.