Jesse B Andersen

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Synaptics Touchpad/Trackpad Drivers

2012-02-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

Your S10-3T's Synaptics touchpad/trackpad has multi-touch features. There's support for up to three touch points.

Some features:

2 touch scrolling vertically and horizontally
2 touch zooming and rotation
3 touch application launch
3 touch flicks

Compared to big laptops the touchpad is a bit small. I find that sometimes it's better to use the screen instead of the touchpad. But in laptop mode some of these features can become useful.

Download Drivers:

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

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(11m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - TouchFreeze - Prevent Accidental Touchpad/Trackpad Presses

2012-02-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

There's nothing more annoying than accidentally touching the touchpad/trackpad when typing. This action moves the mouse cursor and can mess up what you are typing. There's a great fix for this issue called "TouchFreeze".

TouchFreeze disables the touchpad temporarily while you type. This new behavior greatly improves the typing experience. TouchFreeze loads automatically when you start your computer. The program also works with other laptops so it's a neat program.

Download at:

code.google.com/p/touchfreeze

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

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(11m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - External Display Modes

2012-02-24T16:16:00.001-07:00

The S10-3T has a VGA port which allows you to connect an external display. The external display may be a computer monitor, tv, or projector.

There are 4 display modes which can be accessed via 3 different methods:

Fn + F3 for the Lenovo way
Win + P key combination for the Microsoft way.
Right click on desktop and click "Screen Resolution" for manual adjustments

If you press Win + P you will get these options:

Disconnect Projector

Only the S10-3T monitor is enabled.

Duplicate

Also known as 'clone mode'.
Replicates the image of the S10-3T monitor to the external display.

Extend

Enables the use of the external monitor in conjunction with the S10-3T's screen.
By default it will try to do the external display's native resolution (but can be modified)

Projector Only

Disables the S10-3T's screen and enables only the external display.
It will try to set the external display's native resolution.

If you don't want wires there's an alternative method via wireless methods.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

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(10m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Increase DPI And Enable New Resolutions

2012-02-24T14:34:00.002-07:00

INCREASE DPI

Windows is NOT the most touch friendly operating system. Text, buttons, and windows are not always easy to access. There is a way to improve the touch friendliness by adjusting the Dots Per Inch (DPI). When you increase the DPI text, buttons, and windows will become larger.

How to change the DPI:

Hit Win key and type "dpi"
Select the "Make text and other items larger or smaller"
Select the "Medium -125%" option.
Click "Apply" button.

The system may make you "log off" Windows, when you log back in the DPI will have increased, and be a little more touch friendly. If you don't like the new DPI size you can always go back and change the settings.

If you need a higher resolution continue reading on the next section.

ENABLE NEW RESOLUTIONS

The S10-3T has a resolution of 1024 x 600, which may be small for some programs. There is a way of changing a registry to increase the resolution up to 1152 x 864.

(If you change this registry make sure to "Create a System Restore Point", there have been a few complaints about this mod. Although I never had problems with it.)

How to edit the registry to get new screen resolutions:

Hit Win key and type "regedit.exe"
Go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\
Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000

Find "Display1_DownScalingSupported" and open it.
Change the value to 1
Close the registry and restart your system.

Once the system goes back in to Windows you will have brand new resolutions.

Landscape Resolutions:

1152 x 864
1024 x 768
1024 x 600 (default)
800 x 600

Portrait Resolutions:

864 x 1154
768 x 1024
600 x 1024 (default)
600 x 800

How to change the resolution:

Right click on the desktop and selecting "Screen Resolution"
Change them via the "Resolution" combo box.
Click "Apply" and "OK" buttons.

When you increase the resolution your system can display more stuff, however the text, buttons, and window frame will get smaller. You may need to adjust the DPI to make Windows a bit more touch friendly. The screen resolution modification also will make the system work harder because it needs to render more things on screen.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

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Higher Resolution + Increased DPI

(30m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Modify Screen Hardware Buttons & Enable Automatic Rotation

2012-02-24T13:25:00.001-07:00

MODIFY SCREEN HARDWARE BUTTONS (Stephen Perrin's Rotation Program)

The S10-3T has 3 hardware buttons on the bezel of the screen. By default you cannot modify the launch buttons unless you edit the registry, however with Stephen Perrin's Rotation Program you can adjust things easily.

With the program install you can modify the actions of two of the buttons. There's a "default Lenovo behavior", Run a program, or make it press the Win key.

Another thing you can do with Stephen's program is to adjust the screen rotation order, or enable automatic rotation.

This is third party software which means that is NOT supported by Lenovo. Run at your own risk.

Installation:

Download the file (ScreenRotation.zip)
Extract the downloaded file
End the existing process called "ScreenRotation.exe" via Task Manager

Right click on taskbar - "Start Task Manager"
Or press Ctrl+Alt+Del

Copy and paste the files to "C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Lenovo Screen Rotation\"

From here you can open the ScreenRotation.exe program and you can adjust your settings. The program also starts automatically when you boot up the system.

If for some reason you dislike Stephen's program you can reinstall the rotation drivers from Lenovo's website.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

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AUTOMATIC ROTATION

In the S10-3T's early days there was a video by Netbooknews that mentioned that the S10-3T did not have an accelerometer, and that was not the case.

The video shows the default screen rotation program, but you can also install Stephen Perrin's program.

My automatic rotation does not work?
If you have reinstalled Windows there's a good chance that essential sensor DLL files were deleted. It seems that downloading the rotation drivers from Lenovo's website does NOT fix the problem. Stephen Perrin's program does not have these DLLs either.

Frankly I like the manual rotation in Windows because the automatic rotation can be annoying.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

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(28m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Solid State Drive (SSD)

2012-02-24T01:50:00.001-07:00

By default the S10-3T ships with a hard drive. Hard drives are fine, but speed wise they do lose against Solid State Drives (SSDs). An SSD is a luxury but the performance is worth it.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T uses 2.5 inch hard drives, so make sure to get a 2.5 inch SSD.

Pros:

Faster random read/write speeds (faster loading of files).
SSDs deal with shock/vibration better than HDDs.
Smooth video playback.
Cooler temperatures.
Quieter system because of no moving parts.
Overall feels like a "snappier" Windows experience.

Remains about the same:

Battery (at least with the Intel SSD I had)

Cons:

Expensive when compared to hard drives.
Not as high storage capacities as hard drives.

Installing the SSD

There are several methods including cloning and simply a fresh install of Windows 7.

Cloning
If you have the right software (like Acronis) you can "copy and paste" the existing hard drive to the SSD, replace the hard drive with the SSD, and start the system. You would need a "2.5 inch hard drive enclosure" for this. Personally I do not like the cloning because unnecessary files are kept.

Fresh Install
With this your system will be clean, but it will lose all of the existing files. The how to at Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Upgrade Windows 7.

You would also have to reinstall drivers and programs if you were to use this method.

Other Notes

When you install an SSD you do not need to run ReadyBoost and Active Protection System anymore.

There are alternatives to the SSD including Mini PCI-E SSDs. By using Mini PCI-E SSDs you can keep the hard drive for storage.

High quality videos load faster with SSDs.

(29m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - SD Card ReadyBoost And Boot Order

2012-02-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

SD CARD AND READYBOOST

ReadyBoost is another tool that you can use to improve performance on the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T.

Basically ReadyBoost uses flash memory as a drive for disk caching. This cache includes commonly accessed files from the hard drive. If the flash memory is fast enough it can provide faster than hard drive sequential transfer rates.

How to:

Get a fast SD card

The capacity and higher the class the better it will be.

Insert the card into the S10-3T
When the AutoPlay window pops up select "Speed up my system"

If no AutoPlay window appears go to "My Computer"
Right click on the device and select "Properties"
Go to "ReadyBoost" tab

I recommend using the SD card as a dedicated ReadyBoost device.
You can specify how much storage ReadyBoost can utilize.
Click "Apply" and "OK" buttons.

From now on ReadyBoost will begin caching files to the SD card. After a while the performance of the system will become faster.

More details about ReadBoost

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

SD Cards

BOOT ORDER

Sometimes when an SD card is inserted the S10-3T will attempt to boot from it. If this happens you may get an error when turning on the system. If this occurs we need to change the boot order in the bios.

How to change the S10-3T's Bios order:

Turn on S10-3T.
Press F2 when the Big Lenovo sign appears.
Press the right arrow and select the "Boot" tab.

Select "Multi-Card" and bring it down the minus key (-)

Press the right arrow and select the "Exit" tab.

Select "Exit Saving Changes" and hit "Yes"

Your SD Card will now not have a conflict with the boot order. Enjoy your ReadyBoost!

Note: if you have an SSD you do NOT need to use ReadyBoost.

(26m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Smooth Video Playback And APS

2012-02-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

On the S10-3T there's a program called Active Protection System (APS). Basically it's a program that detects vibration and controls the hard drive from accidental damage. if you are in a shaky environment then APS can get in the way of video playback.

What can you do?

Disable APS
Replace the HDD with a SSD
USB flash/thumb drive
Use a SD card

Disable APS
I would not recommend disabling APS if you have a HDD. You can tweak it and make it less sensitive, but the least sensitive it is the higher chances of damaging your HDD.

If you use an SSD you do not need the APS program.

Replace the HDD with a SSD
Solid State Drives are wonderful! They are fast, some of them consume less power, and they do not have spinning discs. If you were to replace the HDD and put in a SSD then you will get the most out of this system. Video playback will be smooth. The only problem is that they are a bit expensive. The Lenovo S10-3T can use 2.5 inch SSDs.

USB flash/thumb drive
Like SSDs this offers flash memory. There's tons of flash drives available in the market, and capacities are increasing. The only problem I see with this is that most of them will "stick out" from the system.

Use an SD card
This also offers flash memory. The difference here is that the S10-3T does have a nice slot for the cards, and that way there's less risk of breaking something. In my opinion this is one of the more practical and inexpensive options.

(17m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Slow Typing Response Fix

2012-02-23T22:30:00.001-07:00

The S10-3T has a beautiful and nearly full keyboard. Usually typing will work fine, but sometimes there are problems. On some programs there's a "slow response" when typing which can be very annoying. The good thing is that there is a fix.

To fix this problem we need to add a new parameter to the registry.

How to create the registry:

Open the Registry program

Hit Win key and type "regedit"

Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters

Create the registry

Right click on the right side of the window
Create a new DWORD value
Name it "PollStatusIterations"
Open it and give it a value of 1

Reboot your system.

With this fix your keyboard should be very responsive. Enjoy!

Thanks to Watching The Net.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

Amazon's Best Selling Tablets

(10m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Tweak Lenovo Energy Management

2012-02-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Energy Management can be found in the taskbar.

There are many optimizations that can be done to the S10-3T, but none are as important as tweaking Lenovo Energy Management.

Even if you had 2GB of RAM, fresh install of Windows 7, the 1.86 GHz versions of the S10-3T, and an SSD your system would still run slowly if you don't tweak the Energy Management software.

Energy Management controls how much work the S10-3T can do to control the power expenditure. It's a good idea to conserve battery life, but it does make performance sluggish.

By default Energy Management has an "auto adjust" feature which tries to adjust depending on the needs, this does not work well and therefore you may notice lags. By tweaking the program you let the CPU run as fast as it needs to, and it makes a big difference.

Different Schemes:

Energy Star
High Performance (the one I modified)
Balanced
Power Saver
Super Energy Saver

Click the button to the right to modify the selected scheme.

Click on the "System" tab
Modify the "Maximum CPU Speed" slider under the "battery" section.
Move the slider to the left to set it on High

Once you have finished tweaking it click the "Apply" and "OK" buttons.

Performance and happiness have now increased!

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

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(19m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Upgrade Windows 7

2012-02-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Some of the S10-3T systems come preloaded with Windows 7 Starter, which is absolutely horrible and removes a lot Windows' touch features. I recommend upgrading to Home Premium, Pro, or Ultimate to get better performance.

Advantages of installing Windows 7 HM, Pro, or Ultimate:

You can change the background.
No crapware programs you don't want.
No unessential background processes.
Multi-touch features enabled.
Flicks enabled.
Longer battery life.
Increase in system performance.

There are different methods of upgrading Windows and they are:

Via USB CD/DVD Drive.
Via USB Flash Drive.
Via it's hard drive.
Via Anytime Upgrade

Unoptimized, Win Starter = 83 processes

Optimized, Win Starter (not fresh install) = 57 processes

Optimized, Home Premium (fresh install), NO drivers = 42 processes

Optimized, Home Premium (fresh install), Drivers Installed = 48 processes

1. Via USB CD/DVD Drive
Since the S10-3T does not have a disc drive may need to purchase a USB CD/DVD Drive which you can then place a Windows 7 disc into.

I recommend turning off the system.
Connect the USB CD/DVD Drive to the S10-3T
Place the disc in the drive.
Turn on the S10-3T.

2. Via USB Flash Drive
If you have a high capacity USB Flash Drive (4GB or 8GB depending on the Windows installer) then you can copy and paste the contents of a Windows 7 disc to the flash drive.

You will most likely have to turn the USB Flash Drive into a "bootable thumbdrive", follow Kevin's Blog steps.
Once the thumb drive is "bootable" then turn off the system, plug in the USB flash drive.
Turn on the S10-3T and press FN + F11 (btw this is the same as pressing F12 on a normal keyboard)
Select the Flash Drive from the menu and begin Windows installation.

3. Via The S10-3T's Hard Drive
There's a partition in the S10-3T which you can use and place Windows 7 files and then launch the installer.

Download the Windows 7 installation files (basically if you were to torrent it)
If you got a .iso, .img, or other compressed file you will need to extract it.
Make a folder called "Windows 7" in the "My Computer \ Lenovo D: \" directory.
Paste the extracted files into this new folder.
Double click on the "Setup.exe" file which should start the Windows 7 installation.

4. Anytime Upgrade
There are downloadable versions of Windows 7 which can upgrade your system. There are drawbacks to this because it's not a "fresh install" which means that a lot of the crapware will remain in the system.

Via Microsoft, Amazon, or other service, download the "Anytime Upgrade" file.

This is the cheaper and legal alternative to buying the "complete" discs.
If you have Windows 7 Starter get the "Starter to Home Premium"

Once the file has downloaded open the file and begin the installation.

DRIVERS

When you reinstall Windows essential drivers are lost. Basically "drivers" tell the system how to use specific components.

The D:\ partition has the drivers and you can begin installing them from there. If you accidentally deleted the D:\ parition then you will have to redownload the drivers from Lenovo's website.

(55m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Remove Programs And Optimize Windows

2012-02-23T18:55:00.001-07:00

Most PC manufacturers include a lot of software that is NOT needed. Sometimes this software is useful to the user, and sometimes it is not. In the case of the S10-3T there is plenty that can be removed to improve performance.

Unoptimized

I apologize for the blurry pic, but it's the only one I had. The image shows the S10-3T's CPU working hard. There's about 82 processes, CPU usage goes from 40% to 70%, and the RAM usage is about 800 MB. This is all in "idle" which means that I have not yet launched any of my programs. Obviously this is not good for the system.

Optimized

By removing programs that run in the background you can decrease the amount of work the S10-3T has to do. After optimizing the system is now at 57 processes, 1% CPU usage, and 500 MB RAM being used. The performance after optimization is very good.

You can read some of the optimizations below, hopefully these tips will make your S10-3T experience better.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

Amazon's Best Selling Tablets

Remove Programs

Hit the Win key and type "Uninstall a Program" and press return/enter. You can now remove some programs that you don't need.
Acrobat.com - This is Adobe Acrobat and some people need it, and others don't.
McAfee Security Center - This is the default antivirus software, which makes the system work a lot. I recommend uninstalling it and installing something like Microsoft Security Essentials (free).
Microsoft Office - This includes programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. If you don't need them you can remove this.
Windows Live Essentials - There are some good tools like Messenger, Mail, Live Gallery, etc. When you begin the uninstall you can select which ones you want to remove.
Veri Touch - This is a way of "securing" your S10-3T that frankly is slow.
Very Face - This is a way to login to Windows by face recognition. It does run in the background and since it's slow it's a good thing to remove.
Lenovo Idea Central - This is like an "app store" with Lenovo recommended programs. Google is a far better app store in my opinion.
ID Vault - It's been a few years since I had the S10-3T so I don't remember what it did, but it's most likely useless.
Many others.

If you really wanted to make the S10-3T run the absolute best you would have to reinstall Windows 7 and drivers. But by removing programs you don't need the system will run a lot better. Other lighter operating systems like Windows XP and Linux would also run very well.

Optimize Windows

MS Config

Hit the Win key and type "msconfig". Under the "Services" and "Startup" tabs you can view things you can disable from starting up automatically.
Be careful when using this tool because you can disable essential things.

Disable UAC

Hit the Win key and type "uac". Lower the slide to something you are more comfortable with.
This is a security component of Windows 7. If you come from Windows XP you enjoyed a very smooth experience when installing software and doing things in Windows. With Windows Vista and 7 UAC has added "security" that is a bit annoying because it makes the screen dark and it asks you security questions every time you want to do something with the computer. This is something that power users will probably disable or lower.

Optimize Visuals (very recommended)

Hit the Win key and type "System" and select it (under Control Panel).
On the left side click the "Advanced system settings" link
Under the "Performance" category click on the "Settings" button.
Click the "Adjust for best performance" option.
Check the following boxes:

Use Visual Styles on windows and buttons
Smooth edges of screen fonts
Show thumbnails instead of icons

Click Apply and OK buttons

Disable Notifications

These are the constant notifications that pop up on the lower right side of the Windows. If you have a good anti virus software you don't need to constantly be notified about things. A good thing about Apple's Mac OS X is that is NOT as annoying as Windows when it comes to notifications.
Hit the Win key and type "Action Center"
Click on "Change Action Center Settings"
Uncheck the boxes of the types of messages you don't want to be notified about.
Click OK button.

(35m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Proper Capacitive Stylus

2012-02-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

A good amount of people like the touch only capacitive screens, but sometimes it doesn't feel very precise. Some tablets do offer pressure sensitive digitizers, but the S10-3T cannot use them. The S10-3T has to use what they call a "stylus". A stylus is nothing more than a stick that pushes the screen, it is not a digitizer which is an "electronic device".

Capacitive pens/styluses see on the iPad are what would work with the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T. These pens emulate the finger press, and are not as precise as Wacom or N-Trig digitizers.

There are many capacitive pens that will work with the S10-3T including: Dagi Stylus, oStylus (video), and many others.

As you can see on my Dagi video the silver model was not working properly, the black one was. The Dagi stylus does have metal and when the gummy part wears of there's a risk of scratching your screen.

WACOM PENABLED DIGITIZERS DO NOT WORK WITH THE S10-3T

(18m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Forums And Google

2012-02-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Lenovo has a forum that is a wealth of information regarding the IdeaPad S10-3T. You can visit the forums at:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-S-series-Netbooks/bd-p/IdeaPad_Netbook

To find information regarding the S10-T from the forums use Google in the following way:

Go to Google.com
Type "S10-3T [your topic/question] site:forums.lenovo.com"

Example:

Lenovo S10-3T Ubuntu site:forums.lenovo.com

By removing the "forums.lenovo.com" part and typing another site you can see what articles they may have. It's a neat tool that can troubleshoot issues with almost any system.

(14m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Upgrading RAM Memory Module

2012-02-23T16:48:00.001-07:00

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T may have 1GB or 2GBs of RAM. If you are unlucky and have the 1GB version then upgrading to 2GB can be done by purchasing a new module.

Windows XP and Linux users may not need the 2GB of RAM because things are little less resource intensive. If you are running Windows 7 and you want to open many files and programs at the same time then 2GB may be needed.

The correct RAM for your S10-3T?
Selecting the correct RAM on the S10-3T was easy for a short while, but it got complicated once Lenovo introduced new CPU versions.

There are four CPU versions of the S10-3T. The first ones were the N450 and N470 models, about a year after those Lenovo released S10-3Ts with N455 and N475 which improved on battery life.

There are several ways of determining the correct RAM type for your S10-3T including:

Based on the CPU spec sheets.
Based on the existing RAM module's pin count.

1. Based On CPU

Hit the Win key and type "dxdiag"
Under the "System" tab you can read the "Processor" information.
From here you can determine which RAM you need by using the processor's name.

According to Intel the N475 and N455 CPUs may use DDR2 or DDR3. Which brings an added layer of confusion.

204 pin sodimm 2GB PC3-10600 DDR3
Intel Atom N475 1.83 GHz (Intel)
Intel Atom N455 1.6 GHz (Intel)

200 pin sodimm 2GB DDR2 667 MHz
Intel Atom N470 1.83 GHz (Intel)
Intel Atom N450 1.6 GHz (Intel)

2. Based On RAM Pin Count

This is a bit more manual and will require you to count the amount of pins your existing RAM has.

How to:

Open the bottom plastic cover (you will need a screw driver for this).
Identify and pull out the RAM module.
Count the small group of pins.

If the small group has 20 pins then you need a 200 pin sodimm 2GB DDR2 667 MHz.
If the small group has 36 pins then you need a 204 pin sodimm 2GB PC3-10600 DDR3.

Further explanation and a few images on Sodimm RAM modules: Wikipedia

My S10-3T came with 1GB RAM and that was not enough because thanks to the crapware it would do over 70 processes and that consumed 700 MB RAM. These numbers are high considering that I was not running programs that I wanted yet. In my opinion the 2GB is essential.

Not all modules will work with the S10-3T. Some people have recommended a BIOS update to enable more RAM modules to be used.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

Amazon's Best Selling Tablets

Images And Step By Step Guide

Turn off system, close the lid and flip the system.	There are 5 screws to remove.	Remove the plastic cover gently.	Find the RAM module and notice the retaining pins.
Push the retaining pins sideways.	Pull the module out.	Prep the new RAM.	Insert new module.
Secure module by pushing downwards.	Turn on system to confirm the RAM works.	If it works put cover and screws back on.	More Lenovo Tablets

(66m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Hands On Videos

2012-02-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hands On By NewGadgetsDE	Hands On By NetbookNews

Gigabyte T1000 vs Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t vs Viliv S10	Linux Show (starts at 31:51)

Engadget Review	CNET Review

Attack Of The Show S10-3T Review

(15m)

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T - Unbox Videos

2012-02-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

This video covers the unbox of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T.

Notes from the video:

S10-3T is a netvertible (converts from netbook to tablet)
Manual, guarantee, and starter guides
Accessories
Power brick

20 volts
30 watts

Power cord

Short cable

Battery

8-cells
7.8 volts
68 watt hours
9200 mAh (up to 10 hours)

S10-3T characteristics and bottom

Glossy lid
Non glossy lid
Bottom access panel
Hinge for screen rotation (left and right)
Sim card slot

S10-3T Left Side

Kensington lock
Power port
Ethernet port
Air vents
Headphone and Mic ports

S10-3T Front Side

Card reader

S10-3T Right Side

Wireless switch
TV antenna port
2 USB ports
VGA

Other

Small trackpad with integrated buttons
Keyboard is close to standard size
Small directional buttons

Screen

10 inch glossy
Multi-touch (2 points)
3 buttons (volume mute, rotation button, Ctrl+Alt+Del)
Power on/off button
Webcam
Swivels left and right

Battery

Battery sticks out but is convenient to carry system.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T

Amazon's Best Selling Tablets

An alternative unbox video! ;)

(24m)

JXD S7100 - Gaming Battery Tests

2012-02-22T17:06:00.001-07:00

According to JXD's website the JXD S7100's 3800mAh lithium-polymer battery should last about 5 hours when surfing the web, watching videos and listening to music. I conducted a few "gaming" battery tests to figure out how much we can get.

Low Settings

GBA Game: Pokémon Emerald (uses buttons)
Lowest Brightness
Low Volume (less than 30%)/Mute
Wi-Fi Off
Run time: 5 hours 10 minutes

Mid Settings

Game: Angry Birds (uses touch screen)
Mid Brightness
Mid Volume
Wi-Fi Off
Run time: 4 hours

High Settings

3D Game: Asphalt 5 (uses G-Sensor)
Full Brightness
Max Volume
Wi-Fi On
Run time: 2 hours 50 minutes

High Settings (Medium Q. Movie)

Movie: 480x360 res
Full Brightness
Max Volume
Wi-Fi On
Run time: 4 hours 31 minutes

In conclusion the JXD S7100 can achieve over 5 hours of gaming when running low settings and less resource intensive games. The more you make the system work the less the battery run time will be.

More posts about:

(35m, does not include the time each battery test took.)

Reorganization 2012

2012-02-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

I detest clutter, and clutter and disorganization in the digital world is extremely easy to do. We can keep adding, and adding, and adding more stuff, and then use the "search" functions to find everything we need. It's convenient to do this at the beginning, but once there's too much to handle there's need for a very good cleanup.

During the past few days I have reorganized my emails and online accounts so I can manage and track things better. In the process of exploring the internet and just living I have accumulated over 60 accounts to all kinds of sites, forums, Q&A sites, services, emails, etc. I’ll begin the process of eliminating some of these accounts and narrow things to only the essentials.

From 2002 to 2012 I have accumulated over 25,000 email messages, they have now been eliminated. Some things were very valuable and some were not, but since they are now deleted I won’t know. Life goes on an I’ll most likely accumulate digital messages again, but now I’ll manage them differently.

“oldish” blogs may be eliminated, and some of the contents of those blogs will be added to this blog to preserve what may be valuable to some people. Content from lenovos103t.com and lenovox201.com will be added to this blog.

While this reorganization occurs there will not be "new" content on this blog. I'm hoping to get the job done within a week or two. I'll try not to break the original links and reroute visitors to this blog.

Enjoy!

A little cleanup is good for keeping good sanity levels. ;)

(15m)

PC GRAW 2 - Mission 01 - Search And Destroy (Hardcore)

2012-02-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

I enjoy GRAW 2 too much. There's a bit of tactics involved, the the AI and physics aren't the best, but I enjoy the tactical team/squad based gameplay. The video has a more stealthy style of gameplay when compared to the more aggressive style shown in my previous Mission 01 video. It's kind of cool when you get the "perfect mission" and all achievements.

Mission Ranking:

S - perfect mission
A, B, C, D (worst)

Achievements:

Black Ops - over 80% stealth.
Man Of Steel - No injuries to self.
Leader - No injuries in team.
Marksman - High percentage instant kills.

[ghostrecon]

I hope the upcoming Ghost Recon: Future Soldier improves the tactical aspect, and does NOT become a run around and shoot like Call of Duty and Battlefield.

PC GRAW 2 Gameplay Playlist on Youtube

(21m, does not include recording attempts, editing and upload times which required many hours)

It's Time For Time Management!

2012-02-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

Probably one of the worst things I have done in the past few years is losing track of time.

Part 1
I plan posts which require ordering/selling products, test products, create outline with stuff I want to say during videos, make and edit videos, upload them, write the post (dealing with HTML), and then publish the final product. (and the corrections that occur after the publishing!)

Part 2
Sell or return the product to reduce expenses. Sometimes this requires waiting for eBay auctions, packaging stuff, and so on.

Part 3
Since I decided to post and share this information I do get questions from viewers/users/visitors. When I write a post I assure myself answering never ending questions through emails and comments. Surprisingly and after close to two years I still answer questions regarding the Lenovo S10-3T. (look at the comments regarding ViDock [1, 2]. As of today I have received about 12,000 emails regarding products. It's a lot of work, but I have fun with it.

All of these things require something that I am constantly losing, and that is "time". From now on I'll publish at the bottom of each one of my works how much time I spent doing something. Maybe with this move I and others will see the value of things we are doing. Time is money, but it's also spent life.

The movie In Time has a very interesting concept. Maybe doing the simple change of tracking time will make me do things a bit quicker. ;-)

(24m)

JXD S7100 - Overview (Android gaming tablet)

2012-02-14T07:43:00.002-07:00

The JXD S7100 is an Android powered gaming tablet. Many of today's tablets will do many touch games and the whole "gaming tablet" thing is becoming more popular. The difference of the JXD S7100 is the dedicated gaming buttons. In a way I feel like "real games require real buttons".

These dedicated buttons make the JXD S7100 look a lot like Nintendo's upcoming WiiU controller. These integrated buttons make a lot more sense than some of the concepts like Team Razer's Project Fiona concept, and WikiPad.

Hardware & software
- details on Box Contents And Images post.

Build quality
Overall the system feels fairly solid. Based on other JXD devices I was expecting a much cheaper quality product, but it does feel very solid.

Screen
The screen is nice, it's bright and colorful. Like many screens there are different viewing angle quality, full frontal being the best angle. There's support for up to five touch points and they work well.

Specs
The system comes with an ARM Cortex A9 at 800 Mhz CPU, ARM Mali 400 GPU, and 512MB DDR2. This means that it can play most Android games and apps, and will run 3D. The CPU is not as powerful as Nvidia, Omap, A5 chips, etcs.

Battery
They advertise a 3800 mAh lithium-polymer battery, which should give around 5 hours of battery life. You can increase/decrease the battery life by adjusting brightness and disabling/enabling wifi. If you lower the brightness and turn off the wifi I can see it hitting the 5 houts, with the features enabled expect less.

Unlike the previous handheld gaming emulators this system requires the AC adapter to charge. This is rather annoying because I would prefer to charge through USB.

Buttons
The gaming buttons could be better. The one thing were JXD messed up is the lack of shoulder buttons, which are needed for N64 and PSX/PS1 games. Through Android you can add these missing buttons onto the screen and that makes it into another regular tablet. The buttons can be remapped through software.

Speakers
The speakers are fine and do get loud, but they are not BlackBerry PlayBook quality speakers. Don't expect any amount of bass.

User Interface
The system ships with Android 2.2.1 which is easy to navigate. It does feel like it could use some optimization because it's slow. Most of the apps are in Mandarin and therefore unreadable for the Western English speaking world.

Games and apps can be downloaded through included "app stores", an alternative is to download them to PC and then transfer them to the JXD S7100.

Gaming
Arcade, GBA, NES games work well. The games are smooth and the control buttons suit these types of games.

N64 games work ok. The games seem to have reduced resolutions, or at least removed polygons. Because of the lack of shoulder buttons a lot of games become harder (if not impossible) to play.

PS1/PSX games don't work that well. When I managed to get a game working they were ok, but there would be lags and eventually freeze ups. The shoulder button issue is also a problem that makes PSX gaming not enjoyable.

Video
It can play up to 1080p video which looks very crisp. If you add these types of videos you would need to add more storage through the "TF card slot".

Price
You can get this system for $162.99 at lettouch.com (price has gone up to $169.99) The tablet is fairly inexpensive and it makes a decent buy.

Overall
It has it's pros and cons. This is far from being the complete gaming package but it's a step forward. If it had shoulder buttons it would be closer to a "real" gaming tablet. The JXD S7100 is worth getting if the games only require a few buttons.

Links
Official JXD S7100 Website
LetTouch - JXD S7100

JXD S7100 Gaming Tablet - Box Contents And Images

2012-02-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

The JXD S7100 is a gaming tablet. It made a lot of buzz on popular tech blogs when it was compared to the Nintendo WiiU's controller/tablet.

Gaming on tablets has been based on touch and motion sensors. Some of these touch games have been very successful (Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies might be the biggest ones). While touch gaming is nice the S7100 adds buttons which allow it to play a lot of classic games without cluttering your screen.

Notes:

Box Contents

JXD S7100 unit
USB cable (full usb to mini usb)
Full USB to Mini USB adapter
Power Adapter (Output DC5V, 2000mA)
Earphones
CD with games
Manuals

Physical Features

Black and white colors
Front

Screen

7 inch (diagonal)
Capacitive touch screen
5 touch points
800 x 480 resolution

Front facing camera (0.3MP)
LED indicator light
Dpad
Joystick
Left and right speakers
Buttons (square, triangle, circle, x)
Select and Start buttons
Back, Home, Menu buttons

Bottom

TF card slot (32GB max)

Right

Power port

3.5 mm stereo port
Mini USB
Mini HDMI
Mic
Volume up/down buttons
Power button

Left

Reset hole

Back

Rear facing camera (2.0MP)

Internals

Amlogic M1 (ARM Cortex A9 800MHz CPU)
ARM MALI 400 GPU
512MB DDR2
Wifi (802.11 b/g/n)
Motion sensor (G-sensor)
8GB/16GB options ( i got 8GB )
3800mAh lithium-polymer battery

Up to 5 hours

Software

Android 2.2.1
Many languages supported
Flash 10.1

E-book formats

PDF, TXT, CHM, UMD, HTML

Image formats

JPG, BMP, PNG

Video formats

RMVB, AVI, MPG, DIVX, WMV, F4V, FLV, Youtube.

Emulators

Android touch and gravity games
Arcade games
N64, GBA, NES
Sega MD
Sony PS1/PSX

Price

$162.99 @ Lettouch

There are NO SHOULDER BUTTONS (L/R). With Android powering the device there are many possibilities. In the coming days I will go over some of the pros/cons about the JXD S7100.

If you have questions please add them to the comments. Thanks.

Links:

Images

Anker USB 3.0 HUB 4-Ports - Thoughts And Images

2012-02-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

I like USB hubs because they offer expansion and convenience. Today I'll cover the Anker USB 3.0 HUB with 4 ports.

Expansion
I use a lot of USB devices. My laptop has 4 ports, if I use this HUB then I can have up to 7 ports (consider the 1 port being used by HUB).

Convenience
My laptop is a mobile system, but when I attach that many USB devices it becomes more of a desktop computer because mobility is reduced. A USB HUB offers a great convenience because I can attach all my USB devices and then use a single cable to connect to my laptop.

Box Contents

Anker USB 3.0 HUB
AC/DC Adapter (output 5.V, 2A)
USB 3.0 Cable (24 inches)
Anker document

Features
The Anker HUB is compatible with USB 3.0, 2.0, and 1.1 devices. This means that its backwards compatible and will take all of your current USB devices.

There 4 downstream USB 3.0 ports (A-type) and 1 Upstream port. The HUB "supports high-speed (5G Mbps), Full-speed (480 Mbps), and Low-Speed (12 Mbps) profiles".

Sadly I do not have any other USB 3.0 devices such as a hard drive that would allow me to conduct proper tests to see if we actually get the speeds they advertise. The good thing about having the HUB is that when I upgrade to USB 3.0 devices then I would be able to use the HUB.

AC Adapter
When you use low powered devices you do not need to use the AC adapter. For higher powered devices the AC adapter will be required. One advantage of having an AC Adapter is that you can charge your USB devices while your laptop is off, using it for iPods is an example.

Price
The Anker USB 3.0 HUB is priced between $20 to $30 (depending on store). Since it's a fairly low price I think this is one the factors that influenced my purchase.

If you purchase a 7 port USB 3.0 HUB then you could be looking at a price of $50 to $70 (generally, although there are exceptions)

IMPORTANT
If you don't have a USB 3.0 capable system then the Anker HUB will be useless. Usually USB 3.0 is distinguished because of the blue color on the ports.

One Problem
One of the ports on the Anker HUB went bad. The port provides power, but no data. I could use it for charging devices, but the data transfer is important to me. Maybe this problem is just a faulty unit, I recommend checking other reviews to see if there are other people having similar issues.

Overall
I think this is a small and inexpensive product. It has it's pros and cons but it will work fine if you need the extra ports or the convenience of using it similarly to a docking station.

Links:

Anker USB 3.0 HUB 4-Ports

Other USB 3.0 HUBs

Images:

Toshiba 14 Inch USB Mobile LCD Monitor

2012-02-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

Toshiba has made a very good USB powered mobile LCD monitor. The "Toshiba 14 Inch USB Mobile LCD Monitor" has it's pros and cons. Let's go over them.

Box Contents

Monitor
Case/Stand
CD with drivers
USB cable
Documents

Installation
I recommend installing the drivers before plugging the monitor.

Screen Size + Resolution
At 14 inches and a resolution of 1366x768 this screen is very functional. Videos, images, and web browsing will fit very well. The monitor will be very functional.

Reflection
The screen has a matte finish, thank goodness. I really detest glossy screens. While the glossy screen is useful for viewing what people are doing behind you... it affects you computing experience.

Brightness/Contrast
The Toshiba is a slightly brighter screen than the Lenovo ThinkVision (it's 220 nits vs 200 nits). The 220 nits can be achieved when you use an optional power adapter, if you do not use it then it's same as the Lenovo ThinkVision. The contrast ratio is the same at 400:1. One of the big differences is that the Lenovo had 16 brightness levels, the Toshiba has 2 levels.

Comparing the ThinkVision to the Toshiba side by side I can notice that the Lenovo offers better "white" colors, this may be a brightness issue but it could also be a color issue.

Colors
The Toshiba has a range of up to 256 thousand colors, which is less than the Lenovo ThinkVision (262 thousand). Obviously both of these monitors are going to give less colors than most VGA/DVI/HDMI monitors. So the Toshiba and Lenovo monitors are good for previewing stuff, but not anything at the "professional" level.

Viewing Angles
The viewing angles are the same as the Lenovo ThinkVision. It's best on a full frontal view, left/right angles dimn down the screen a bit, a viewing from the bottom makes the screen dark, and if viewed from the top it makes it look bright.

Case/Stand
The monitor comes attached to the case/stand. The case is made of a nice leather and it will protect the screen very well. The case also works as a stand and it does a very good job.

This case/stand has a neat little container where you can store the included USB cable. This is a neat thing that I wish somehow was added to the Lenovo ThinkVision.

A negative thing about the case is that it does add quite a bit of volume to the screen, which also makes things heavier.

Weight
The Toshiba monitor is heavier than the Lenovo ThinkVision. My measurements put the Toshiba monitor with the case at 2.875 to 2.9375 lbs. The official documents state that it weighs at 2.8 lbs.

Buttons/Lock
There are three buttons on the front of the system. The first one is power on/off which I'm extremely thankful for. The other two buttons are brightness up/down which give you access to only two brightness levels.

The Toshiba monitor does not have a Kensington lock option, the Lenovo ThinkVision did. I personally don't use a lock, but some people may need this feature.

Text/Video
Text looks crisp and clear. Video also looks fine. There is a slight difference that most people will not notice, the response time of the Toshiba monitor is 16ms which is twice of the 8mm response of the Lenovo ThinkVision.

USB Cable
The 36 inch USB cable is a short compared to the Lenovo's 70 inch. Since the monitor will be placed close to a laptop it doesn't need to be that long.
If the cable is routed through the case it will force you to place the monitor to the left of a laptop.

Power Consumption
To conduct my tests I did an average power consumption check with and without the Toshiba monitor plugged in, I played a video on a browser, and had full brightness.

No LCD - 28,571 mW - 28,649 mW - 27, 417 mW = 28,212 mW average = 28.21 W
Yes LCD - 33,688 mW - 33,877 mW - 33,744 mW = 33,769 mW average = 33.769 W
Consumption difference = 5.56 W

Battery capacity: 91,175 mW
No LCD - 3.2317 hours
Yes LCD - 2.6999 hours
Difference - .5318 hours = 31.908 minutes

The Toshiba consumes about 32 minutes, and the Lenovo ThinkVision consumed about 16 minutes. The difference is a lot, about 2x.

Price
The original list price is $200, but the current price is about $180. The Toshiba monitor is $20 less than the Lenovo ThinkVision.

Overall
There are pros and cons about this monitor. Quality wise I think the Lenovo beats the Toshiba monitor, although it's very close. There are features that the Toshiba has that the Lenovo ThinkVision doesn't such as the on/off button and the case. But I have to say Lenovo wins on this one.

Links:

Mimo UM-710S

My thoughts

Toshiba 14 Inch USB LCD Monitor

My thoughts

Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421

My thoughts

AOC e1649Fwi 16" USB Monitor

Images