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wrote:

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That's interesting! Are we sure the 3G/LTE is specific to a given provider? I live in France and 4G is coming (mostly testing now, but it should become real in 2014, with small coverage though) and I was planning to purchase the top model with 4G and GPS as soon as it becomes available, but if the WWAN module offered by Lenovo is not compatible, I'm gonna save some money.

 

And if the WWAN module can be mounted after purchase, I guess it will void the warranty? If so, if I open the tablet to mount a WWAN module to it, let's change the SSD to a 512 GB one. I had asked the question on http://forum.tabletpcpreview.com, but I see here that someone asked it recently. The SSD into the tablet is like that, anyone knows if it can be changed easily and if a 512 GB would be supported by the motherboard/BIOS?

 

I'm looking forward to getting any news on global availability of this beast. I could live with a Qwerty one but it would definitely better with the Azerty layout for me, and importing it from the US isn't really a good idea considering fees/customs/warranty issues. :(

 

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I do not think it will void the warranty. it is just a matter o installing a card into system.

see how-to videos from Lenevo support . you can find video for WWAN as well as SSD replacement.

http://service.lenovo.partner-management.com/content/CourseWarePublic/18124/player.html

secondly, i'm not 100% sure if that built-in WWAN modem is restricted to AT&T. but they have mentioned that in the sepcs, so i thought it is better not to take chance especially when you can install modem yourself.

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wrote:

Ah, yeah.  In that case, yeah, it's not just you.  Similar experience on my 3698-4RU. :)  In fact I just took the machine out of sleep when I saw this post and the fans are running with the high-pitched noise and nothing running except IE and standard Windows services (haven't checked temp). But yeah, as mentioned, it's fairly quiet.  [update: the fans did turn off this time after ~5mins -- they automatically come back on when you close & re-open the lid]

  

Regarding the battery life question, hopefully some other early adopters can weigh in but I'm looking at 7h 38m remaining in laptop mode right now on a ~93% charge on the dock battery (tablet 99%).  This is with 1/3rd or so brightness.  Real world time will tell for how it all shakes out.  I've drained the battery only once thus far and other users here seem to indicate that it improves with use.  I'm guessing that I could squeeze 9+ish out of it right now with judicious use of resources, a bit lower brightness, and perhaps airplane mode.

 

I also feel I should point out for any other picky users like me that there's some mild backlight bleed on the bottom of the screen. However, you can see this only on boot-up so far -- I can't even replicate it on a black background in Windows.  It's no worse than the bleed I had on my last iPad Mini.  Nothing like what you see on the Zenbooks.

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For better control of fan speed, did you try the free software tpFanControl?

Not yet, since it hasn't bothered me enough to investigate solutions yet.  But for the sake of others' interest, I'll try to get to it this weekend.  For the record, fan control didn't work on the Yoga -- but this could be a different situation.

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wrote:

I do not think it will void the warranty. it is just a matter o installing a card into system.

see how-to videos from Lenevo support . you can find video for WWAN as well as SSD replacement.

http://service.lenovo.partner-management.com/content/CourseWarePublic/18124/player.html

secondly, i'm not 100% sure if that built-in WWAN modem is restricted to AT&T. but they have mentioned that in the sepcs, so i thought it is better not to take chance especially when you can install modem yourself.

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Opening the tablet won't void the warranty? Usually screws are glued/painted to ensure that only official techs have opened the device. Not with Lenovo? The picture of the SSD I linked previously comes from these how-to videos actually, but aren't there only aimed at authorized technicians?

Thanks FreeCandy for the video! I did hear the high pitched noise indeed, though it seems quite low compared to they keyboard (even if I can understand it can become annoying after some time). It's good though that it is low and wouldn't be noticed by every people in a train or a meeting, for instance. Was the sound recorded by the Helix itself (which should have amplified the keystrokes) or a separate recorder?

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wrote:

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wrote:

Ah, yeah.  In that case, yeah, it's not just you.  Similar experience on my 3698-4RU. :)  In fact I just took the machine out of sleep when I saw this post and the fans are running with the high-pitched noise and nothing running except IE and standard Windows services (haven't checked temp). But yeah, as mentioned, it's fairly quiet.  [update: the fans did turn off this time after ~5mins -- they automatically come back on when you close & re-open the lid]

  

Regarding the battery life question, hopefully some other early adopters can weigh in but I'm looking at 7h 38m remaining in laptop mode right now on a ~93% charge on the dock battery (tablet 99%).  This is with 1/3rd or so brightness.  Real world time will tell for how it all shakes out.  I've drained the battery only once thus far and other users here seem to indicate that it improves with use.  I'm guessing that I could squeeze 9+ish out of it right now with judicious use of resources, a bit lower brightness, and perhaps airplane mode.

 

I also feel I should point out for any other picky users like me that there's some mild backlight bleed on the bottom of the screen. However, you can see this only on boot-up so far -- I can't even replicate it on a black background in Windows.  It's no worse than the bleed I had on my last iPad Mini.  Nothing like what you see on the Zenbooks.

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For better control of fan speed, did you try the free software tpFanControl?

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Just downloaded and tried TPFC v0.62 and ran it normally and it shot the fan down at idle...awesome!    To make sure it would still cool the system under stress, I ran the IntelBurnTest in laptop mode with power and the fan slowly kicked in around 65C.    At max, it got to 82C and the fans where really kicking in, more than they did without tpFanControl installed.    It kept it stable there.   Interestingly, the CPU throttled less with TPFC.  Idle temp was around 50C or so, a few degrees warmer than before, bot no fan and well within reasonable temps.

Unplugging it in laptop mode throttled the CPU as I expected and the fan quieted.    In both cases, stopping intelburntest stopped the fan from running within 20-30 seconds after it cooled down.   

In tablet mode at idle, the fan completely stops and the temp stays around 45-50C.  Running the burn test the fans kicked in after a while but it kept below 70C and not super hot in the back (but plenty warm).

All in all, I'm loving the difference.   I may tweak the levels where the fan kicks in a bit downward 5 degrees or so, bot overall I'm now completely pleased with this machine...just about perfect!

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ibmthink wrote:

I have a question about the new TrouchPad: I know it is possible to turn off the touchpad in the BIOS. If you do that, will the integrated TrackPoint buttons still work? And could someone post a screenshot of the UltraNav options of the Helix (the options in the driver)?

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Hi, anyone can answer this question? I'm curious too.

I agree. That's a great question!

Wow, really glad to hear TPFC works.  I'll have to install it indeed.  The fan is admittedly starting to get to me but it sounds like the solution is simple.

By the way, lurkers out there, I thought I should clarify the screen door effect that I see on my screen since I know these posts live on forever in Google.  It may not be accurate to label it a screen door effect; rather, it looks more like a tiny honeycomb on white backgrounds. Looks almost like a thin film. A bit hard to see, grayscale, but it's certainly there and not there on my wife's MacBook Air. 

That said, it really isn't a problem.  Just thought I'd clarify that since I know there are many people reading this who are likely concerned about that kind of thing.  If I were a lurker here on this issue, I'd wait for other anecdotes before getting concerned -- most people seem to not have my experience with the screen so far or just can't see it (apart from me and my wife).