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>Welcome to the ThinkPad 750 mailing list! Thanks! >Please introduce yourself! Tell us what kind of machine you have, >how it's configured (how much memory/disk, what accessories, etc.), >and what operating system(s) you are using. Okay--My name is Randy Whittle, I am 25 years of age, married to a wonderful woman for almost 3 years, and I am a business student at the University of Southern California. My computer(s): My desktop is a Gateway 2000 machine which I have always been happy with (at least over the past year or so that I've owned it). My two main things I do with it are (A) desktop publishing projects that make a few bucks for me on the side and (B) Writing papers, etc. for school. I have and use a literal *myriad* of software packages, but the main ones I deal with are PageMaker, Ami Pro, and Excel. My Notebook: A bit shy of two years ago, I was under some pressure to meet a deadline on a software self-help book I was under contract to write. The problem was that I wasn't in front of my computer enough to get much done, so I went out and got a notebook machine. I had to get it within a 24-hour period, so I was a bit pressured to do so. At the time, my only real criteria was a 386SL processor and a built-in pointing device. I ended up with a Sharp PC-6781 that was a 20 MHz 386SL, 80 MB HD, and the battery only lasted 1 1/2 hours. It was a decent machine, but I was disappointed--but at least I didn't have to clip on some stupid trackball! I had difficulty configuring it though, and there was no such thing as Sharp tech support when I needed help with the quirks, so... I also decided that 80MB just wasn't enough drive space, but what else can you do with it? Impossible to swap out... I was also disappointed that the battery life wouldn't allow me to do much with it at school, where I might well have taken some notes with it or brought it along for some other work. I discovered from my prior notebook experience that while cheap clones like my Gateway were perfectly fine for the desktop, you can't afford to skimp on a notebook--if anything goes wrong and you have some machine made by a fly-by-night--you're screwed. Even with a relatively sizable company like Sharp, I had nowhere to turn when certain software wouldn't run. This meant that I should make my next notebook purchase with one of the big guys of Notebook computing--Toshiba probably--but at least one of the big guys. Then I saw the latest ThinkPads in PC/Computing. Initially, I just wanted more battery life and faster speed, so I looked at the ThinkPad 350 (Mono), but over time, decided to go up from there (ALL the way up, it turned out). I was impressed with the TrackPoint II more than I can say--I consider it a disgustingly simple solution to a really vexing problem and when I tried it in a store on some cheap PS/Note last summer, I thought it was great. Initially I ordered a TP 750Cs with 170 MB. I won't go into the details, but IBM *really* screwed up my order many times over--in fact, I seriously considered alternate methods or machines, but loved that 750 series too much, so I stuck with them. I had the 750Cs for a while, but after a number of hours of working with it, I just decided that the screen was a little too fuzzy and suffered from lack of contrast for my tastes. I bit the bullet and asked for an active matrix, and while I was at it--went to the bigger hard drive. I have now had a 750C with 340 MB drive for a few days and I really love it (my wallet doesn't, but I do!). I got a third-party card from Simple Technologies to pump up the memory to a total of 12 MB too, but that's the only addition I've put together with it. No other peripherals or cards involved. My brother is heavily involved with IBM's OS/2 marketing effort, but OS/2 and I have never gotten along very well, so I'm a DOS/Windows user. My only beef? I'm *VERY* disappointed in the battery life. I haven't yet run too many trials witht he C as I've had it for only a few days, but on the Cs, which IBM claims to get a minimum of 3.5 hours to as high as 8, I didn't even get close. Don't get me wrong--I don't expect 8 hours (I *know* that's a farce), but I very much *DO* expect 3.5 (or in the case of the C, 3.4) hours--on the "high" performance setting. Anything more than that would be icing on the cake or the result of running on "low" or whatever, but I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the *minimum* battery claim. I only get about 2 1/2 hours, and that makes me angry because I'm only getting 70% of the battery time I intended to buy. Anyone else have battery time experiences to share? PC/Computing got 3:43 out of a 750C, so I know it must be possible. Am I stuck with faulty batteries or what? IBM sent me another battery, but its the same story and one tech support person confessed to me that they have a *lot* of people with the same complaint! Thoughts? I'd really like to resolve this--I want 3.4 hours! Thanks... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Randy Whittle whittle@scf.usc.edu University of Southern California (Dodging QUAKES in L.A.!!) Chocolate junkie, Motorcycle nut, HP 48 user, and of course...Computer geek "It's not denial, I'm just very selective about the reality I accept." -Calvin