Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010 Review (pics, specs)

by Lukas Simko, Czech Republic

Overview and Introduction:

Fujitsu-Siemens notebooks are generally known for their solid build and plain design. They never lean too far from the"regular notebook appearance". So the Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010, astunning piece of technology, is way beyond the usual Fujitsu design guidelines. The Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook Q2010 is probably one of the lightest and most expensive sub-notebooks on the market. This one's an eye catcher -- a gem even.

And Fujitsu is treatingand speaking about the Q2010in terms ofa gem. They say that it is the "world's most desirable laptop". This notebook is designed and meant for people who travel a lot, and for those that want to stand outfrom the crowd when doing so. It's pure style and a begs to be looked at. And what does the "Q" mean? Q could mean Quality, but definitely not Quantity of mass or size.

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Therconfiguration of the Q2010 is fairly similar worldwide, the processor and screen will be the same no matter what, some places you can choose different memory amounts and hard drive sizes. The specs for theQ2010 I have are as follows:

• Screen: 12.1" WXGA
• Processor: 1.20 GHz Intel Core Solo Ultra Low Voltage (U1400)
• Hard Drive: 60GB (PATA 4200 RPM)
• Memory:1GB 533MHz SDRAM
• OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro
• Wireless: Intel 3945 802.11 a/b/g, Bluetooth, UMTS, EDGE (there is no UMTS or EDGE option in the North American version)
• Ports / Slots: 2 USB 2.0, external monitor and ethernet via a small replicator, headphone, microphone, docking port, ExpressCard slot (Type II PCMCIA slot in North America), SD card slot
• Embedded TPM and fingerprint sensor
• Weight: 2.2lbs
• Dimensions: 11.7" x 8.62" x 0.78" (when using 3-cell battery)
• 3-year international warranty

For the weight of 1kg (2.2lbs), the amount you get built-in is really quite good. More specs for the Q2010 I have are located here.

If you're a gamer, you might as well stop reading this review now. The power of this machine is enough to run AdobePhotoshop CS2, Powerpoint, Word, Internet Explorer, and Winamp flawlessly at once. Watching movies is also a pleasure on the widescreen. But this is a workstation, not a glorified Sony PSP, so I didn't eventry to play games, although I'm sure some basic non-shader games could run okay.

I have the Rightmark CPU-Clock utility installed, this allows me to undervolt the Core Solo processor. The processor is undervolted and running at 700MHz. The performance on demand monitoring of this utility makes it soif you need power, it automatically steps the processor speed upto 1200Mhz (1.2 GHz). But evenwhen running atthe underclocked speed of 700MHz, everything works fine, plus the battery life increases drastically!

Reasons for Buying

I have an ultraportable Toshiba R100, which isaboutthe same size and weight as the Q2010, but my girlfriend started to use it more than I, so I needed to get a replacement! I never even considered getting a notebook that was heavier than theR100. The Toshiba is around 1kg, somy choices of notebooks to look at were limited. Ididmy research and found that the Samsung Q30and Sony VAIO TX could fit my needsand provide the weight I wanted, but Iended up going with the Q2010mostly because of the Fujitsu-Siemens build standard reputation.

Purchase:

I purchased the Q2010notebookfrom a retail store in the Czech Republic,one that I always buy my hardware from. The Q2010 isn't cheap and the price hurt:4000 Euros(about $5,000), ouch! To me it's probably worth the money knowing how much I'll use it, although I would rather buy the Toshiba R100 for 2000 Euros ($2,500) again like I did last time, but it's no longer in production and impossible to find.

Build & Design:

It's the shiny black mirror liketop of the Q2010 European version (view large image)

The Q2010 design is reallyakin to amasterpiece. Outside of maybe the leather clad series from Asus, I think it's the bestlooking notebook you can get. The material combination is awesome! The only plastic part you can see or feel is the keyboard and it's black surrounding bezel. Everything else on the notebook case is composed ofmagnesium-alloy. The hinges are titanium strengthened for ruggedness. There is no way (without breaking the warranty, to make the screen wobble. It is built really solidly. The screen has a magnetic closing mechanism so when you get to within 1/3 of the screen being closed it sort of closes itself and then holds firmly closed.

The European version of the Q2010 has a piano black shiny finish.As the person usingthe Q2010, it's not very spectacular because you can't see the lid -- but for everyone else passing near you, the black piano finish of the lid is a joy to look at! Referring to Fujitsu's comment on this, it has "7-layers of black paint". For the ladies among you reading this --YES, you canuse the lid as a mirror to help apply any makeup! On the bottom of the notebook issome kind of felt-like covering, so having it in your lap is very comfortable.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The touchpad is a typical synaptics-high quality touchpad, with all the options you're used to. There is a fingerprint scanner in-between the mouse buttons, whichcan also be usedas a page scrolling mechanism. The keyboard layout has some negatives, but that comes with the size. For example, the , "." and "/" keys are just half of regular size. Also the delete button is at the top, I'm used to having it right next to the arrow keys. I'm also missing dedicated "PgUp" and "PgDn" keys -- they are accessible only through use of an"Fn" + "Up / Down Arrow" combination. Otherwise, the pressure point of the keys is great. When writing longer text, your palms can nicely rest, lying next to the touchpad. There's no pressure on the wrists from pressing on the edges. I always had some paininmy hands from using theToshiba R100 keyboard for long amounts of time.

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The Q2010has 4 quick launch buttons on the left side of the keyboard, which can be programmed to launch whatever program you like.

Input and Output Ports

The ports are placed well: 2 USB ports, 1 Firewire, ExpressCard slot and 1 replicator port (for VGA and LAN) on the right side. Someone could miss a native built-in VGA-port (monitor out)for presentations, but the small replicator dongle you can carry alongto provide this connectionis really small and light, so don't consider this a big negative. On the left side are an SD slot, microphone jack,and headphone jack The volume regulator works very well,like a 3D jog-dial.

Frontside view of Q2010 (view large image)

Fujitsu Q2010 left side view (view large image)

Fujitsu Q2010 right side view (view large image)

Fujitsu Q2010 back side view (view large image)

Fujitsu Q2010 under side view (view large image)

Fujitsu Q2010 docking station (view large image)

Q2010 docking station left side view(view large image)

Q2010 in the docking station (view large image)

Q2010 docking station back side view (view large image)

Q2010 in the docking station above view(view large image)

Screen:

Fujitsu Q2010 screen (view large image)

There is not too much to say about the screen. It comes very close to PERFECT for a 12.1" screen. The widescreen format supports a resolution of 1280 x 800. The Crystal View (glossy finish) works great when not exposed to direct sunlight. The viewing angles are great. The screen was fairly bright on maximum settings andI saw no light leakage with this model. Colors were vibrant with good contrast levels. The response time is good enough for watching movies. Even in dark scenes it's watchable. The only negative -- it's just 12.1" ofviewing space!

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Speakers:

For a subnotebook, the sound from the Q2010 is in my opinion unbeatable. There's no bass of course, but compared to the Sony TX series or Toshiba R series I've heard, this is the best.

Because the European version of this notebook has embedded UMTS support (meaning you can plug-in your GMS based cell phone SIM-card), you can also place regular phonecalls using the Q2010. Because of this,the microphone is more advancedthan you'llusually find. The microphone is a dual type, with a microphoneon both sides of the screen to makethe sound capture better. In my use of this, there is no interference when the caller and you are talking at once, it's great.

Noise:

There are some issues with heat and noise. Even with undervolted processor the fan never turns off. It gets pretty annoying, when you're used to a fanless notebook. I asked a few people, none of them thought it's annoying. I do. I tried to stop the fan, but then the heat gets too high. When I leave the fan at normal speed, the heat at the bottom is low, even on naked skin.

UPDATE 8/20/2006:Fujitsu released a new bios, that solves the annoying fan issue. Now the notebook runs silent, the fan goes on just ocassionally. The pc gets a little hotter on the bottom, but not too much.

Benchmarks:

PCMark05

Here's how the Q2010stacked up in PCMark05 results against other notebooks. This result considers system performance as a whole (processor, graphics card, hard drive).

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Fujitsu Q2010 (1.20 GHz Intel Core Solo Ultra Low Voltage)	1,943PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410(1.66GHz Core Duo)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60)	5,597PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron e1405 (1.66 GHz Intel T2300)	2,879PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400)	3,646 PCMarks
Toshiba Satellite M70 (Pentium M1.86GHz)	1,877 PCMarks

Super Pi

Notebook	Time
Fujitsu Q2010 (Underclocked 700 MHz Intel Core Solo Ultra Low Voltage)	1m 56s
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 12s
Lenovo Z61m (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 16s
IBM ThinkPad T43 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 45s
IBM ThinkPad Z60m(2.0 GHz Pentium M)	1m 36s
Fujitsu LifeBook N3510 (1.73 GHz Pentium M)	1m 48s
Dell Inspiron 6000D (1.6 GHz Pentium M)	1m 52s
Dell Inspiron 600M (1.6 GHz Pentium M)	2m 10s
HP Pavilion dv4000(1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 39s
Asus V6Va(Pentium M 1.86 GHz)	1m 46s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s

Everest Report

Link to Everest hardware report for Q2010

HDTune Results

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Wireless:

The connectivity of this European version Q2010notebook is state of the art. You have Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g via the Intel 3945 card) UMTS support, EDGE support. In other words, everything you can really want. The range ofwi-fi was good.

Battery:

The two batteriesI have, the 3-cell and the 6-cell,are not perfect . It's not possible to switch them without the power cord remaining plugged in. To switch a battery you have to go into hibernate, (remaining plugged in)switchthe battery and come out of hibernation to return to the previous work.

With the large 6-cell battery, the weight of the notebook is around 1.2 kg (2.65 lbs). With the small 3-cell battery pack you achieve the weight of 1kg (2.2 lbs). On the small battery the working time is really short-- approximately 1 hour. The larger battery gives you the joy of 7 hours of work (when undervolted to 700MHz). I thought it would never run out!

Accessories and Software:

The original box for the LifeBook Q2010 (view large image)

Inside the box are other boxes (view large image)

Everything you get with the purchase of the Q2010 (view large image)

Thisnotebookhas the most accessories I have ever seen. Mine came witha docking stationthat hada DVD burnerplus all the expansion slots you could need.Two protective bags, one being for the notebook andthe second to hold a spare battery and the power cord. Also included are 2 power cords, and a microfiber cloth for polishing the lacquer lid. All of this comes in a huge box.

The bundled software ispretty standard. You get Windows XP Pro (with SP2), Nero, Drivers, recovery DVD, Fingerprint software andUMTS software. I tried the fingerprint software, but it messes too much with the OS, so I uninstalled it all. I still can use the fingerprint scanner as a scroll mechanism, so it's not wasted.

The BIOS is good for a notebook. All kinds of unusual (for this class) settings are available. Security settings are unlimited.

Customer Support:

Fujitsu-Siemens people are always very kind and really try to help whenever I've called for support. It's quite fast getting throughtoo.

Conclusion:

If you're looking for a smalllaptop for your business traveling, don't hesitate and spend the money! If you can afford this, I'm sure you won't regret it. It has all the security you canwant and the portability is trulyunbeatable. If you're working at work and at home, just leave the docking station at work, which makes the desktop complete.

If you want to stand outfrom the crowd, you will have to spend a lot of money to achieve that, but the Q2010 certainly does this.

Pros: (sorted by importance)

• Very light weight of 2.2lbs (with 3-cell battery)
• Nice screen
• Battery life of up to 7 hours when using 6-cell
• Beautiful design

Talking about the probably most expensive notebook should leave the "cons" free. But it doesn't! There are things they really should change to make this product worth the money.

Cons:

• Very annoying fan (SEE UPDATE BELOW)
• Keyboard layout
• Battery life of the 3-cell battery is poor
• High price

UPDATE 8/20/2006:Fujitsu released a new bios, that solves the annoying fan issue. Now the notebook runs silent, the fan goes on just ocassionally. The pc gets a little hotter on the bottom, but not too much. In my opinion,NOW it gives me the value back.

 

wow...that is a gorgeous notebook. thanks for the review!

 

You don't get any thinner and lighter than this notebook, that's for sure! That's very cool that in Europe it has a SIM card slot and the dual microphones, in the USA they don't offer such a feature on the Q2010 And furthermore, the lid in the U.S. is not the same, not as mirror like (which some will consider good and some bad).

Thanks for this great review, I hope your rather large investment works out in the long run. That's a lot of bucks for such a small laptop!

 

That is a nice box if you can swing it. Nice job.

 

How's the hard drive speed? Is it possible that you can measure the noise level created by the fan?

 

laser21, thank you very much for taking your time to write the review.

a stunning machine, loved it since the second I saw it on engadget sometime ago. Makes you wonder why more manufacturers do produce laptops with glossy finishes; and not just on the lid, but all around. Cannot be THAT much more expensive to manufacture.


For the price of the machine, I think is it ok to be VERY picky. And if I did have to nitpick, I would probably like the screen to be maximized to what current tech can offer. There is almost enough real estate there to shoehorn a 13.3" screen. The current thick screen edges give off 1990's notebook vibe hehehe

Either way, very sweet machine

 

The HDD is a 1.8", so 4200rpm, but working with it, is not that bad! I dunno how I could measure the noise level...maybe just record it with the microphone...

 

I think the dual microphones is on the US version. At least that's what it says on Newegg.

 

Laser21, thanks for the review.

I am really surprised you bought your notebook in Czech Republic (I am from Poland), I know the prices can kill you, but the "standard" procedure ;-) is to ask somebody who is going on trip to USA to buy one for you. $3000 difference is quite something.

Question for you -- did you consider 10", ULV P7000 line? Fanless, so -- no noise. They seem to me like a perfect pick.

 

Thanks for the review. I am sure, its a great piece of technology. But for that price (it comes to 4000 euros here) its a shame that its not fanless. Whats the problem? Isnt Fujitusu expierenced enough to put an ulv-processor in a case with an excellent heat design?

 

Thanks for nice review.

I was not so much impressed by this subnotebook in the shop. Its value per price is probably the worst on the market. I also find the Fujitsu-Siemens marketing of this unit as a "gem" and "most desirable notebook" disgusting.

Would you please post your table of voltages for
ULV Solo, undervolted and not.

How did you manage to underclock it from 800 to 700MHz?

 

The kind of perfect and not too pricey alternative
I found in Europe is 10" Amoi t31-12 for around 1300 euro: perfect, bright, not glossy 1280 x 768 screen,
PM ULV 1,2GHz processor, 915 chipset, no fan noise
(because the turn on temperature is set to be high enough: 55C), light weight like 1.1kg with a smaller battery which is sufficient for 2 hours of work, etc.

Q2010 is a better performer and has some cool options. Howeever, its heat issues, loud fan and the unreasonably high price (and outrageous marketting) are certain dealbreakers for me.

LG Xnote TX is another interesting alternative to Q2010.

 

ULV processors of Yonah family take more power than Pentium M ULVs. Their lowest clock is 800MHz,
that is they produce more heat even at the simpest office applications.

It seems that all notebooks using ULV processors of
Yonah family will be hotter and/or louder than their
Pentium M predecessors. I anticipated this and bought for me a subnotebook with 1,2GHz ULV Pentium M. The processor works at 6x100MHz undervolted to 0.700V. Such deep undervolting seems to be not possible with Yonahs.

 

I forgot to include the HDTune results laser21 provided, I've attached it here and it's in the review now.

 

okay, so you could do VoIP but no built-in cell phone communications still like the European version has (UMTS, EDGE)

 

Well, the ones from the US dont feature UMTS and dont have all the accessoires stuffed in the package. There is a version here, which doesnt include the 3cell battery and the docking station-that comes for 2500€...

 

The Dell Latitude D420 is equipped with an Intel Core Solo U1300 processor (compared to the U1400 in the Q2010) and it doesn't have a fan. The upcoming dual core model of the D420 is also expected to be without a fan.

 

How long does the Super Pi calculation take when the processor is not underclocked?

 

Nice example. The difference between 7W and 9W is not that big. It would be interesting to compare impressions of those who know both Dell Latitude X1 (which already was rather hot) and D420.

The example confirms to me that Dell cares more about consumers and usability while the Fujitsu-Siemens cares more about its artificial marketting image of "reliability" (at the cost of the users who have to suffer from the unneccessarily active fan).

 

Thanks Lukas, for the great review. Laptop looks great! Nice and light

One question--how much "thicker" is the 6-cell battery. Do you, per chance, have any pictures of the 6-cell installed in the laptop?

 

Sure, Ill come to that in a day or two, now am abroad. bye

 

Laser21, thank you for your very welcome review, which was crucial on my decison for getting the Q2010 myself (US Version).

It's absolutely gorgeous and the weight factor makes it... oh man..I don't visualize my future laptops being heavier than this one... absolutely love it.

QUESTION:

You mentioned that you are not using the fingerprint sensor for authentication purposes but as a scroller. May I ask you how were you able to do this? I've looked for this throughout the OS and haven't found the way to activate such feature.

Thanks in advance!
Rdelfin.

 

Sorry that so late..one or two days got longer than I thought...hope U still can use it. I was on a diving holiday on a ship...no internet

 

Im happy that I could help you with the decision! Is your fan also always on? Just curious.

About the fingerprint. I have a ikon in the control panel, where I can set it easily. I once installed the fingerprint scanner software, so maybe it slipped onto the system that way. I dont remember if I had it there before I installed the soft. Hope its gonna help U, if U didnt figure it out by yourself, yet.
Bye

 

After using this PC for a while, I totally get used to it. I bought an extra 4 cell battery, which in my eyes makes the biggest sense. 2,5h runtime, an adds just 3mm thickness compared to the 3 cell battery. So now I have 3 batteries, which altogether run for more than 10hours.

Last week the notebook survived really a lot. My dad sat down on it, while it was opened, so he just sat down on the screen...uff. It was bend "a bit" I thought - thats not a warranty issue , so went ahead and disassembled the screen, heated it up a bit with a hairdryier, and bend the magnesium case into the right position. The screen feels like a sponge, I bend it back, too. It works prefectly, and looks quiet like new again.
Btw, the screen is just lying inside, no screws or anything, but maybe thats the reason why nothing happened to it.

A month ago I made som modifications inside, because I hated having the USB dongle of my Logitech V500 mouse looking out of the USB port all the time. It gets also uncomfortable in some holding positions.
So I integrated it inside.


that was how it looked before

when all was done

a close-up

how the dongle is on the way out

As U can see on the pictures, it was a lot of adjusting work, because now it works perfect, U can pull it out by ejecting the plastic part, that fills out the empty pci express slot. So when I need it, I just eject the dongle and put the express card in it. The mouse was not originally black and glossy, I used a lot of car spray and laquer. So now it looks like it belonged originally to the notebook. Before, it looked like that: http://isklep.net/images/mysz/mysz_PERLOGMYS0024.jpeg


sorry for all the fingerprints - was too lazy to clean it

Hope U enjoy the look, bye

 

Quick question. How bad is the keyboard on the Q2010? I know Cnet took care to criticize the half-size period and comma keys, and others have said the keyboard is a bit cramped.

I understand it's an ultraportable, and the keys can be a bit tight. But is the Q2010's keyboard noticeably worse than its competitors (say a Dell D420, which sports a pretty darn good, almost-standard keyboard on its ultraportable frame)?

 

Its totally fine, Im using it for 8 hours a day, typing everything with it, U will get used to it. Im typing with 10 fingers without problems. Plus, it doesnt have any flex, so it feels really good, when you type hard.

 

Lukas, excellent review! I hope you are still reading these messages.

I have a friend living in the C.Repub.

I am thinking about purchasing either the P7120 or the Q2010.
The main reason: each one is supposed to be fanless.

Well that was until I read your review. I called a Fujitsu rep a couple of days ago and asked which were their fanless models and they told me the above two.

So either the rep made a mistake with the Q2010, or the model has undergone a design change since you reviewed it 5 months ago.

Would you or anyone know if the Q2010 currently ships without a fan?

Thanks!

 

Just an update. It turns out the rep who I was speaking with was mistaken.
The Q2010 has, and always had a fan.

 

Im still reading, but not so often !

 

I had a chance to handle a Q2010 in a local fry's. It was the basic 803 model priced at $1750.

The thinness of the laptop is wonderful. It would be my leading candidate except for the lack of integrated DVD and need to buy an additional battery.

I tested the keyboard extensively. It seemed to be very functional and easy to type on. I never had a problem hitting the . and , even though they were half-size keys. Backspace, enter and shift keys are all easy to use.

I found the keyboard the equivalent of the sony tx and surprisingly I like it better than the sony sz. It is much better than my current averec.

The screen was nice, but the letters seemed a little more blurry than the sony tx I was testing (it might have been a matter of better lighting).

 

dude...that's one nice notebook you have there...
looks so freaking awesome! take care of that thing. it's just elegant!

 

Thanks. I do...

Im planning to integrate a webcam into the lid. Im just looking for a spare notebook webcam...ANy help from anyone?

 

Any Q2010 users, are you noticing that the keyboard starts wears down quickly?
I've got a US version of this laptop (with a slightly different layout than what's shown in the review). After 3 months of use keys looked a lot worse than I would expect. Letters printed on keys became dull, and the black matte coating on the often-used keys wore through to the shiny plastic underneath.
Called tech support, they overnighted a new keyboard and a tech came in next day and replaced it, great stuff.
The new keyboard is the same though, it's going to wear just the same.
Anyone else notice this? We use it everyday but not very heavily IMO.

 

Yeah, its the same here...have my 3rd...but they are friendly, and replace it in 20 minutes...

 

Thanks, so it looks like they 'designed' it like that, not a QA slip. I'll be sure to put the tech support number on the speed dial then.

 

Did you see any way to add ram while you were inside?

 

There is no way to add RAM. Im waiting for a new model, should be out in may. We will see. But I think it will have 2gb RAM.

 

Hi

Basically I had an integrated usb mouse reciever, as you can read on the previous page. The problem was, that it occupied my usb port all the time. the fujitsu Q2010 has only 2 ports, so I had only 1. I bought the smallest USB hub I could find, opened it and integrated into the laptop.

Also I recently bought a intel 4965AGN adapter, plus an extra antenna - it needs 3 antennas to work on full speed and range.


This image is just to give you an idea of the workspace.

since the antenna was 40cm long, and I needed just a few cm, I had to bend her. With my skills in soldering, I wouldn't be able to make it shorter

the usb hub



After I desoldered everything



I cut all the 4 wires, that I can solder on the outgoing and ingoing cables.
The ones left on the boar will go to the usb hub, then from one port on the usb hub, the wires will come back to the top pins.

all connected

now, here you can see the progress. I put the part from the previous picture back into the case, attached the cables to the usb hub - input was a micro usb port...so soldering was funny - you can zoom in to see how "big" it is.
The red cable is the 5V, to which I will attach a switch later on, so I can turn off the USB hub whenever I dont need it. On battery it is draining quiet a lot.

I attached the mouse reciever - made the wire shorter - look at previous picture to compare.


So that is the reason, why I left my red 5V wire so long. I had to make a hole in the led panel...I noted in a previous pic, that there is not a hole (yet) The left hole of the switch is even perfectly aligned with the hole for the screw. (luck)

It all starts to look ready

Had to make a hole in the next layer

final product.
the switch and hub work like a charm, I have now 2 usb ports, the mouse reciever and two ports left!!! the webcam is in the mail, cant wait to integrate that!

Thanks for reading

 

Great work! You have a lot of courage to hack the front panel (for the switch) I would have probably done it from the bottom not to risk it, but your switch looks very clean.
Didn't think the hub would be a large power draw, how does it shorten battery life?
Keep up these skilled mods.

 

Thanks...it was a lot of fiddling with the switch. Basically the key is, to make it a lot smaller than you need and then slowly expand it with a square shaped file. I dont know exactly how much it drains the battery, but I will attach a webcam to it later, so I wanted to have a hardware switch for the camera...you never know whos watching

 

Im back with more pics. I have to warn you, its not final...but it works.

I got a genius slim 310nb webcam, http://www.geniusnet.com/geniusOnli...02&_pageLabel=productPage&test=portlet-action which I disassembled, modified a bit - removing the USB connector and tried to fit in the ultra slim lid of the Q2010.

First I tried with a panasonic camera, but it was simply too big. I had to remove a bit of the magnesium lid, but luckily, its covered by a plastic lid on that spot. Still, it sticks out a bit.


View of the opened original lid


camera...


plain magnesium lid, screen is bottom up


If you compare this to the original lid, you can see how much grinding it was, until I got this kind of fit


cables attached, PCB glued on




Im absolutely not satisfied with my result, so Im gonna finish it later...filling the gap with some material, grinding it, probably spray a black square afterwards. - will post then


the red line is just to illustrate how the cable is lead, its already connected to the usb hub.


Thats a really important finger reader!!!


because the camera sticks out, I had to place it directly above the fingerprint reader...


Just a side view.

It all works well, also I can turn it hardware-off, so no hacking into my living room!! :-D

 

These DIY modifications are fascinating.

What next?

John

 

Thanks

Tell me! I still have one USB port free. I tried to hook up an external 2,5" usb powered HDD, and it still works, so the USB hub has enough power.
I was looking at an IR reciever, but its getting useless...I dunno what else to integrate...

 

Where did you buy the camera? I can't seem to find anywhere in the US that has it in stock. If you bought it overseas, how much was it priced in the local currency?

Thanks!

-David

 

It was like 15dollars. PM me, if you cant find it, we could figure out a way to get it to you.

 

Those are some very interesting and brave upgrades. I'm impressed.

Are all the upgrades still running smoothly?

 

Actually I added a 32gb memory stick, everything else works perfectly. I put a 32gb Samsung 1,8" ssd instead of the 60gb harddrive...so I needed a little bit more space. The SSD rocks! Its amazing how fast the laptop got. Plus its absolutely quiet now.
Also I put in a 5dbi antenna inside, my connection is now much stronger.
Will upload pics when I make some.

 

Hey laser21, the 32gb stick - is it a usb drive, or a SD card? I'm wondering if the built-in card reader supports SDHC cards.

 

It is a corsair voyager, and the internal reader supports SDHC. I have a 16gb sd card, and no problems with updated drivers. Only the transfer speed of the reader is slow...doesnt matter if its a regular SD or SDHC, it has only 3Mbytes per second read and write. For big copying Im using an expresscard reader, which has 17Mbytes.

PS: I dont have a reason to open it up right now, so I dont have pictures, so I cant upload anything...but I definitely will, when I open it up again.