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This is really a poor software solution to an old hardware solution that disappeared for the sake of thinness: removable batteries. In the past with easily remo
by Frost1x 5y ago
This is really a poor software solution to an old hardware solution that disappeared for the sake of thinness: removable batteries. In the past with easily removable battery packs you could simply pop them out once they're fully charged and pop them in when you wanted to make sure they were charged up. When manufacturers started touting long life cycle batteries to justify internalizing them and making them difficult to replace and impossible to quickly pop out, software manufacturers added this in to attempt or extend battery life.
Before, I simply removed my battery when plugged in all day and significantly extended my battery life. If I needed it, it was mostly charged. It would of course dissipate over time so if I had any plans of using my laptop in an actual mobile fashion or wanted to move my laptop from one long term power source to the next, I'd pop it in, make the move and pop it back out. I of course lost the UPS feature having a laptop with a battery pack also served but I could assess when I thought my power source was/wasn't stable and pop the battery in under those conditions (not very often).
Most people I know use laptops as portable workstations. If you frequently operate in situations where you desire battery alone then the OS charge management works quite well. I don't and most people I know don't. In today's world, mos the use cases I operate under those conditions are better served by my smartphone.
- sgc 5y agoThey should just install a physical off switch for the battery, along with physical switches for the camera and networking.
- shawnz 5y agoWhat's wrong with the current solution of having a software switch, aside from lack of use/knowledge about it? What's the advantage to making it physical?
- krapp 5y agoSoftware switches can be controlled remotely without your knowledge. A physical switch requires physical access to the device.
- shawnz 5y agoI am just talking about the battery. I don't see any privacy issue there.
- 8note 5y agoThe people writing the software have a vested interest in your battery wearing out so you have to buy a new laptop
- krapp 5y agoMaybe the concern there is devices appearing to be turned off but really still running in low power mode? The only way to be sure is to physically interrupt the power supply.
- sgc 5y agoSometimes you really need to make sure there is no power flowing through your device, which you can't be sure of using software when you are trying to fix software problems. Of course I should have said recording devices and networking, rather than just cameras. Also, true power off guarantees nobody is remotely activating eavesdropping on your device.
- nikau 5y agoLenovo have a battery disconnect bios option specifically for doing service work.
- godDLL 5y agoOr externalize the camera and networking modules, so that one can pop them in and out like a battery. Yes.
- trashcat 5y agoThis is why I still use my Thinkpad W520. If I don't need the battery I just take it out until I need it. I hate that we got rid of removable batteries in basically all devices.