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[Canada Computers]/$200/13.3 IPS FHD(1920x1080)/Fanless/N3450/4GB RAM/32GB SSD+m.2/12.9mm metal chassis/Poorman's XPS 13

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  • Aug 6th, 2020 4:45 pm
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Deal Addict
User avatar
Dec 20, 2004
2862 posts
2537 upvotes
Vancouveresque
I'm fumbling around with trying to get Chromium OS working. Not expecting much luck, but possibly moreso than with Cloudready. I have Chromium OS's latest weekly x64 build running via USB (though it's very VERY slow..) and am trying to install it to the local disk now. I suspect this will take quite some time. No luck on the trackpad yet, but that's mostly a matter of getting the Linux kernel updated.
Last edited by GeeCee on Dec 29th, 2018 8:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
Nobody cares which companies you use/subscribe to on a monthly basis unless there is a deal to be had. Why advertise for them in your forum signature?
Banned
Apr 5, 2015
1281 posts
446 upvotes
Toronto, ON
futabasan wrote: Curious to know your thoughts.

I have a 2010 macbook air 13 inch and it's still performing well till this day for normal web browsing and word processing. Can't believe it's 8 years old. Only thing is battery is wearing off.

Would this be an upgrade? Or would it essentially be the same/a side step.
Any1
Newbie
Aug 22, 2007
66 posts
16 upvotes
Toronto
The weakest link of this system is not the cpu, it's the damn emmc drive. I just got my unit exchanged due to screen problems. Took it out of the box and did a fresh install of win10 via USB on first boot, enabled a lot of things in bios and disabled power limit. These are 3 unknown devices that I still need to find drivers for (but I backed up the whole driver store directory from the original installation so there shouldn't be any issues). I will install a mx500 msata tho I feel like it's an overkill to put a 100 bucks drive in a 200 bucks system lol. So far so good as is, the sys is much more responsive with around 14gb of space left. Did a bit of YouTube in 1080p and retroarch witout issues.
Sr. Member
May 2, 2008
592 posts
894 upvotes
Toronto, Canada
What kind of SSD do you guys buy for this laptop ? Ideally I would like something around 240-256 GB, in the $50-60 range.
Member
Mar 1, 2011
452 posts
1126 upvotes
Fraser Valley
xoy74 wrote: What kind of SSD do you guys buy for this laptop ? Ideally I would like something around 240-256 GB, in the $50-60 range.
Newegg.ca has the WD Blue 250GB for $70 with free shipping.

You can get the no name brand M.2 2280 Sata 240GB from about $60 on Amazon. I have the 60GB ($32) version of this and its worked flawlessly for over a year that I'll be using in my iSmart that should be delivered on Monday.

Update: I fixed the URL to select the no name brand 2280. The original link was to the 2242.
Last edited by Hank71 on Dec 30th, 2018 1:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Deal Addict
Jul 30, 2007
1005 posts
349 upvotes
BC
xoy74 wrote: What kind of SSD do you guys buy for this laptop ? Ideally I would like something around 240-256 GB, in the $50-60 range.
I've been thinking about getting one myself. It seems many are getting WD Blue. Shop around for prices, but I know Canada Computers has 250GB for $65 and 500GB for $90.
Deal Addict
Jun 21, 2008
1228 posts
696 upvotes
mississauga
-OY- wrote: yes, using the m2 sata as the boot drive. Performance increase is insane since the CPU no longer has to wait for the disk. Well worth the $65 for the drive.

Also, I fixed the physical touchpad buttons by installing the latest mainline kernel 4.20. I am thinking of writing a blog post of how to get Linux on this machine since it took me awhile to figure all this out.
Help my good sir
msata drive installed, working, now need to setup as boot drive in win10, any guidance will be massively appreciated
Banned
Apr 5, 2015
1281 posts
446 upvotes
Toronto, ON
futabasan wrote: Curious to know your thoughts.

I have a 2010 macbook air 13 inch and it's still performing well till this day for normal web browsing and word processing. Can't believe it's 8 years old. Only thing is battery is wearing off.

Would this be an upgrade? Or would it essentially be the same/a side step.
Anyone can gimme advice?
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 21, 2011
2905 posts
2130 upvotes
Parksville, BC
futabasan wrote: Anyone can gimme advice?
This one will be slightly faster. The GPU is probably 3-4 times faster on this one. I would think that the screen itself will also be much better. Obviously you would need an SSD to match the storage of the Macbook.
Newbie
Dec 28, 2018
6 posts
1 upvote
bitronic1 wrote: The weakest link of this system is not the cpu, it's the damn emmc drive. I just got my unit exchanged due to screen problems. Took it out of the box and did a fresh install of win10 via USB on first boot, enabled a lot of things in bios and disabled power limit. These are 3 unknown devices that I still need to find drivers for (but I backed up the whole driver store directory from the original installation so there shouldn't be any issues). I will install a mx500 msata tho I feel like it's an overkill to put a 100 bucks drive in a 200 bucks system lol. So far so good as is, the sys is much more responsive with around 14gb of space left. Did a bit of YouTube in 1080p and retroarch witout issues.
I also did a fresh Win 10 install! But i don't have the drivers backed up! Now i have a couple of unknown devices! Anyway I can locate these drivers in the internet! So far no luck!
Newbie
Dec 14, 2006
74 posts
107 upvotes
jensen1 wrote: Also i was thinking to restore the windows image i made previously, would that fly, i'm a bit technically oriented so wouldn't mind giving the old noggin a workout
It's quite easy to install, three philips screws and pop it in and close her up. I would recommend installing Windows 10 from scratch by creating a USB flash disk using this guide:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... nload-tool

It'll make sure that there's no backdoor that iSmart/Canada Computers/mfg put in with their WIndows 10, and you'll have a clean install from the latest Windows 10 without the upgrade path (saves on disk bloat).
PressureBoom wrote: I appreciate your insights on this laptop so far and I'd love to see a blog post about it if you decide to do it. How do you find the battery life on your Linux install?
I haven't had the chance to use it on a full charge yet, I'll keep you posted. I do have the power limit removed to make it use the full 15W with the 'powersave' governor. I have "finished" setting up my Linux environment, and this laptop is perfect for its price. Suspend/wakeup works just fine with kernel 4.20. The machine uses ~250MB on boot up. With Chrome running, it goes up to around 700MB. 4GB is plenty enough for my usage.

The only downside I have with it is a giant bright/stuck pixel in the middle of the screen, but I guess I lost the lottery on that one :(
Member
Oct 19, 2009
275 posts
277 upvotes
Toronto
Glancealot wrote: "Thanks for the tip. I still had a very hard time until I searched and found out that CSM (Compatibility Support Mode) on the BIOS Advanced menu, needs to be enabled. I'm typing this from Ubuntu in "Try Out" mode launched on my iSmart. This screen is so much better than my Lenovo T420"

Can you take some pictures/videos/screenshots? i am curious about the performance of linux on this, is it much faster than win 10? how much free space do you have?
At the time of my previous post, I had solved the problem of getting the Ubuntu installation media (image on USB) to boot, and I was interested to test the OS before deciding whether I would invest in an M.2 SSD which would be needed for a permanent installation. Since that test went so well, I bought the 500GB WD at Canada Computers this morning. It was only $15 more than the 250GB version.

To install, I avoided making any change to the media where Windows 10 lives. I wrestled a bit to persuade Ubuntu to do an LVM-based installation and it eventually agreed.

I'm not a Windows user, so I can't make a valid comparison between it and Ubuntu. In general, Linux requires fewer resources than Windows. My iSmart Linux is performing nicely. The battery lasts a long time, and goes even further with BlueTooth turned off. At some point, I may capture some screens but I'm not sure what that will tell you. The OS reports that the display is running at 1920 x 1080 (16:9) and refreshing at 59.93Hz.

I don't demand a lot from my Laptop. It's usually just a terminal. When I'm doing something that requires power, I'm logged in to servers that have the necessary resources.
Deal Addict
Feb 24, 2008
3583 posts
2275 upvotes
Mississauga
Ordered via Amazon (along with WD 250gb SSD). $307 all in (incl $10 Acura promo)

Will reign fury of hell on OP if this turns out to be a dud :)

Hopefully it's the best $300 I've ever spent.

Op thanked
Deal Addict
Jun 21, 2008
1228 posts
696 upvotes
mississauga
-OY- wrote: It's quite easy to install, three philips screws and pop it in and close her up. I would recommend installing Windows 10 from scratch by creating a USB flash disk using this guide:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... nload-tool

It'll make sure that there's no backdoor that iSmart/Canada Computers/mfg put in with their WIndows 10, and you'll have a clean install from the latest Windows 10 without the upgrade path (saves on disk bloat).



I haven't had the chance to use it on a full charge yet, I'll keep you posted. I do have the power limit removed to make it use the full 15W with the 'powersave' governor. I have "finished" setting up my Linux environment, and this laptop is perfect for its price. Suspend/wakeup works just fine with kernel 4.20. The machine uses ~250MB on boot up. With Chrome running, it goes up to around 700MB. 4GB is plenty enough for my usage.

The only downside I have with it is a giant bright/stuck pixel in the middle of the screen, but I guess I lost the lottery on that one :(
Thanks a million, working on it now and will post a summary if everything works out.Peace
Deal Addict
Jan 12, 2017
1741 posts
1040 upvotes
Easiest way would be to fully clone the eMMC drive over to your msata drive - Macrium reflect is free and works. Don't worry about the partition sizes for now - you can resize later.

To change the boot drive over, check out the steps here to get into the BIOS - https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/acce ... windows-10
There is a boot menu item in the BIOS that should let you move the msata drive to first priority.

Should take about 15-20 minutes max including cloning of the drive.

GL
jensen1 wrote: Help my good sir
msata drive installed, working, now need to setup as boot drive in win10, any guidance will be massively appreciated
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User avatar
Apr 6, 2003
2511 posts
229 upvotes
I saw earlier that there are some exclusive drivers that come with the computer that don't exist if you do a clean install of Windows, is that true?

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