HTC Sensation
I have minor complaints about HTC. For example, I do not like that HTC locks their phones to their port of Android, but in all honesty, I was not going to load anything else. Much of the competition does this too (e.g. Apple goes so far as to have the proprietary iOS). So, I accepted these issues when I purchased my HTC, as Telecom was offering the Sensation for free, and was not stocking the Samsung Galaxy S II (the phone I wanted, that had I waited one day, I could have gotten instead, bummer). I cannot really complain about the OS, or the functionality of the phone. However, I can gripe with the battery. HTC put a 1520 mAh battery in the Sensation, enough to get through 6-10 hours of the day, in what I call normal use. HTC recommends that you not stay logged into email and such to save battery, but is that not the point of a smartphone? Amazon sells a replacement 1900 mAh battery for $20. Would it have actually changed the price of the phone for HTC to have sprung for the bigger capacity battery? I probably will not get an HTC as my next phone, and I would discourage others from supporting HTC as long as they ship phones with inadequate batteries. Then again, I have not spent any time with the Galaxy S II, so hard to say if it is better.
As a prebuttal to the iPhone loyalists, my Sensation's screen is way bigger than your precious iPhone's.
Toshiba NB205
I am emotionally attached to my netbook. Her name is Penelope, she is beautiful, and she has been a loyal and helpful companion for three years. Penelope is my second Toshiba, and her predecessor kept me computing for six years. His hard drive failed after about 18 months, but other than that was a solid machine until his power board stopped working (a $500 part on the old machine). Penny, has had no major issues. The track pad has grown finicky with time, and she has been dropped/had things dropped on her chipping and damaging various parts of her case. A bit of paint has also been marred on the palm rests, but these are just the signs of age that we grow to love and find comfort in as relationships build with cherished items. Penny though, has a new issue emerging, that is making me investigate new computers.
Penelope is not starting up. When I try to start her up, the status lights come on, the back-light comes one, and the BIOS screen appears, then... Nothing. At first, I thought this might be an issue with a loose connection to the hard drive. I took out the drive, and noted some wear patterns on the chassis, and the back of the keyboard. I put the drive back in, and Penny started right up. I began devising ways to make a shim to hold the drive in place, but the problem grew worse. After constructing various aluminum foil shims, I determined that it was not a problem to be solved with shims, and looked to the internet.
There seems to be some consensus that this issue is the result of insufficient heat paste between the processor and the heat sink. When Toshibas of this age and model start up, they supposedly put out a pulse of heat, then measure the dissipation of the heat (well, they probably actually measure the resistance in a temperature probe over a short period of time, but heat dissipation will do). If, the processor is not well attached to the heat sink with heat paste, this pulse of heat stays in the processor, and to protect the components, the machine does not start. The fix becomes tricking the computer into thinking that heat will dissipate sufficiently (it seems to), even though it fails the test. There are two methods to address this problem.
The internets have decided that the more desirable method is the "G-spot Method." Whereby, pressure is applied to the housing between the palm rest and the keyboard on the left side. From looking at Penelope's motherboard, it seems like the back left would be better, but there really is not any spot to push there. I tried it, and she booted right up. The next day, I applied pressure to Penny's spot, and she hummed to life. Today though, I could not seem to hit Penny's spot right. After trying several times, I resorted to the second method.
The problem is heat-flow (or lack thereof). It follows that the heat can be transmitted away from the processor at room temperature, or the processor can be cooled to the point that the heat generated in the test is insufficient to heat the temperature probe to the cut-off value. How does one cool a netbook? Chuck it in the freezer. Thus, Penny was placed in the freezer for two hours while I ran errands, then when I returned home, she started right up.
Once running, Penelope does not seem to get hot enough to damage her, and she wakes up from sleep without any issue. Thus, I can just never turn her off, and when I do I know I need a freezer, or to find her g-spot, or I can start shopping for a replacement.
Here is the product review side of it. Many of those who posted to message boards where these solutions were found vowed to never purchase another Toshiba, but I have to ask myself, why? Both my Toshibas have been pretty good, lasted pretty well, and were affordable. I could purchase an Apple, with their legendary longevity, but for the price of the least expensive apple laptop I can get three to four similar Windows machines. For three-quarters of the price of the cheapest Apple, I can get a pretty flash Windows machine with a USB3 port, a graphics card, and a blu-ray optical drive. For the same price as an Apple, I can get a machine with a quad-core processor, a 7200 rpm hard drive and 12 gigs of memory (plus the USB3, graphics card and blu-ray). So, forget Apple. Other competitors are Asus, Acer, Fujitsu and Lenovo. Lenovos are fine machines, but rarely seem to distinguish themselves, as with Asus and Acer. You buy those three, in my opinion, based on which one has the best deal that day. As for Fujitsu, their legendary longevity comes at similar cost to Apple machines (though they do have some sub $500 models, which seem to be on par with the competition). All that said, I have been totally happy with my Toshibas, and I would happily replace Penelope with a new Toshiba. At this point, it just comes down to which company has the best product, for the best price, on the day that Penelope finally needs to be replaced.
As a prebuttal to the iPhone loyalists, my Sensation's screen is way bigger than your precious iPhone's.
Toshiba NB205
I am emotionally attached to my netbook. Her name is Penelope, she is beautiful, and she has been a loyal and helpful companion for three years. Penelope is my second Toshiba, and her predecessor kept me computing for six years. His hard drive failed after about 18 months, but other than that was a solid machine until his power board stopped working (a $500 part on the old machine). Penny, has had no major issues. The track pad has grown finicky with time, and she has been dropped/had things dropped on her chipping and damaging various parts of her case. A bit of paint has also been marred on the palm rests, but these are just the signs of age that we grow to love and find comfort in as relationships build with cherished items. Penny though, has a new issue emerging, that is making me investigate new computers.
Penelope is not starting up. When I try to start her up, the status lights come on, the back-light comes one, and the BIOS screen appears, then... Nothing. At first, I thought this might be an issue with a loose connection to the hard drive. I took out the drive, and noted some wear patterns on the chassis, and the back of the keyboard. I put the drive back in, and Penny started right up. I began devising ways to make a shim to hold the drive in place, but the problem grew worse. After constructing various aluminum foil shims, I determined that it was not a problem to be solved with shims, and looked to the internet.
There seems to be some consensus that this issue is the result of insufficient heat paste between the processor and the heat sink. When Toshibas of this age and model start up, they supposedly put out a pulse of heat, then measure the dissipation of the heat (well, they probably actually measure the resistance in a temperature probe over a short period of time, but heat dissipation will do). If, the processor is not well attached to the heat sink with heat paste, this pulse of heat stays in the processor, and to protect the components, the machine does not start. The fix becomes tricking the computer into thinking that heat will dissipate sufficiently (it seems to), even though it fails the test. There are two methods to address this problem.
The internets have decided that the more desirable method is the "G-spot Method." Whereby, pressure is applied to the housing between the palm rest and the keyboard on the left side. From looking at Penelope's motherboard, it seems like the back left would be better, but there really is not any spot to push there. I tried it, and she booted right up. The next day, I applied pressure to Penny's spot, and she hummed to life. Today though, I could not seem to hit Penny's spot right. After trying several times, I resorted to the second method.
The problem is heat-flow (or lack thereof). It follows that the heat can be transmitted away from the processor at room temperature, or the processor can be cooled to the point that the heat generated in the test is insufficient to heat the temperature probe to the cut-off value. How does one cool a netbook? Chuck it in the freezer. Thus, Penny was placed in the freezer for two hours while I ran errands, then when I returned home, she started right up.
Once running, Penelope does not seem to get hot enough to damage her, and she wakes up from sleep without any issue. Thus, I can just never turn her off, and when I do I know I need a freezer, or to find her g-spot, or I can start shopping for a replacement.
Here is the product review side of it. Many of those who posted to message boards where these solutions were found vowed to never purchase another Toshiba, but I have to ask myself, why? Both my Toshibas have been pretty good, lasted pretty well, and were affordable. I could purchase an Apple, with their legendary longevity, but for the price of the least expensive apple laptop I can get three to four similar Windows machines. For three-quarters of the price of the cheapest Apple, I can get a pretty flash Windows machine with a USB3 port, a graphics card, and a blu-ray optical drive. For the same price as an Apple, I can get a machine with a quad-core processor, a 7200 rpm hard drive and 12 gigs of memory (plus the USB3, graphics card and blu-ray). So, forget Apple. Other competitors are Asus, Acer, Fujitsu and Lenovo. Lenovos are fine machines, but rarely seem to distinguish themselves, as with Asus and Acer. You buy those three, in my opinion, based on which one has the best deal that day. As for Fujitsu, their legendary longevity comes at similar cost to Apple machines (though they do have some sub $500 models, which seem to be on par with the competition). All that said, I have been totally happy with my Toshibas, and I would happily replace Penelope with a new Toshiba. At this point, it just comes down to which company has the best product, for the best price, on the day that Penelope finally needs to be replaced.
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