Thinkpads Forum

Hi again,

Told you I'd "be back"...

I have another question, born from the impossibility to use the function keys (F1, F2, etc...) without pressing simultaneously the fn key. I use the function keys a lot, and from my Mac experience, I know that you can use them in conjunction with the fn key to double their use; for example, on the MacBook Pro, you can use F5 alone to refresh a Web page, and fn-F5 to crank the volume up. Here, I can't seem to refresh a Web page other than by using fn-F5, while F5 alone doesn't do anything. Pressing F1 will toggle the volume on and off, though, but it seems the F5 key is devoted to connecting a projector, which I never do. Can I remap some of the keys? If so, how? A utility that would do that?

I haven't found any settings in Control Panel under Keyboard that will let me customize the use of the function keys, so I've decided to poll my new friends here!

Look in the BIOS. With the Edge, it defaults to multimedia keys first instead of function keys first. You can switch this behavior back to the conventional keyboard behavior in the BIOS somewhere.

At first I didn't mind Lenovo's elimination of normal function keys. I now considered it a significant design flaw of an otherwise excellent chiclet laptop keyboard. The arrangement may be OK if one assumes everyone wants and uses Windows. The arrangement cripples Linux power users, since F keys are central to key combinations that greatly speed up desktop activity. It is faster to use a mouse cursor than the F keys to open, close, move, and etc desktop windows since the f keys are difficult to eyeball (being the minor decal on the chiclet keyboard and because they require pressing the fn key first.

Even for Windows users, I consider it a design flaw since Lenovo designed the Edge to be a small business and home office laptop, which means productivity is the main intended use. Someone like myself who uses computers to do many different things, sort of like super duct tape or an adjustable wrench with a hammer on one end. The F key layout reduces the Edge and any other more consumer market lenovo series to an entertainment machine so far as I am concerned.

I recently found that my grandson's new Acer 11.6" netbook, powered by the new AMD C-50 processor, which I bought for him at Target for $200, is a much more all around useful computer than my Edge. This Acer does about everything better, HDMI movie streaming to a TV, YouTube and other online videos (unlike the Edge, the Acer energy star design does not include a hardware feature that requires the user to hit a key every 9 minutes to keep the display from shutting down while streaming video and the Acer keyboard has standard F keys. The only adjustment I had to make to get Ubuntu Linux to run well in the Acer is the same adjustment I had to make for the Edge, namely limit touchpad functions, which are too sensitive for Linux software. Its pathetic that I had to design a strip of F key designaters I tape to the top of the keyboard so I can use Linux productively. Having to press three keys instead of two still slows me down and two key Linux "shortcuts" are out of the question.

In addition to costing less than half and being much more mobile than the edge, this Acer netbook has long battery life (about seven hours using wifi), interesting since the battery pack is signifiantly smaller than the Edge battery pack (The Acer weighs a total of 3 pounds including the battery pack), the HDMI is problem free. In the future I think I'll buy an Acer AO722 netbook before I buy another Edge or any Lenovo with the chiclet keyboard. Its pathetic, I think, when a person can find a computer for near toy price that out performs a $600 small business laptop. I do not throw laptops across rooms or drop them off tables, so the extra Lenovo features do not make up for Edge shortcomings,

Yes, the AO722 keyboard has some flex in the center (so does the Edge) but if a person with large, heavy hands like myself can touch type 60 words a minute on the Acer and it stands up to it just fine, that should be good for most people. The Edge did not fare so well. For the first time in my many years of computer use, I had to replace the edge keyboard already. I do not think it was defective. I simply wore it out in six months. When the new keyboard crashes, I'll just give the Edge to kids. Meanwhile, my 2007 T-60 is holding up fine, Its just too big and heavy by today's standards.

I will say this, however. IBM (Lenovo America) gave me excellent support. I spent five minutes with a tech and he had a new keyboard to me in two days. Then when WIndows melted down from a malware attack, IBM tech sent me the two recovery discs within three days. The two discs return the hard drive to exactly the way it was factory new. I didn't have to do much of anything. One flaw. The instructions for installing the keyboard were so bad, I must say no instructions is better. With properly written instructions I could have removed the keyboard and replaced it in five minutes tops. Instead, it took an hour to disassemble, one minute to replace and reassemble. Working blind you must move very carefully and slowly or you will break the palm rest removing it.
I'm in agreement with Toshiba philosophy, the best support is not needing any.

Nowhere did the instructions mention or show a small screw in a strange place that holds the top right corner of the palm rest on, There are too odd ribbons you must remove and replace, There are no instructions for them. I could see a lot of owners breaking them and thus ruining the new keyboard.
My bet is most owners end up paying a shop to install the keyboard. By the way, once you know how to remove the keyboard, it takes under two minutes to do and removing it gives easy access to everything inside.

--Bruisedquasar

Are You Part of the Problem...or...Victim of Their Grand Solution?

BruisedQuasar wrote:I recently found that my grandson's new Acer 11.6" netbook, powered by the new AMD C-50 processor, which I bought for him at Target for $200, is a much more all around useful computer than my Edge. This Acer does about everything better, HDMI movie streaming to a TV, YouTube and other online videos (unlike the Edge, the Acer energy star design does not include a hardware feature that requires the user to hit a key every 9 minutes to keep the display from shutting down while streaming video and the Acer keyboard has standard F keys. The only adjustment I had to make to get Ubuntu Linux to run well in the Acer is the same adjustment I had to make for the Edge, namely limit touchpad functions, which are too sensitive for Linux software. Its pathetic that I had to design a strip of F key designaters I tape to the top of the keyboard so I can use Linux productively. Having to press three keys instead of two still slows me down and two key Linux "shortcuts" are out of the question.

Heh. I hope you at least enjoyed the process of designing a strip of F key designators. Because entering the BIOS and changing them to function as standard F keys would take exactly 30 seconds.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Ed ... a-p/237588

As far as screen shutting off during flash playing - this is most definitely a software thing, and can likely be solved through settings in the power management area or in the video driver. And if it can't - it's a bug, not a feature. I've seen it in a number of older machines, laptops and desktops - it has nothing to do with Energy Star.