I have a new TX, and noticed a few dd things about it (as you do…)
Such as:
The left hand side of my palm rest creaks..
The whole keyboard flexes
Left side of keyboard not flush
Constant fan noise!
The temps seem awfully high - average working temp 60+degrees, full load up to 76 degrees - is this likely to damage the unit?
When I close the screen, the left front does not sit flush on the palmrest unless I push the left hinge down a little [/list]- I noticed this with my old T1, after a few months the whole left hand side of the screen was raised up when viewing the machine closed, from the front. Has anyone else with a TX noticed this issue, or is it just me - would be nice to hear from some owners eho have had their machines a while.
I really like the TX, and it’s perfect for work and powerful enough, I’m just a little concerned as to its longevity - any long term TX users here with any comments?
[quote author=“Wadham”]I have a new TX, and noticed a few dd things about it (as you do…)
Such as:
The left hand side of my palm rest creaks..
The whole keyboard flexes
Left side of keyboard not flush
Constant fan noise!
The temps seem awfully high - average working temp 60+degrees, full load up to 76 degrees - is this likely to damage the unit?
When I close the screen, the left front does not sit flush on the palmrest unless I push the left hinge down a little [/list]- I noticed this with my old T1, after a few months the whole left hand side of the screen was raised up when viewing the machine closed, from the front. Has anyone else with a TX noticed this issue, or is it just me - would be nice to hear from some owners eho have had their machines a while.
I really like the TX, and it’s perfect for work and powerful enough, I’m just a little concerned as to its longevity - any long term TX users here with any comments?
Just wondering where did you buy your TX :?:
I can agree on the fan noise but it doesn’t bother me anymore, like my mind is immune to it
My only gripe is the white spots :evil:
aside from that I’ve checked every inch on my TX
Even the creaking, and the closed lid gap between the washer and the palm rest. And about the heat I think I get the same temp when I play a game. :?
I bought it from my local Sony Centre… :? It was fully sealed and brand new - the salesman even opened it up to show me the limited edition blue slate colour..
Are you saying that you also have many of these issues - I couldn’t quite get what you meant in your previous post - do you have the creaks and gap between lid and washer too?
I logged a call with vaio-link.com and the tech said that the standard operating temp was between 40-50 degrees, which seems odd.. :?
I meant the creaking and washer gaps, I have none of those.
Really well built in my case. Just the screen has white spots
noticeable only when you look down (left and right angle nothing)
and on the brightest settings. Other than that it looks super.
Temperature issue, doesn’t bother me that much.
Since I sit it on the table while using it. And when I do
feel the table and the TX itself for temp, it’s like nothing.
Like it has never been used (that is on battery mode
and on Wifi and just surfing and reading news on the net).
I’ll try playing Starwars KOTR2 on it later and will let you know
what I find.
I have already had about 4 TX’s, some that I was fixing for fun. Anyway, the keyboards are definitely wavy. I have also noticed the creaking on the left side. Some do it and some don’t. I have taken them apart, and lightly oiled the creases of the housings, but could not find, or stop, the creaking.
The other thing I have noticed is that the quality of the screens vary rather significantly. It is hard to see them by itself, but having had many to compare side by side, the better screens make the worse ones look darker, yellow and discolored.
I asked on your review thread if you could possibly let me know if there are any special techniques involved in removing the palm rest of the TX - I had removed all the screws and yet still felt some resistance on one side - much of the case is simply clipped with plastic tabs, but the resistance I felt appeared to be of a ‘screw-like’ nature.
Is there perhaps a screw hiding underneath the microsoft sticker on the base? I’m hesitant to remove it in case I’m wrong..
I must say, however that the screen on this TX3 is immaculate - extremely bright with real white light, not yellowy at all, simply far superior to the 5 or 6 units I have owned in the past 12-18 months.
Then you are the recipent of one of the good screens!
I guess what I was getting at is that all of them are very bright, but some are significantly whiter than others, which in turn changes the entire color range. You don’t really notice unless you see two side-by-side.
Anyway, there is a screw underneath the keyboard that needs to be removed. The keyboard can be removed by pushing back the tabs located at the top portion of the keyboard and casing. The keyboard is just press fit into place at the top up by the F-keys.
After removal of the screw under the keyboard, the casing is just snapfit together. Use your fingernails to pry the casing apart, but start at the front.
If you want to remove the upper casing entirely, you just remove the ribbon cable for the keyboard, the ribbon cable for the power buttons, the antenna cable for the WWAN and the cable for the keypad and lights.
Lastly, I would put some painters masking tape over the hinge covers, when the screen is opened, since they are easily scratched during removal/installation of the top casing.
Thanks very much for your advice mlouie, you’re a great help!!
Would you think the cpu may benefit from the application of some arctic silver thermal compund? Most of the previous laptops I have owned simply had an ‘easy to fit’ bit of thermal tape applied at the factory, as I guess it was easier and quicker on a mass production line, and on most of these units the substitution of this pad for thermal compound helped to lower the temps a few degrees.
Well, thanks to mlouie’s advice on disassembling the TX, my unit no longer creaks, the keyboard is completely flat, and my temps are a few degrees lower after applying some arctic silver 5 instead of the ‘splodges’ of thermal solution that were there before.
I must say that this is actually one of the easiest laptops to take apart, as all the components are right in front of you, i.e no multiple layers, due to the unit being so thin! The hardest part was removing the keyboard without scratching the case housing, but a few plastic spatulas did the trick.
It’s nice to know that if a hard drivereplacement is required then we’re only looking at a 15-20 minute task. Phew!
:wink:
I agree, it is much easier to disassemble than the TR. You can even change the wireless card just by removing the keyboard.
Regarding the thermal grease, where exactly did you apply it, and how did you measure the temperature. I tried installing one of those programs that measure the cpu temp, but I could never get it working and was not sure whether the motherboard support it or not?
I applied the thermal compound (arctic silver 5) directly to the processor die, by removing the heatsink/fan assembly and cleaning off the existing compound.
Processor temperatures are monitored using the mobile meter software that was recommended to me on this forum years ago -
My idle temps are approx 56-58 degrees now, which i still think is too high for a notebook, but better than the 60+ degrees it used to idle at..
However the temps will still rise to almost 80 degrees whilst playing Age of Mythology at native res, not surprising when you see how small the cooling system on this unit actually is..
Hey mlouie, just go to Fry’s Electronic and buy the Arctic Silver 5 ($7.99) and the Arctic Cleaner 1&2 ($7.99). The cleaner is for removing the white old thermal compound that Sony used.
The heatsink fan and the heatsink itself are soldered together so you need to remove them at the same time. There are 4 screws, 2 are near the heatsink, unscrew those, the other 2 are near the fan. 1 is accessible the other one is reachable when you unscrew the hard disk casing or something and the USB & Modem connector they are protected by the black stickers so lift those. Then unscrew the last screw of the Heatsink fan.
Lift the heat sink and fan slowly and then use the Artic Cleaner 1 then 2, just follow the instruction on those two cleaners, use a cloth to wipe ‘em out. After all the old thermal compound is gone put the Arctic Silver 5 on top of the processor, contour it on the processor. Fill it by 1mm thick then you’re all set. You can even use it on the Math Co-processor, just remove the white stuff, it’s like a pad sticker so just use your finger or fingernails to remove it or use the cleaner.. hehe hope this helps.. Off to work..
I’d be happy to, its difficult to describe the slate blue lid, as one minute it looks like a piece of grey slate, and the next its all bright blue and sparkly - should be a challenge for my already poor photography skills. I’ll try and get them up for the weekend..
another question, for example having the tx on the lap typing, etc does it get quite hot?
and the fan noise is it louder or more silent in comparison to the tr?
thx and looking forward some pics showing the blue version of the tx
