Hmmm are you sending a legit song? Just joking hehehe... I don't think it hanged. Its just not responding because its attempting to upload the file onto the email server. And we know our upload links are slow, so its waiting for it to finish. Give it some minutes? But I agree... this shouldn't happen. I'm using Entourage and I don't see such a problem.

I think there's an offset how the two OS revisions reports temperature. So far, I only hear of people upgrading to SL reports higher CPU temperatures. Yours seem to be the opposite. Also I remember closing the LCD lid would cause a higher temperature than leaving it open.

Like the rest who have said it, a typical discharge & charge cycle can be accounted from the point it is fully charged at 100% and depleted at 0% (theoretical) and recharged at 100%. Thats what we call a typical full cycle. However, it is not always as clear cut. Consider this scenario where you have a fully charged battery at 100%. You use 20% of it (remaining 80%) and then decided to charge it to full again back to 100%. That is also considered as one cycle. So you kinda waste a potential of 80% of charge for that particular cycle. It is important to note that this is not the same as 'memory effect' of older battery technologies. 'Memory effect' prevents the full effective use of the potential charge in a battery.

Some battery manufacturers have mechanisms in place to make sure a battery cell is used in a 'balanced' way. Sony uses a battery care program to limit battery cells to only charge to 80% or lower. That is to prevent it from hitting 100% in case you didn't fully deplete the charges for that cycle. Now I do not know why not hitting 100% is important but I remember back in university days where a very good indicator of a fully charged Li-ion battery is when its temperature suddenly shoots exponentially. Most charging circuitry has these fail-safe mechanism to detect voltage and temperature of the cells. Maybe that has something to do with it.

So for regular and typical usage, if you have started using the battery keep using it until it is fully depleted. And when you charge it, keep charging it until full. And continue to keep it plugged in for as long as possible especially if you don't move from one place or another. If you're mobile, do your best to find a power point. If you have to use the battery, then remember to use it until it is fully depleted. Rinse repeat and you're good to go.

By the way, it is perfectly alright to keep the battery plugged all the time. It will not harm it because battery charge circuitry is smart enough to isolate the battery and power your laptop directly from main power. However, HEAT will reduce the longevity of a battery.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Oct 25 2009, 02:27 AM

Oh ya, I fail to mention that the counting of charge cycles is really tricky business. For one, there's no proper standard to address these 'metrics' so one manufacturer accounts cycles differently from the other. Some move into more conventional methods as long as 100% potential charge has been discharged while others are more aggressive. The truth is a battery usually outlives the manufacturer's claims provided they are well maintained and always used. Remember heat? Heat is a very bad component for Li-Ion. Cause heat changes their structure.

Yes, Li-Ion does not have memory effect. I remember myself specifically mentioning that its not memory effect. As mentioned before, there are areas that aren't clearly defined in how cycles are accounted for. You're right, Li-Ion likes to be charged and discharged many times. Which is why it is perfect for today's electronics and usage lifestyles. Sometimes I wonder why Sony implements charging programs like they did for their VAIOs. There must be a reason.

And of course temperature is not the only parameter charging circuitry look for. They do have dB cutoffs, voltages, and negative dB inputs. What I was saying is that fundamentally, when a Li-Ion cell approaches a fully charged state, its temperature would shoot exponentially. That is the critical nature of Li-Ion, one that is dangerous and bad for its longevity. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. Writing in the middle of the night does seem to be blurry hehehe...

This post has been edited by davidmak: Oct 25 2009, 04:26 PM

Yup, Sony has very different thinking approach with their batteries (since their battery fiasco ). Its called the Battery Care program. Its meant to prevent short cycles like using 10-20% of 100% and then charge it back to full. Its a combination of hardware and software implementation. With Battery Care, the default limit of 80% is set so that it can never be charged to full thereby preventing short cycles. It can even go on more aggressive levels like 50% or any percent the user set. The downside is that you reduce the capacity potential of your battery in exchange for better longevity and service life. Besides, it also implements very different charging strategies.

Its something I don't entirely understand but I do know at the point where a battery reaches 100% charge, the temperature would go up very high. Maybe that is not healthy like you said.

Yeah, Sony VAIOs are still good. I love the VAIO X and I checked it out the other day. Really thin and vulnerable . I noticed the CW-series are also out and the specs were really competitive. FWs aren't that bad also. I also noticed VAIO is the only computer line going all out for 64 bit Windows now.

And you're right, avoid Acer. I don't know about ASUS though.

NTFS-3G also not bad. I can now read/write into NTFS partitions. But writing onto NTFS partition is a little slow to my liking. Does Paragon have this problem?

Yes, you definitely can swap the HDD on your own. Use the videos provided by our friends here and make sure you have 2 screw drivers ready. 1 for the Philips (+) and 1 Torx T6 for the 4 HDD mounting screws. Without the T6 it'll be almost impossible to remove them and transfer to the new HDD. If you don't have the T6 driver, you can get it from Viewnet for RM25 (31-piece all types).

As for HDD, if you want the largest capacity then you're limited to 5400RPM drives. Most 7200RPM are either stuck at 320GB or pretty expensive that you have to settle for 250GB. In my opinion, save yourself some headache and get the WD Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400RPM 8MB HDD. This is the best available in the market and the price is really low. I have this stucked in my MBP and its really really fast. Its quiet and its cool.

One of the reasons not to get the 7200RPM is that its heaty and causes a lot of vibration. All this for a very very small increase in performance. Really... reviews have proven it. You should do some reading. Another reason is that most 7200RPM drives are only capped at 320GB. Compared to a 500GB HDD, platter for platter... the 500GB would have a higher density. A higher density platter (as with most higher capacity drives) will yield faster sequential reads and writes since each 'bits' are closer to each other. Of course a 7200RPM drive would have better random reads and write since the platter itself spins faster. But this is very debatable in the mobile platform.

In the desktop scene, no doubt.. the 7200RPM drives trumps 5400RPM anytime. But in the mobile scene, 5400RPM has been the de facto standard along with the 8MB cache. And since I do not trust Seagate HDDs anymore, so WD is really the only reliable brand I can recommend. Fujitsus too if you like OEMs.

Yes, these 2 HDD options are recommended. As long as it is cool, quiet and don't generate much vibrations I'm good with it. I heard Samsung satisfy those requirements too but ain't that fast compared to the Scorpios.

Shouldn't sufficient as long as you don't run many applications in the background. Just save some bucks from your lunches and get a 2GB module (RM140) and upgrade it as you go along. No need to rush into an upgrade now.

I'm using Entourage and don't see this problem. Don't think it is the Live servers issues.

On Parallels or virtualization modes, I would recommend 4GB of RAM. Running via BootCamp, 2GB is alright. Windows XP and Windows 7 are easier on the resources. But still 2GB will run unless you're dealing with a lot of programs both from Mac and Windows.

Get it from Cycom, 2nd Floor Lowyat Plaza. They have Corsairs 2GB DDR3 modules selling for RM140.

Although now all are unibody construction but there's the aluminum material and one that is polycarbonate plastic. By the way, I kinda like the Incipio Feather for Macbook Pro better than the Speck. Both also see through. Still I'm not comfortable with the idea of wrapping something over the heat-dissipating feature of the unibody.

Still looking for a sleeve case. Nothing fancy available in KL. Machines and others don't seem to carry 13" models. Mostly 15.4 and 17". I found something decent but the design is very very classic and dull. Doesn't really match the 'MBP lifestyle' hehehehe...

If you're talking about MBP aluminum unibody, then you can get either the Incipio Feather for Macbook (or Speck SeeThrough Satin) or a nice sleeve.

Thermal performance should around the same as the Aluminum unibodies. You just lose the surface heat dissipation capability.

It happened to me before after extended duration of use. At one time it just loses connection and wouldn't auto-detect. I had to disable AirPort and enable it again for it to work again. Not sure if my router is the cause of the problem. But then the problem didn't come back so I didn't pursue.

Its normal. In fact CS4 uses your GPU for acceleration on some special purpose task, so I'm not surprise the overall temperature increases and cause the fan to spin faster.

I'm not sure but all I know is that different models will have their fans react differently to thermal generation. You shouldn't be concern. I'm sure its perfectly normal and it doesn't shorten the lifespan of the fan because it spins faster. It is suppose to spin faster to increase ventilation and rate of dissipation.

I think it is nice. I prefer the Satin one as its not easy to scratch. Another similar one would be Incipio Feather.

You mean the new unibody plastic whites? Nope, I don't think so. But they will release one in due time. If you want a really clear one, then Speck SeeThrough is for you. The Satin and Incipio Feather is only translucent and matte finish.

If wanna do defragmentation then can try out iDefrag. But it is not freeware, the shareware can only defrag a few hundred MB. If you don't wanna buy it, there are countless other utilities. To do a full defrag on the main partition (where the OS resides) you need to defrag it offline. Either through a bootCD or via a cloned partition of the main partition.

What I did was to use Carbon Copy Cleaner to clone my main partition to an external drive. Then set SL to boot from that external drive. Once booted up, start the application and perform a full defrag. Shaved a few more seconds from my boot time (average). By the way, we don't need to perform defragmentation regularly because the HFS+ (mac os file system) has built-in defragmentation prevention by keeping files together. However it doesn't optimize free space. So when your drive is almost full, you may have degraded performance or when your free space is too fragmented.

Definitely a good deal depending on the model you're interested in. I feel the polycarbonate unibody is pretty value for money. But you'll need a case for it. However, if you're in the mood for something solid and metallic, then aluminum unibody is hard to resist. If you want something nice on the wallet, take the RM4499 model and upgrade the RAM and HDD yourself. Of course if you're not sure what you're doing, then get the higher end model.

I don't think that is a problem provided you keep the temperature in check. Downloading via bt shouldn't stress the system too much so it should be ok.

Thats absolutely what I did for my purchase. Took the entry level model and then 'spec out' the rest of it. Save me some money too. All you need is a set of special screw drivers, some knowledge of PC hardware and you're good to go.