Karen,
A couple of answers to your issues. It seems that you are experiencing a problem with overheating. I ran into this problem with my previous laptop which would get hot under heavy video load and freeze. After searching the net I found that the ventilation ducts can get pretty clogged over time and render the cooling system ineffective, I opened the laptop, cleaned all the ducts and cooling fans and the performance increased dramatically. The source of heat on laptops is mostly the processor(s) working hard. The harder they work, the hotter they get; many laptops are designed to slow down the processor when it gets hot. I believe there is freeware that will display the processor temperature and fan speed as the sensors are already built-in. This would be a good start to check if your processor is overheating and the fan(s) working to specs. Since I replace computers every 3-5 years, I tend to buy the best computer (within limits) I can afford, so the technology will not be obsolete by the time I get home. I currently have Dell XPS with core 7 processor and 6 GB of memory and I could not be happier. I chose the 15 inch screen since the majority of the time I use an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. I am running Windows 7 Pro -64 bit. The Windows version is not critical as you can easily upgrade to the Pro version; it seems like the best deals include the Home Premium version. You can also look at the time saving using a better laptop that does not require you to open and close form. If it saves you 10-12 minutes per day (realistic) that is almost one hour per week or close to 50 hours per year. You can see where the initial cost becomes less important. Javier, Javier Valencia, PE O: 913-829-0888 H: 913-397-9605 C: 913-915-3137 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 9:38 AM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Laptops and RBase forms I really need to think of retiring my Toshiba Tecra and get a new laptop this year. Need to move up to Windows 7 just as they're ready to push out Windows 8 (I'm always a few steps behind...) I'm not asking for recommendations, although part of me wonders if the $399 deals at Best Buy are good enough for me, but for a specific feature. On this laptop, when I have a big RBase windows (7.6 or 9.1) form open in the designer, after a while the CPU usage doubles, the fan starts whirling, and it sounds like my laptop is going to fly off the desk. If I have 2 forms open, then I expect an explosion. I've learned to live with closing and opening forms repeatedly to give my computer a rest, but it sure would be nice not to have my computer freak out. Not sure if this happens just to me... What particular component of hardware would affect this, so I can make sure I get a better grade of whatever to allow me to have several forms open in RBase? Is it the amount of memory, the CPU speed, something graphics?? Karen
