From: langhaarrocker <phil_at_x-phobie.de>
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 15:28:18 +0100

On Fri, 13 Dec 2002 10:11:13 +1000, George Michaelson <ggm_at_apnic.net>
wrote:

>My reading of this is that 4x memory for buffering had 20% effect on battery
>life, because the spinup cost is high in current drain terms, so the effect of
>better buffering is marginal across the costs of reading data anyway.

Think of it differently: the more data it can buffer the less often
the disc has to be turned on. So with a big buffer you have fewer
spinups within the same time. And the number of spinups is what really
drains the batteries.

Phil
Received on 2002-12-13