[jeffB]

3 (dumb?) questions again.

1) What is the best way to backup my HD?
buy an external usb/firewire hd and move everything over?
i used to burn everything to cd's but it would take around 50 right now.
idealy if anything went horrifically wrong, id just like to plug "it" into the freshly formatted pb, or even restore it from said "it".

2) I need something to cool my powerbook at work.
I don't like the amount of heat that 2 GB of ram and 11+ hour days make. (Then I bring it home and use it too.)
I saw on engadget a while ago that there was a tray with fans and heatsinks in it that was made for the pb, but I havent been able to find it yet.

3) is there a standard benchmarking tool for mac osx, I want to see how much of a difference going from 512 to 2GB o' Ram makes.

I tried seach for the first 2 and couldn't find what i was looking for in the first 50esque threads.
Thanks.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally posted by jeffB:
3 (dumb?) questions again.

1) What is the best way to backup my HD?
buy an external usb/firewire hd and move everything over?
i used to burn everything to cd's but it would take around 50 right now.
idealy if anything went horrifically wrong, id just like to plug "it" into the freshly formatted pb, or even restore it from said "it".

2) I need something to cool my powerbook at work.
I don't like the amount of heat that 2 GB of ram and 11+ hour days make. (Then I bring it home and use it too.)
I saw on engadget a while ago that there was a tray with fans and heatsinks in it that was made for the pb, but I havent been able to find it yet.

3) is there a standard benchmarking tool for mac osx, I want to see how much of a difference going from 512 to 2GB o' Ram makes.

I tried seach for the first 2 and couldn't find what i was looking for in the first 50esque threads.
Thanks.

1. There are two options that, IMO, are the best. Both involve using an external hard drive. Basically, you can choose to either back up a bootable copy of your entire hard drive or back up specific volumes that you think are essential. Backing up a bootable image has the advantage of allowing you to stilll boot up your computer if your internal hard drive fails, letting you perhaps perform diagnostics or attempt to recover data that hadn't been backed up yet. Backing up specific volumes might be less of a hassle and will certainly save disk space on the external drive.

2. All you really need is something to lift the powerbook off of the desk so it can dissipate more heat from its belly. There are a few different stands available, but I'm not sure if any are better than others. Buying a stand with built-in fans is overkill, IMHO. If you're really worried about getting more airflow around the powerbook, I'd just put a regular ol' box fan or something in the room, point it toward your desk, and keep it on the lowest setting.

3. Benchmarks can vary wildly depending on what exactly the benchmark in question is measuring. I'm not sure what would be an ideal test of the effects of additional RAM, but whatever it is, it is probably a fairly poor approximation of actual day-to-day usage. If it feels faster for what you're doing after the upgrade, and you don't mind having spent the money, then it's probably worth it.

[jeffB]

thank you much o' monkey from space

[wilsonng]

I bought the Rain Design iLap. It' made from anodized aluminum and can be used on your lap or on your desk.

http://www.raindesigninc.com/ilap.html

The PB rests on top of the iLap. The iLap conducts heat from the bottom and acts as a heat sink. It never gets hot on my lap.

However, it is a little bulky to put into your laptop bag. When I'm on the road, I just carry a RoadTools Traveller's CoolPad. Much more portable.

As SpaceMonkey stated, all you really need is to elevate the PB off the flat surface in order to get air to go under the bottom surface of the PB.

If I don't have my iLap, I usually put the back of the PB on the edge of a book. Sometimes I just point a desk fan in the direction of the PB to provide air circulation under the PB while it rests on the edge of a book. Probably overkill but it doesn't hurt.


Targus recently released a laptop fan:

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=PA248U

The infamous MacMice also has the iBreeze:

http://www.atpm.com/10.04/ibreeze.shtml


However, laptop stands with fans can drain the battery power through the USB ports and is designed only for desk use and not lap use.

Originally posted by jeffB:
3 (dumb?) questions again.

2) I need something to cool my powerbook at work.
I don't like the amount of heat that 2 GB of ram and 11+ hour days make. (Then I bring it home and use it too.)
I saw on engadget a while ago that there was a tray with fans and heatsinks in it that was made for the pb, but I havent been able to find it yet.

Thanks.