I don't believe the power consumption is measurably different regardless of
the amount of memory you are "using". The fact is you are always using all
of the memory. It is mapped into the address space and ram has power on
it always(unless the batteries are dead). With static ram, the power draw
is the same if you are holding a charge or not holding a charge on a
particular memory cell. The power consumption is per device (chip). In any
event, the power consumption of both static and dynamic ram is an order of
magnitude smaller than the display and other high power output peripheals
(COM, IR, BACKLIGHT). We are talking micro watts (or smaller maybe nano or
pico watts) here. Maybe on dynamic ram you are talking a little more
because of the refresh on the memory cells (the charge on dynamic ram memory
cells 'leaks' much faster than static ram, so it has to be refreshed
periodically--i.e., read and rewritten to restore the charge to the memory
cell). Thats why the Palm last so long when it is "off". Thats a
perception not a reality. The palm is never off unless it is completely out
of power. In the user "off" state, the processor is switched off, the
peripherals are switched off, and power is only applied to the ram circutry.
That is why it can almost last indefinetly if it was off all the time. The
biggest difference between devices like the PocketPC and Palm is the current
draw of the display screen and other peripheals. If the PocketPC was
designed with a Palm Screen, it would probably last just as long as a Palm
relative to batter life.
My HP48 last longer than my Palm, but not by much. These devices (PDA's and
small embedded systems)can be designed to last months off of two triple a's.
You just can't do that and have the pretty color LCD screens and MP3 music
player too.
Sorry for the ramble.
Marty.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Mott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Palm Developer Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 5:30 AM
Subject: Brain is Full
> As Palm memory fills up does the device consume morepower? If I use
MathLib
> which is 50K rather than TinyTrig which is 7K will the Palm device use
more
> electricity? If when you switch memory on it is initialised to 0 then
there
> is no point it keeping it switched on if its only holding 0.
>
> Peter
>
>
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