After getting some useful answers on the suspend/resume issue, I took the plunge and got the TR5.
These are my first impressions, having been the owner of a Fujitsu P5010, which gives me something to compare with.
1. No manual. Well….one page with a getting started guide for those who can’t find the power button or fit the battery. Then that’s it. I understand a lot of manufacturers are going for digital manuals rather than printed media, but on a laptop this expensive I expected a manual. In comparison, the Fujitsu came with a nice, thick manual with EVERYTHING you would ever need to know, plus the quick start guide.
2. Too much bloatware. I would rather have paid less and not got all this Works and trimmed down Adobe package. Fujitsu ships a bare XP, in this machine I have almost half of each partition already taken up by all this junk. Alternatively, they could provide a CD/DVD with installers which would give you the option to fill up the machine with what you wanted.
3. WiFi didn’t work with a D-Link access point, but worked first time with a U.S. Robotics ADSL WiFi router. They both have same WEP key, so I really fail to imagine why it shouldn’t work with both unless something is very broken. It’s not acceptable that Sony simply rely on Microsoft’s zero configuration, and not include Intel’s tool to manage wireless.
4. When I close the lid the laptop suspends, but when I open it again, it doesn’t resume, I have to press the power button. Nothing really that important, but nevertheless not very logical.
5. Touchpad is WAY too small, plus it is buried too far inside the hole, which makes it a bit uncomfortable to use. The buttons also will take some getting used to, as they have this dip which kindof confuses touch.
I have still to try other things such as Bluetooth, etc. and I will be doing a clean install of XP Pro, so maybe I’ll find other things.
As for the good stuff: the screen is marvelous, the camera, although not studio quality (to be expected as it’s so tiny), is more than adequate for videoconferencing and taking quick snaps of things. The capture button is very nice addition, plus the ability to focus.
DVDs play very smoothly, on the old Fujitsu the image was jumpy and jerky when playing full screen. The sound I found was a bit tinny, but nowhere near the awfulness some have reported. The Fujitsu’s speakers where no better.
[quote author=“Mother”]3. WiFi didn’t work with a D-Link access point, but worked first time with a U.S. Robotics ADSL WiFi router. They both have same WEP key, so I really fail to imagine why it shouldn’t work with both unless something is very broken. It’s not acceptable that Sony simply rely on Microsoft’s zero configuration, and not include Intel’s tool to manage wireless.
i don’t think it’s just d-link..some have problems with linksys. i never had a problem with either one.
Just to clarify I am male, I took the nickname from the character played by Dan Akroyd in the movie “Sneakers” :D
As for the wireless issues, I have the B/G card, believed to be the 2200. I downloaded the Intel suite yesterday and I’ll give it a go, more as it happens.
Try installing WinXP SP2, this may clear up your network connection problems. You may also want to check on firmware updates for your other network hardware. FWIW I’ve had no problems connecting on my network or at hotspots.
I’ve had mine for three months now and have never missed having a user manual. With very few exceptions, none of the issues I’ve had would have been addressed in a typical manual.
The bloatware wase a pain, but I suppose for many new owners it gets them going out of the box. Add/Remove programs works well.
i say, drop 12 dollars and buy the recovery DVD’s from sony. (i still don’t understand why they couldnt’ charge 15 cents more and added it in the first place… but who knows)
with that, reinstall everything, get your 5gb back and be a happier TR’er like me
I actually got two CDs or DVDs, I still haven’t opened them up and there are no clues on the outside as to what they actually are. I am assuming they are the recovery DVDs. In any case, my probable course of action will be to install a fresh XP Pro and get the latest drivers from Sony where possible.
Oh, one other thing I noticed, it is somewhat more “ass-heavy” than other laptops, and tends to fall back if the screen is too folded aft, or if you push it a bit. All getting used to it, as always.
When I used to be a Toshiba freak, I would not give away the ‘nipple’ for a touchpad, after the Fujitsu, the touchpad doesn’t seem that awful after all. Shows you it’s just a matter of getting used to it.
[quote author=“Mother”]3. WiFi didn’t work with a D-Link access point, but worked first time with a U.S. Robotics ADSL WiFi router. They both have same WEP key, so I really fail to imagine why it shouldn’t work with both unless something is very broken. It’s not acceptable that Sony simply rely on Microsoft’s zero configuration, and not include Intel’s tool to manage wireless.
In their defense, most companies simply use Microsoft’s Zero Config (and XP SP2 solves a lot of problems) so this isn’t unusual. Also, it’s a known issue that Intel’s own drivers are part of the problem.
4. When I close the lid the laptop suspends, but when I open it again, it doesn’t resume, I have to press the power button. Nothing really that important, but nevertheless not very logical.
There is no laptop that resumes from suspend when you open the screen. So, I don’t see how that’s “illogical”. At any rate, you can change the behavior in the advanced power settings. I normally set mine to “do nothing” when the screen is closed. So, when I close it, the screen will shut off and turn back on when I open it.
5. Touchpad is WAY too small, plus it is buried too far inside the hole, which makes it a bit uncomfortable to use. The buttons also will take some getting used to, as they have this dip which kind of confuses touch.
Was the P5010s touchpad that much bigger? I’m trying to remember…I thought it was close in size (although probably a little bigger).
DVDs play very smoothly, on the old Fujitsu the image was jumpy and jerky when playing full screen.
That’s odd considering the TR5 and the P5010 have exactly the same supporting chipset and the CPU speed difference was only 100-200Mhz. And it’s not the CPU that makes the difference…it only takes about 300-400Mhz to play DVDs. It’s likely that your P5010 was not configured correctly or you had a bad optical drive.
Like you said…it always take a little time to get used to a new system. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your TR once you get it running the way that you want. :wink:
There is no laptop that resumes from suspend when you open the screen.
In fact there is. The P5010 managed to do this very nicely indeed. It was one of the features I liked most, being able to close the lid, wait for the two beeps, then go, open the lid somewhere else, and be back where I was in a couple of seconds, without pressing anything.
As for the touchpad, I cannot compare side-by-side as the 5010 was stolen, but I think it’s not that much smaller, but the fact that it’s recessed into the case so much probably makes it look & feel smaller. I’m getting quite used to it already.
Also i think my toshiba comes back from hibernation much faster than the TR. Also in my toshiba i do not need to press any button for it to come out of hibernation ( Just lift the screen and thats it ), as oppose to pressing the power button on the TR.
I, personally, would not be happy with that feature. At work, home, and school people walk up to my TR and lift the screen to see what it looks like (I find it disrespectful without asking, but it happens anyway). If everytime someone did that it turned on I would get quite annoyed.
There is no laptop that resumes from suspend when you open the screen.
In fact there is. The P5010 managed to do this very nicely indeed. It was one of the features I liked most, being able to close the lid, wait for the two beeps, then go, open the lid somewhere else, and be back where I was in a couple of seconds, without pressing anything.
As for the touchpad, I cannot compare side-by-side as the 5010 was stolen, but I think it’s not that much smaller, but the fact that it’s recessed into the case so much probably makes it look & feel smaller. I’m getting quite used to it already.
Regards,
Well, that’s interesting. I’ve owned several earlier Fujitsu P’s and they never exhibited that behavior. Even the P5xxx I checked out at the store didn’t have this “feature”. At any rate, like Erik, I don’t really find that a deal breaker as it would be more of an annoyance than a helpful feature. If your system is on standby you can easily press any key to turn the system back on as you’re opening the notebook.
I kind of liked the instant on feature with Apple notebooks, which you could turn off in a control panel if it bothered you. Nothing like opening up the notebook and having it ready to go as soon as you got the screen into position. That said, I usually hibernate my TR instead of putting it on standby, and find the power savings there far more useful than the power sapping but cool instant on from standby.
[quote author=“Mother”]3. WiFi didn’t work with a D-Link access point, but worked first time with a U.S. Robotics ADSL WiFi router. They both have same WEP key, so I really fail to imagine why it shouldn’t work with both unless something is very broken. It’s not acceptable that Sony simply rely on Microsoft’s zero configuration, and not include Intel’s tool to manage wireless.
i too had this problem, is it a Wireless G ap? How I finally fixed it, was in the intel proset, networks tab, advanced button. I needed to select RTS/CTS for mixed environment. One i did this, it worked wonderfully. I’m not sure what that really means, or if it’s possible to change that setting without the proset software.
I love the Fujitsu series of notebooks, I myself was going to buy one, but went for the TR3 instead. My past fujitsu powerbooks…lifebooks…have all been bullet proof….and yes upon opening them back up always would self recover from their stand-by. I know it’s all about pushing one button, but after using it for so long, it becomes second nature, lol. Anywho…I’m all about sony now….and I’ve kind of gotten use to the pushing of the button, which makes me relogin to windows (i have it passworded due to the sensitivity of the court documents I have on the puter)...which can cause unneeded pain….but whatever….and that’s my ramblings…
