Reading Hardware

Alright, I'm not gonna say that I'm miss tech chick of the year or anything. Which is precisely why I'm writing this post. I just got a new laptop and everything about it is great. Aside from the fact that my buddy DJ has nicknamed it the "Toshitba". This nickname came about because I told here that there's this little switch on the side that turns the wireless card on and off.

Why the fuck does it have a switch to do that?

I really want to know what the purpose of this is. I've seen a lot of laptops that don't have an on and off switch for internet accessability and they all seem to work just fine. Anyone of my tech-friends care to offer an explanation of this phenomina?

--Jami

You fail it.

Because diasbling the connection in the Network Connections applet in Control Panel doesn't turn the actual transceiver off.

These switches are soley for the purpose of saving battery. That makes them A Good Thing (TM)

They will never forget you 'til somebody new comes along... - The Eagles, "New Kid in Town"

I'll give you an example which may or may not be true in this instance but seems pretty substantial. I have a Sony PSP and it also has this switch to turn off the wireless transceiver. This is purely a guess that seems plausible and that would be so that you can conserve power in situations where there is absolutely no need for wireless (ie. on an airplane). Also in reference to an airplane having the ability to turn off the wireless is for safety reasons, just like you turn your cell phone off when on an airplane, to eliminate the possibility that your device may interfere with the sensitive electronics on the aircraft.

Thanks. To both of you. This is the last thing I would have thought of, especially on an airplane as I'm more prone to whipping out a book than a laptop while in flight. However, I do feel kind of stupid for not thinking about battery conservation.

You fail it.

Stupid, or not, your question was technical. Technical individuals answered your question.

That's why you asked. the fact you couldn't come up with it on your own doesn't make you stupid.

You turning it on, midflight and crashing the plane; well, that would be stupid.

I'll bet that just took 5 years off my life--but GODDAMM if it wasn't worth every second

Yes, that it would be.

You fail it.

These are excellent answers and an excellent point of view. I like the question, too. I did not know that and now I do and even though this post is from last year, the knowledge is still relevant.

自作自受