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Got my ChemBook 2056!

post #1 of 245
4/13/04 at 10:44pm
Thread Starter 
Ordering process:
Ordered on the 9th, received on the 13th and that's with ground shipping
I had a few concerns when I was placing the order and seller got back to me very quickly.
Since I've discovered a few problems with my laptop, the reseller agreed to pay shipping and have notebook exchanged for another one, he also assured that the new unit will be tested before shipped out. Shipped back to ChemUSA on 4/19/04.

The company (the name I cannot mention on these forums and it looks like only 1 person works there) I ordered from has been great so far. When I get my replacement notebook I will let you know how it goes.


Specs:


15" SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) Active Matrix Display
1.6 GHz Intel Pentium M (Centrino) Processor (400 MHz FSB / 1,024k L2 Cache)
128 MB Dedicated Video Ram, Ati Radeon 9700 Pro
60 GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM) [$120.00]
512 MB (PC2700) DDR SDRAM -1 DIMM [$10.00]
8X DVD / 24 x 10 x 24 CD-RW Combo Drive w/ Softwares
Internal IntelPRO Wireless Ethernet/Lan (802.11 b+g)
Smart Lithium Ion Battery (4.0+ hours battery life)
Free Deluxe Carry Case


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Problems discovered on my laptop:
- LCD backlight visible, on the right hand side (Picture of the problem )
- touch pad left button is too soft
- Hard Drive (Hitachi 7200) makes too much noises when idles
- My burned DVD backup CD will not play, drive makes weird noises

Something you will have to live with:
- Speaker sound is so-so, so don't expect much from them
- When playing games it gets very hot, but it's expected
- Bad design to have fan blowing from the right hand side. Your hand gets hot when you use external mouse


Good points:
- Thin & Light portable gaming rig. Able to play Far Cry smoothly at 1280x1024 w/ med settings on
- Very little noise, even when the fan kicks in when gaming. DVD drive is noisey but it's expected
- Excellent build quality
- Looks a lot better in person then from the pictures I've seen
- Benchmark 3dMark2k4 at stock speed is 2750
- Keyboard feels nice, but I don't have another laptop to compare it to. I am used to typing on a natural keyboard, but I don't have any problems typing on this one either.
- No dead pixels and screen is decent

Battery life:
- Battery life when gaming and everything on max (estimate at 2 hours; tested UT2k4, played for 30 mins and battery life dropped to 75% )
- Battery life after heavy browsing internet, downloading (estimate at about 4-5 hours)


Final thoughts (will be updated)
Keeping it unless the replacement unit I get is worse then what I have now


Anything else?
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post #2 of 245
4/13/04 at 10:50pm
Awesome, looking forward to hearing about this as I am on the bubble about getting one of these. Where did you get it?
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post #3 of 245
4/13/04 at 11:32pm
Thread Starter 
tAnyone know where can I get the latest drivers?

Also having problem with wireless network.

The light doesn't go on when i swith it on/off and it's saying that it's off in Intel Wireless software...
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post #4 of 245
4/13/04 at 11:40pm
Of course post some benchies. Are the sound/speakers any good? Build quality? LCD brightness and viewing angle? Of course anything pertinent you can think of! Thanks.
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post #5 of 245
4/13/04 at 11:53pm
Thread Starter 
Can anyone help me or I am screwed? the wireless button doesn't seem to turn on. Is there anything else can be done?
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post #6 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:06am
Seems someone else had the same problem and found a fix for it:

"Alright, follow the issues ive had about the wireless switch, I have gone up till 3 am this morning central time, and fixing the issues on my own hands in order to avoid the rma and shipping cost..

well, just for the heads up , if you are ordering this chembook model or powernotebook 5:6 beaware that if you have intel pro wireless option when the guys putting the upgrades on the original barebone of the system are heedlessly ignored the switch to be attached to the notch of the intel pro card it self...

well I'd figured it out when there was no lights indicating as well that obviously the switch was loose...

mind you, that it was extremely pain in the ass to unscrew every little tiny screws undeneath the chasis...

Then, the part you have to break it open the 2 chasis sealed withone
another I literally have use my fist to extend out the chasis big enoguh for my other hand to reach in and re-attach the switch back to notch of wireless card...it was ridiculously painful took some cuts off my fingers and nails..

well with everything is said and done, the switch is in working order now so on the wireless..

I guessed it did too taught me some lesson inside on the structure of this notebook ....and saved me the shipping from rma back

I am really doubtful if they've ever run the series of test on the laptops before shipping it out....

yeah anyways, I will run some 3d mark test later on....but first i really need some sleep"

This was in the other Chembook thread.
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post #7 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:13am
Thread Starter 
oops sorry guys.... false alarm, I got frustrated about this too fast... it works fine, I just didn't install the right drivers


although I did find something else that frustrated me, one of the keys on the touchpad is softer then the other one. Is it common for this notebook?

The LCD screen is decent. not like my 20 inch Dell LCD, but it's good enough.
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post #8 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by klas
oops sorry guys.... false alarm, I got frustrated about this too fast... it works fine, I just didn't install the right drivers


although I did find something else that frustrated me, one of the keys on the touchpad is softer then the other one. Is it common for this notebook?

The LCD screen is decent. not like my 20 inch Dell LCD, but it's good enough.
What are the specs of the machine? You may want to try turning up the brightness if it does not seem vibrant enought to you. What drivers did you have to install in order to get it working? Does the light now work?
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post #9 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:26am
Thread Starter 
Still installing all the drivers and other stuff... actually installing FarCry right now as we speak
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post #10 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:26am
hey congratulations arrivng of your new laptop you must've been like me...at least your wirelss was just wrong driver, mine was completely mis-installed...

about tochpad, i think mine are same pressure...not quite sure how' yours is comparing as..

I called the chembook about ati 9700 logo, unfortunatelly they do not have it when they received the backbone directly from compal in taiwan..


what a bummer
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post #11 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:32am
Thread Starter 
Any recommendations what software to use to check for temp? downloaded speedfan, but it only shows temp for HD


my left key is easier to press then the right now, it's not a big deal, but it is kinda annoying when I think about it...
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post #12 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:47am
mobile meter

is best
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post #13 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:50am
congrats.. that is a really sweet laptop.. first thing you need to do now is get all the freaking stickers off the plamrest area!
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post #14 of 245
4/14/04 at 1:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by klas
oops sorry guys.... false alarm, I got frustrated about this too fast... it works fine, I just didn't install the right drivers


although I did find something else that frustrated me, one of the keys on the touchpad is softer then the other one. Is it common for this notebook?

The LCD screen is decent. not like my 20 inch Dell LCD, but it's good enough.
I can notice to a very small degree what you said about the touch pad buttons, but it's not that prevalent. However, the spacebar on my keyboard bows inward a bit, are you guys having this issue as well?
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post #15 of 245
4/14/04 at 2:17am
Thread Starter 
allright so far after playing FarCry I've noticed a big problem on my notebook, if you look from the side on the screen you could see backlight, it's pretty upsetting. I can live with the touchpad but this is obvious defect.


It does get very hot when playing FarCry so if you hold you finger for about 10-15 seconds it starts burning. However when I was playing UT2k4 it wasn't as bad. The noise pretty tolerable.

Speakers.... pretty awful i would say, my friends Dell 8000 has much better ones and that laptop is 3 years old


btw, when I was running the laptop on batteries the cpu speed dropped to something like 466 Mhz. tried playing games on that, but it's unplayable
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post #16 of 245
4/14/04 at 2:21am
backlight? how bad is it?
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post #17 of 245
4/14/04 at 4:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by klas
allright so far after playing FarCry I've noticed a big problem on my notebook, if you look from the side on the screen you could see backlight, it's pretty upsetting. I can live with the touchpad but this is obvious defect.


It does get very hot when playing FarCry so if you hold you finger for about 10-15 seconds it starts burning. However when I was playing UT2k4 it wasn't as bad. The noise pretty tolerable.

Speakers.... pretty awful i would say, my friends Dell 8000 has much better ones and that laptop is 3 years old


btw, when I was running the laptop on batteries the cpu speed dropped to something like 466 Mhz. tried playing games on that, but it's unplayable

If these things really bother you, I recommend you definetely contact the place where you bought it from.
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post #18 of 245
4/14/04 at 5:20am
Thread Starter 
benchmarking... well I can't overclock this damn thing... 3dmark2k3 crashes even after slight increase from 391/192 stock and at these speeds I get 27xx score. Running latest omega drivers 4.4 and I want to find out if anyone was able to overclock it successfully...

well done with testing for today... if you guys have any questions or what to see more pictures let me know
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post #19 of 245
4/14/04 at 8:01am
I got about 2750 on 3DMark03 as well, stock. I haven't OC'ed it yet. Mine stays tolerable for heat and noise when playing UT2k4 as well. No other games installed right now. I have 1 dead pixel, about middle of the bottom right quadrant, but its hardly noticable. Its green or white or whatever, so you only notice it on really dark screens. I am running Omega 4.4's as well. I actually haven't benched it since I installed those. This weekend I plan on doing a full review and benchmarks for fun.

I got CPU-Z to tell me all the info I wanted to know, since WCPUID crashed my computer twice in a row. I am going to try this "mobilemeter" mentioned above, since I am used to SpeedFan and mine only shows HDD as well. I would like to know CPU/System temps and voltages too.

Furious leader and klas (and I think White94Cobra), we should all form a gang. We can run around beating people with our laptops and then giving them a gang symbol, "Compal!! b!tch!!"...no? Anyways, we should all at least form a combined thread with our review and benches of the laptop, so everyone can see 3-4 reviews on it at once.

ZTR
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post #20 of 245
4/14/04 at 12:27pm
hey about your cpu runnin at 400 something mhz , there's nothing wrong with it, its speed step technology to save your battery..all you need to do is to adjust your power meter to ALWAYS ON instead of laptop/home status, then check your property again then it'll read whatever cpu speed you're suppose have..

About 3dmark03 I got around 2845 with video overclocked to 410/210 mhz what i did was I installed with factory cd driver, and then I installed the RADLINK separately for the overclocking. I couldn't get any more futher from above OC rate, because then my game will crash as I tested with call of duty..
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