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"Valentín Guillén" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news  (E-Mail Removed). ..> On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 19:45:13 +1000, Grant Frisken wrote: > > > You seem to have missed my point. The modem speed and internet connection > > is fine (1.6Mbits/s). Even connecting to the router directly via cable is > > fine. It is only when I use the wireless connection to MR814 router (it is > > a combined wireless and standard 4 port router) that I get the dramatic drop > > in speed (max speed 400 kbit/s). > > That happens a lot in Usenet..... > > > If I run the centrino laptop off battery then I see an even more dramatic > > drop in speed (max 50 kbits/s). This makes me strongly suspect the > > centrino's power management. Since 802.11b promises me 11 Mbits/s I am a bit > > annoyed that I am getting such low throughput. > > But now you seemd to miss the point here too: 802.11b promisses NOTHING!! OK - I meant promises in the sense "holds the promise of speeds up to 11 Mbit/s" not the sense of categorically guarantees to give you 11 Mbit/s. Actually I'd settle for 1 Mbit/s actual throughput if I could get it. > The throughput you mention is the theoretical limit on what the > specification was designed to support. It's NOT a promise to anyone! > > Many (most) laptopts have a design limitation (feature) whereby when run > from the battery power source, they run at reduced processor power. > Sometimes in the BIOS of these handicapped machines, the user can opt to > regain full processor power while powered from battery by simply changing > the default setting. Well this is not such a bad feature (limitation) if you want to use your laptop on a long airline flight where you are primarily doing word processing which is not very taxing on the CPU. It does give substantially longer battery life. I can live with plugging in a power cord if I need to do something with more grunt. Another poster (shope) has provided the info need to overcome the reduced performance when running off battery - which is basically tweaking some of the WiFi card settings. > BUT here's an important note: You may not have known what you were > purchasing, but the "Centrino" (Geezus, I *really* hate these stooopid > brand names dreamt up by idiot marketting droids!!!!!!) design > shortchanges purchasers. Its something which we've been sold on, as a > brand, but it's really something to be avoided, and here's why: > > Whereever you find this Centrino thing, you have a manufacturer who > attempted to save manufacturing costs, and used a processor which devoted > part of the processor to processing WiFi signals. In the NON-centrino > designs, you have a dedicated processor which is built into the WiFi card, > and this dedicated processor does NOT sap the main CPU to process the WiFi > work. In Centrino, the main CPU takes up the tasks which in other designs > thededicated processor does. This is VERY analagous to the whole > Microsoft-inspired thing which was called a "Winmodem" whereby the > manufacturers savved a few bucks by not including a dedicated signal > processor in their "modems" but rather off-loaded the signal processing > tasks to the main CPU. When you buy a *REAL* modem, and not a Winmodem, > you're paying for a signal processor which off-oad processing work from > the main CPU!! > > So when you couple these two factors: This dumb-ass "Centrino" crap with > the automatic reduction in total CPU processor power when powered from > battery, and you're looking at a potentially **CRIPPLED AND HOBBLED* > laptop when you're on battery power. > > The real lesson here is to do thorough research before making purchases, > and more importantly, to NOT trust stuoopid marketting hype and silly > brand monikers to protect you, your investment, and the time you're going > to spend using your equipment. Well I did do some research - I was well aware of the power management facilities which are used to provide longer battery life and can live with plugging the thing in when necessary. My understanding of Centrino moniker was that it was just marketing label covering a bundle of technologies which include the low power processor and the 802.11b miniPCI card. In fact from what I can tell you can replace the miniPCI card on my laptop with an 802.11g card (although technically this will no longer be a Centrino). I didn't buy it because it was a "Centrino" but because it had the features I wanted. I agree that over-integrating disparate components can be a dumb design decision - usually more in the manufacturers interest than in the consumers. My pet hate has been those PC motherboards with integrated Video chips. These always seem to be underpowered, have driver issues and just complicate things when you need to replace them with something that can do the job. Having said that when you buy a laptop you have to realize that manufactures will make some compromises on this sort of thing in order to fit everything into a small integrated package and achieve reasonable balance between things like power consumption and performance. |
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