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John Ratsey

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  1. John Ratsey
    My setup is simple compared to many: A Virgin Media 100mbs cable modem is in one corner of the house (so not very good wifi coverage) which is hard-wired to a TP Link Archer A7 router which is located upstairs in the centre of the house (my study) from where there's OK wifi coverage to all corners. There are three wired clients (two printers next to the router plus a powerline adaptor to a Tesla Powerwall battery in the garage) plus 14 wireless clients. The cable between cable modem and router was installed about 20 years ago when wifi was in its infancy and most computers needed a wired connection.
  2. John Ratsey
    Some more comments: (i) There's a quirk in the Battery Life Extender option in the LG Control Center. It's meant to limit the maximum charge to 80%. However, if the function is enabled when there's more than 80% charge then the system maintains the maximum charge at 100% until the cumpter is used on battery for long enough for the charge level drops below 80% whereupon the extender becomes effective. (ii) The audio quality through the built-in loudspeakers is surprisingly good with more than a hint of bass. (iii) I did some simple speed performance tests on both the Gram 17 (Core i7-1165G7 CPU) and the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 13.3 (Core i5-1130G7 CPU) and compared these with some results in my archive for older notebooks. Two noteworthy points are (a) the near doubling of nominal CPU power doesn't provide a very big speed improvement and (b) performance is similar to my Precision 5510 with an i7-6820HQ CPU which was quite potent in its era.
  3. John Ratsey
    I recently bought a Gram 17 model 17Z90P to replace a Dell Optiplex all-in-one which, I had decided, was taking up too much desk space. Before the Optiplex I had used an XPS 15 but my eyes were suggesting that they would like a bigger screen. So, with the Optiplex too big and and XPS 15 too small, I'm hoping that the Gram 17 will be a happy compromise. What attracted me to the Gram 17? There's not much choice in the 17" category and the XPS 17 is overpowered for my needs. As a long-term user of the thin-and-light notebooks I was also curious to try an LG product and the 3lb Gram 17 would make a good companion to the 2lb Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 13.3 which I recently bought to use away from home. I spent most of yesterday transferring everything to the Gram 17 which is now in use. What have I noticed so far? The screen is very reflective but this can be largely mitigated by tilting it back as there's no loss of quality due to the excellent viewing angles. The keyboard action is very pleasant - fairly low travel but comfortable. I'm not a fan of having a numpad and would have preferred a column of navigation keys on the right side of the keyboard. However, pressing the NumLk key toggles between numbers and navigation keys (there's no status light but on an-screen display to show when the status is changed) so it's better than nothing. My last encounter with a notebook with a numpad was a 15" Dell E5570 which ended after a few months as there wasn't enough room for my left wrist on the palmrest. There's no such problem with the Gram 17. A few days ago I had opened up the Gram 17 to add a 2nd SSD (Intel 660p which had been used in the XPS 15). Reviews elsewhere had indicated that getting inside wasn't easy. The difficult part is removing the four rubber feet on the corners as these are not only held in place by adhesive but are also embedded in recesses so it's a matter of prising them out of the holes. There's also a strange little foot between the two back feet which is too small to be in contact with the desk surface. The other screws are under covers which are easy to remove. Once the screws are out then it's a matter of prising off the base. I started at the middle front. Anyway, here's a view of the inside before I added the 2nd SSD: There's plenty of empty space and I assume that the boards are shared with the smaller Grams using different cables. The fan isn't very big but nor is it noisy. To be continued in due course ....
  4. John Ratsey
    I also wondering how much bending these thin notebooks can handle before something breaks. It's unlikely to be the electronics as the boards are relatively small and joined by ribbon cables. My 13.3 goes into a neoprene sleeve when it's travelling and the display is supported because it's closed against the chassis. It's possible the display will be pushed against the keyboard and get marked so putting a sheet of paper between the two could be prudent. My 13.3 is very quiet unless put under load and then it's more of a purr than a whine.
  5. John Ratsey
    That's a very tempting price, even though it has the numpad. It's time to (re)read the notebookcheck review. There's an empty M.2 2280 slot should you need more storage capacity.
  6. John Ratsey
    In NBR's early days Andrew Baxter used to publish user reviews which varied extensively in terms of detail. This later evolved into standardised reviews which lacked the perspectives of individual users. A further feature of the earlier NBR reviews was that there was an associated thread for discussion of each review where readers could give their own comments or ask questions. I found this very beneficial as comments often enhanced the initial review. Building links into the NBRarchive will help the search engines bring people here. One of my pending tasks is to build some sticky threads for the Samsung sub-forum based on the old NBR sticky threads (list here) linking to the contents (here). It's largely a matter of copying something like this and rebuilding the links. It should provide an example of what can be done in the other parts of the forum.
  7. John Ratsey
    I share your dislike of glossy screens and the numpad but considered them to be acceptable trade-offs given the Gram 17's other attractions including a 16:10 WQXGA display. I hadn't previously noticed the reflection problem but have just checked and it's there. Similarly the 13" Samsung has a glossy screen but it hasn't caused me problems perhaps because modern panels are brighter than those of 10 or more years ago. I hope I'll be able to adapt to the Gram 17's offset keyboard once I get it into serious use. My last encounter with a notebook with a numpad was the Latitude 5570 which had the touchpad lined up with the spacebar leaving insufficient space for my left palm to sit on the palmrest. I found this to be uncomfortable so it was rehomed and I got a Precision 5510 which was more comfortable to use. The Gram 17 has more space to the left of the touchpad. I share your bafflement as to why Dell didn't include a column of navigation keys on the bigger XPS machines and would have preferred if LG had done this. I briefly looked at the specs for the XPS17 but it appeared to be overpowered and too pricy for my needs. There's no mention of a 17" version in Samsung's announcement of the Book2 Pro notebooks. I suspect that the market for 17" notebooks is thought to be relatively small but now that they no longer weigh a ton then I expect more people could be interested.
  8. John Ratsey
    I've been looking at Thunderbolt docking stations as I wanted something I could connect to an LG Gram 17 which would both provide power for the notebook and be the connection point for fixed accessories. I had still been considering my options when I came across a new Lindy Thunderbolt 3 dock on ebay for £50. With two Thunderbolt ports (up and down) plus five USB-A ports it fulfilled my key requirements so I pulled the trigger. The 130W PSU is a brick that's much heavier than than the docking station but the rest is OK. There seems to be a performance loss through the device as the sequential speed of a Crucial X6 external SSD which is about 700MB/s when connected directly to the notebook drops to about 500MB/s when connected through the docking station. I don't know enough about these devices to know if this is normal but it's OK for my needs and, if nothing else, will provide useful modestly priced experience to guide future investment on something better. I'm also using one of these magnetic connectors to act as a port saver. Many are good for USB-C power but this one claims to have TB3 compatibility (and was in use during the above test). The magnet isn't as strong as I would like and moving the cable (which currently sticks straight out) can easily break the connection.
  9. John Ratsey
    Samsung has announced the Galaxy Book2 Pro series. The key changes from the current Book Pro series appear to be the Intel 12th generation platform, a FHD webcam and some enhanced security features. There's also the comment "Additionally, new algorithms extend the battery lifecycles and lower standby power reducing the need for frequent battery replacements" (does this mean that the current products eat batteries -I've got mine set to a maximum 85%charge)? The specs (at the bottom of the Samsung web page) also show a 32GB RAM option and Intel® Arc™ external graphics graphics option for the 15.6" version. Unless the new products include a "must have" feature, now is the time for buying the remaining stock of the current line-up at reduced prices.
  10. John Ratsey
    I've found that hibernation / resume to be impressively quick: Writing /reading the RAM contents should be a good test of sequential performance and a fast SSD should reduce the performance bottleneck when the paging file has to be used. However, performance in everyday usage depends on on the ability to handle the random access reading and writing and newer SSDs tend to be better than old ones in this respect although there's nothing like the performance boost which came from the shift from spinning disks to SSDs due to the negligible access time of the latter. That said, I've had problems with an almost full SSD appearing to freeze a computer when asked to write a load of data as it first needed to do a load of house-keeping to create a contiguous block of empty space.
  11. John Ratsey
    Yes. The 2021 Galaxy Book Pro 13.3 model code is NP935XDB. The two sizes will have much in common. Notebookcheck has a good review of the 15.6" version. There's a free M.2 2280 slot should more storage be needed. It's intriguing to see how notebooks have managed to shed weight over the years. Just over 15 years ago I bought a Samsung NP-X60plus which was, at 2.55kg (5.5lb), one of the lightest 15" notebooks of its era and it was impossible to imagine how things could evolve to give something better at less than half the weight or thickness. Travel is also made easier by the use of USB-C chargers. The bundled 65W Samsung charger is light for the power rating but the computer is happy being powered by an even lighter 45W phone charger and will work, with a warning, using a 25W charger. If you have any more questions please ask. I've just been away for a couple of weeks with the 13.3 and, apart from the glitches noted above, it performed very satisfactorily (one advantage of 8GB RAM is that hibernation / resume is very fast). The hinges don't have much strength but the display is so light that it doesn't need strong hinges. I thought that the Dell Latitude 7370 which I used to carry was a lightweight machine but this new machine is even lighter to the extent I start to wonder if it's in the bag. I start to wonder if I should have bought the bigger Book Pro for travel as it's the same weight as the Latitude 7370 but one attraction of the 13.3 size is that it's almost the same size as a standard A4 document plus the UK version of the bigger Book Pro has a white keyboard which I see as a major disadvantage as it reduces the visibility of the backlit lettering. I've also bought an LG Gram 17 to replace an all-in-one desktop which is hogging too much desk space. However, I'm still in the process of setting it up so it's too soon to compare the LG and Samsung alternatives.
  12. John Ratsey
    Some of the old mod squad are here so be careful what you say about them. 😁 It's sometimes prudent to choose the words you type to avoid being offensive. I joined NBR in April 2005 to make some comments about my new Asus W3A. Most were positive but I was annoyed that the advertised weight was 4.2 lbs and the actual weight was 5.5 lbs (which discussion concluded was due to my W3A having a battery and the advertised weight being for a small battery). Since then many manufacturers have got slightly more careful with their words and prefix the weight with "starting from".
  13. John Ratsey
    I've had another incident on a similar theme. This time it was the Wi-Fi that disappeared and Device Manager showed that the Wi-Fi card had a problem. I can understand it getting a little challenged by a troublesome internet connection and also running concurrently with 4G but it should be designed to handle such situations. I then tried shutdown and restart (no change), visiting the BIOS setup (no change) and finally sleep-wake (which fixed the problem). Clearing these errors seems to be a bit random but the errors shouldn't be happening in the first place. Samsung Update says that the Wi-Fi driver is up to date but it's version 22.60.06 from 27 May 21. The Intel Driver & Support Assistant shows that there is a much newer driver (also newer graphics and Bluetooth drivers but not anything which might be related to the USB controller problem mentioned above). It therefore appears that Samsung hasn't changed its ways from the past when updating its system to show the newer drivers isn't given a high priority.
  14. John Ratsey
    I had an interesting problem a few days ago when the front USB-C port lost data connectivity. I had an external SSD attached when the notebook went into hibernation after which the computer wouldn't recognise the SSD upon resume. There was no trace of the SSD in Disk Management nor in Device Manager. My first thought was that the SSD had died but the SSD still worked if connected to the other USB-C port. I then tested the problem port with my phone and that wasn't recognised either. Google indicated that there is a rare error that if the USB-C hub detects a problem then it can disable the port until it's reset. So I dug deeper into Device Manager and found that one of the USB Host Controller had an exclamation mark by it (this screen capture is after I fixed the problem). So the next challenge was how to reset the USB controller. Disabling / enabling did nothing nor did an attempt to reinstall the driver. So finally I went into the BIOS to look for any options. None were available. However, after exiting the BIOS without changing anything the port was working again. I therefore presume that going into the BIOS initiates a hardware check which found the port was OK and re-enabled it. This doesn't seem to be a Samsung-specific problem but a feature of the Intel hardware.
  15. John Ratsey
    Here's an example of the nearly everything soldered approach. The SSD is a socketed M.2 2230 under the silver cover next to the CPU so that's upgradable (which I've done). While I would have preferred more than 8GB RAM I've been impressed with the performance. Perhaps the weak link in the design is fitting some ports on the end of the mainboard rather than on a separate daughterboard but that might be a conscious design decision due to speed requirements of thunderbolt. The final product is a slim 13" machine that weighs just under 2lbs and has a good battery life - a notebook with a keyboard in what is normally tablet territory (and who expects to have upgradable components in a tablet?).
  16. John Ratsey
    More and more components soldered onto the mainboard helps with reducing thickness and weight for those who want less of both - the challenge is to select something appropriate from among the limited hardware options on offer. I suspect that soldered components also improve reliability compared with socketed components although, if anything does go wrong, it's more difficult to fix. Regarding the ports, it's up to the potential purchaser to study what is on offer and select something appropriate to their needs. I recently bought one of these which has a good selection of ports given the size. My only complaint is that I'd like a full-sized SD card slot. However, on a more positive note I sense that's there are signs of a move away from the 16:9 displays (which should never have become mainstream) to panels which provide more vertical real estate. There was once a time when 4:3 was almost standard although the 80 columns x 8 lines of the Epson PX8's display could be considered to be the ultimate in widescreen.
  17. John Ratsey
    It's slightly off topic for this thread but when @Aaron44126 has finished weaving his magic we'll be able to see all the old NBR threads. This example is for the Samsung forum but it's a matter of joining up the list here to the contents here. Your knowledge of the LG notebooks and forum will be useful in helping to build a sticky thread in the sub-forum listing the most important threads in the LG section of the archive. I've now got an interest in LG having recently purchased a Gram 17.
  18. John Ratsey
    I'm late to this party but one advantage of the Dell brand is the publication of the service documentation. The Precision 7740 info is here . Some notebooks are easier to open up than others and Dell tends to fall into the easier category plus having the manufacturer's guidance to hand is useful.
  19. John Ratsey
    Well said and this echoes my own thinking. I also think that new users are more likely to come if the name found by their favourite search engine looks relevant and once we get the NBR archive linked in to the different notebook sections then this site will climb up the search rankings. There's also nothing stopping this forum having a desktop corner where members can discuss their desktops (many notebook owners have both) and sometimes it's useful to make comparisons between desktops and notebooks.
  20. John Ratsey
    Thank you for this very informative article. I hadn't done my homework before trying Windows 11 and one I found the taskbar problem (I like it up the left side of the screen so I can maximise the vertical real estate) I went back to Windows 10 without further exploration and didn't get as far as having Edge and Bing forced down my throat. Perhaps it would be better if Microsoft keep the Win 11 hardware requirements high because, as 2025 approaches, the outcry over the environmental consequences of lots of perfectly usable Win 10 machines being prematurely consigned to landfill may oblige Microsoft to continue to support Win 10 (bug fixes and blocking security holes) for several more years.
  21. John Ratsey
    Thanks for the confirmation and figuring out that I'd had a copy - past malfunction for the 2nd link.
  22. John Ratsey
    Am I right in thinking that once all the clever stuff is finished then all the threads here will be linked to the corresponding titles here? I can then make a sticky at the top of the new Samsung forum with links to some key threads in the archive.
  23. John Ratsey
    I'm currently using a Samsung S21 which i bought to replace an A8 (2018) primarily because of the better camera(s). I've two key requirements for a phone (i) small enough to fit in my pockets and (ii) the ability to take two SIM cards so I can add a local SIM when I travel. The S21 is a few millimetres bigger than the A8 and I see that the S22 is a few mm smaller so I might start looking around for one at a good price (ex-display or a return) once they have arrived. If the S22's camera zoom ability is better than the S21 then that's a further attraction.
  24. John Ratsey
    The challenge is to get this site well up the search rankings when people look for notebookreview.com. I see there's a mention at the end of https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/did-notebookreview-com-bite-the-dust.2331577/ . The more references we can scatter around the internet the better the prospects of people finding this forum.
  25. John Ratsey
    Changing the SSD is the only upgrade I can do on this notebook. I suspect that most of the current crop of thin-and-light notebooks are similar.
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