Ideapad u330 - New owners :-)

Don't forget that the people you're talking to are relatively limited in their responsibilities and powers - and that chewing them out over what you see as systemic failures in Lenovo's manufacturing/shipping process won't do any more good than calmly asking them to take a formal complaint and laying out your issues concisely. When you complain to them, what you want is for the complaint to get passed up the chain - not to **** off someone who's only talking to you because they need a job just like everyone else. Being nice, even while being firm on the validity and substance of your complaint, can sometimes get results where yelling won't - especially if, as people seem to think, "results" are largely dependent on whether you have a "nice" sales rep. Whether your sales rep is nice or might be dependent on whether or not you're nice.

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Anyway, I have a question: people keep hanging on to the notion that "maybe, someday", Lenovo "could" fix the battery issues with BIOS or other software updates. My question, as someone who is considering purchasing one of these but hesitating (battery's not the only reason), is how likely is it that this would and could actually happen? Is this common? Is it possible? Or if I buy this laptop should I buy it knowing that the battery will always be this way?

 

I have been as calm and polite as possible on the phone with customer service. So I don't think that is the only problem. I've never yelled at any of them and I've never blamed them for the problem. The tone I've been given is by customer service is "deal with it or cancel your order".

 

this thread is clearly the u330 OWNER'S thread...i dont know why there is so much discussion about lenovo customer service and refunds

any new findings from owners? new reviews? some cool features not known yet?

 

Got mine today

I'm impressed with how much nicer the build quality seems compared to my M1330. On the other hand I liked the touch buttons on the 1330 more because I didn't have to hit two buttons to change songs. One thing I haven't been able to figure out yet is how to turn bluetooth off :/

 

Well, being a new U330 owner means having to deal with Lenovo customer service...

I'll go back to watching Palin dodge questions.

 

Fn + F5. 10 char limit.

 

Thanks, boy do I feel dumb

 

This could be fixed with BIOS and or SW updates like better battery management functions.

 

Cant wait for my U330 to be shipped and arrived so that I can get started on the Undervolting thing and start testing my battery life....Do you think we can give suggestion to Lenovo via email/phone concerning future BIOS or SW updates that would help improve their products?

 

Has anyone contacted Lenovo about getting a second power adapter? I don't see one on their site. Only thing I can find online is a third party one on ebay.

 

45J7717 is the item number for a replacement Ideapad 90w adapter.
41N8460 is the item number for the Slim 90w Adapter.

I have a 10% off coupon USPTVSU10

 

I doubt they care.

I think they already knew quite a few of the major bugs.

Hey once you got the undervolt working please share the settings with us will you?

 

Sharing undervolt settings wont do too much good. Individual processors are more or less power hungry than the next.

 

Anyone having problems with their wireless connecting after a restart? I've tried setting it to automatically connect with Vista and the Lenovo ReadyComm. It's more consistent with the Lenovo software but it still misses sometimes.

FYI, i'm using a buffalo router with DD-WRT.

 

Havoc,

How's your battery doing so far?

 

I STILL Have not got mine...

Ordered 9/1....

 

I have a similar problem, but it eventually connects, albeit 60-90 secs later. It kinda sucks, because I would have to sit there and wait for it connect. My m1330 only took 5-7 seconds to connect

Anyone have problems with the touch sensitive controls? I ran into a problem where if I try to increase my volume a few notches, it would go into a mute/unmute continuous loop. When this is going on, I can't tap my touch pad to select something and I lose my scrolling ability. I've tried reinstalling drivers for both the touch pad and the Realtek HD Audio Manager, but this doesn't seem to fix the problem. I've found that if I launch the audio manager and keep pressing the mute/unmute button, it'll stop the loop. Restarting the computer also doesn't fix the problem.

Any ideas?

 

Battery is good. I just passed 4 hours, but 1hr of it was watching the debate.

 

Very good news indeed.

 

what are your power settings? and what did you do during the 4 hrs?

 

Does anyone know if the thinkpad chargers (which are much smaller apparently) can be used with the U330?

 

No problems with my touch buttons and I hope not to have them. I had a DV4T and after a week the touch sensitive buttons didnt work properly.

 

Yes, the Thinkpad slim charger can be used with the U330.

Battery:
Power saver with BT and Wifi on, screen @ 2. I was using Word, Thunderbird, and Mozilla. The battery lasted at least four hours.

 

you should be happy with you laptop....the reps are saying again that it "could be shipped out anytime next week"....been saying that with my T400 for months....I don't trust them at all.....but we can't blame them....their jobs are to keep the us in business.....I really hope what they say come true....been waiting since Aug 5 for a laptop (T400 and now U330).

Havoc531....have you done undervolting with your laptop? and did you find any significant difference with the battery life? Thanks

 

Is there a quick way to turn off the touchpad?

 

I dont have the computer with me, but there is probably a Fn key to do that.

 

If you go to the support forum that Lenovo uses, look for an admin named Mark to PM with requests/ideas as he has the ability I believe to transfer those to the right people.

BBGus

 

There are instances where the manufacturer software and the Vista software can conflict using the same WiFi hard ware card in past models. Try choosing one to use, disable the other, and then make sure you have the most up to date software/driver for the one you want to use.

BBGus

 

That sounds like a Driver/Software issue. Double check that you have the most up to date drivers/software installed both for the sound as well as the multi-touch buttons. If that doesn't work, consider checking with the hardware manufacturer of the sound card/chip and get the driver straight from them to see if that fixes the problem. If that doesn't work, submit a detailed paragraph of the problem to the admin Mark at the Lenovo support forum through a PM of post and see what he would recommend.

BBGus

 

Please don't PM Mark with things like this. His inbox runs in the triple digits as it is. Just post it in the forum where members of the support teams will see it. They may or may not respond publicly, but they do take note of things posted there.

Be sure to post it in the ideaPad board, and check to see if there's an existing thread already. If there is, add yours to it since it helps keep all the details in one place and helps them see if it's a one-off situation or a wide-spread problem. If there's not already an existing thread, please use a brief but descriptive subject line.

 

I talked to Lenovo with their chat thing and they said currently they don't sell a power adapter for the U330. I see those part numbers from the ideapad accessories page. I'll probably wait instead of buying a third party one from ebay i guess.

 

I ordered 9/25 - expected shipping date 10/9.
I just received the shipping confirmation.

Lower spec U330 on its way for the wifesky! Woohoo.

 

Just received my U330 320gb/3gb from UPS last night. Unfortunately, I bought another laptop in the interim and Lenovo wants to charge me a 15% restocking fee even if the box is still unopened. So it's up for sale here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lenovo-U330-Laptop-13-3-LED-P7350-DDR3-NEW-IN-BOX_W0QQitemZ200260041782QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200260041782&_trkparms=72%3A1205|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

I finally got my U330 today! And there are a couple of things wrong with it...

Firstly, there is a slit between the cover of the touchpad and the bottom base(where the indicator lights are) so you can see the lights flash from within through the slit.

I think I have a dead pixel...or a stuck pixel(what a friend told me)? Looking into any fixes if anyone has suggestions...

The rubber feet are uneven as many of you have mentioned....

Battery life seems pretty random. I just have 1 hr 51 min left and now after a couple of minutes I have 1 hr 57 min left...

I haven't had this laptop for even an hour yet, so don't really know what else to post. I can say that my Dell Inspiron 1501 was a lot better in quality than the U330. I feel there are too many rough edges on the U330.

Edit: Also there is this clicking noise on the left hand side of the kkeyboard where the green leaf sticker is. Just clicks every once in a while(?).

Edit: It's not even a click, it feels like something is loose in there...

 

Mine also does not sit perfectly level. On a different note, if anyone decides they want his U330 on ebay don't forget live cashback to get 200 off!

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=937306&highlight=ebay

Also of note if anyone else is annoyed that WMP opens whenever you hit the play hotkey, there is a workaround on the ideapad forums

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/...&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=2528#M2528

 

i am also having a problem with the clicking noise. it clicks at random times and is beginning to annoy me a lot. i also think it is because something is loose in there. anyone else have experience with this clicking noise?

 

So far the clicking noise happens only when I tilt or move the notebook.

 

Someone posted on SD that the clicking is the shock detector for the hard drive. I can't confirm that's true tho.

 

As I have expected...called yesterday they said ship out by next week (week of October 6th)....called today they say will ship out on the week of October 14th.....I am hoping it will be shipped before then.

 

all you have to do is complain enough and you can get a restocking fee - the customer always wins, always.

i got my restocking fee reversed - and mine was opened

 

Same here

 

Here it is gentlemen. I ordered it Wednesday and received it today. Excellent customer service from the seller and it only took 3 days from Japan!!!












Fitment is perfect, and the sleeve provides excellent protection from its padding. I couldn't have asked for a better sleeve.

 

i jsut reformatted the u330, got the recovery disk and everything.

how do i get veriface back? There is no installation file for it in the drivers folder that came wtih the partition.

 

Whats the sellers name on ebay?

 

You got the recovery disk from Lenovo or one you created?

 

Go to the download section in the lenovo website and go to u110 instead of u330. There is a veriface III software there. It "should" work?

 

Ebay username = tenikiti

 

thanks, but i cannot find any black.

 

I called few minutes ago, and they told me that my est. ship day is 14th too!!! .....on the web says that is tomorrow.

 

Gahh I can't decide what to do. My dad is convinced that my U330 won't last because it's built by a chinese company(there are already so many odd things about it) and the build quality seems kind of...flimsy(it's squeaks in so many places with just a little bit of pressure).

Any advice on whether I should return it or maybe some feedback about how long ideapads usually last.