Just posted this video recently on YouTube, it’s a look at the internals of the Chuwi Hi13. Dual antenna set up with the Intel Wireless-AC 3165 chipset, two 5000mah batteries, internal metal support frame and those weak four little speakers on each corner. There are no slots for M.2 2242 SSD’s, but I can see that Chuwi have at least plans for this or the motherboard in the future will allow it. There is space for two more 2GB RAM chips and two M.2 cards.
Opening the tablet up isn’t too hard due to its size, remove the four T4 Torx screws and use a pry tool to separate the two halves. Since thermals are good on the tablet (82 Degrees C max gaming on the CPU) I don’t see the need to do my copper heatsink mod on it. But there is room for improvement if you felt you wanted to do it to lower temps.
Great to see Chuwi using some copper in there unlike the Chuwi Lapbook
Some photos of the bios and other chips for those that are after this info.
David
The mainboard of a Chuwi H13 that I have in my hands looks a lot different than the one you have. It also includes a 25Q80JV (3.3V) eeprom for the EC/KBC controller and a 25Q64W (1.8V) for the BIOS. Only a single SK Hynix NAND chip and one ELPIDA ram chip. An Etrontech USB controller and I also found an ITE8987A KBC controller. Sound is powered by a Realtek ALC269
Board is labeled on the front 74P1R1AP135 and on the back something that starts with APL_P12D…
It doesn’t start anymore and as far as I can measure, I have no 1.8V rail ; which is probably the root cause.
3.3V and 5V rails are ok and battery voltage is around 8V.
Given that the bios chip doesn’t get powered, reprogramming the BIOS hasn’t much sense (tried that off board but no result).
If someone has schematics or some idea what could be broken in the buck converter, I’m glad to hear.
Daniel J.
Could it be worthwhile(to increase thermal contact) to swap out the factory cooling paste with something more “premium” like Arctic Silver 5 or something in that leage?
You made it seem simple to dis-assamble the Hi13 unit, so started wondered if one could further improve the heat dissipation from the CPU by using better paste! 😉
Daniel J.
Oh, and to others that possibly get the same idea…..remember to thouroughly clean the surface of both the cpu and copper cpu cooler before applieng new paste. And also remember that the layer applied of cooling paste, should be THIN like paper and applied to the cpu, not the cpu cooler!
Thought I should mention, as I wouldn’t want to be the one guilty of people ruining their Hi13’s! 😉
dlink377
The 4GB of RAM and high price of this tablet doesn’t really appeal me… Probably will wait the CUBE 6GB model, as Telcast X3 Plus although near perfect, it is only Wireless N.
dlink377
I also notice this tablet also seems doesn’t see a lot success on China (at least on Taobao). It is also the same case with Chuwi lapbook, as it is the best laptop rated on this site currently.
Probably they are changing their focus on International customers rather than local, as it is probably much more profitable.
athanato
well if the code is in the bios to drive those M/2 slots then you might get away with just soldering in the ports if no other components are missing. It sucks that they left the 3rd and 4th memory banks empty though, it’s not like 2x 2gb is expensive.
Has anyone tried a clean install of Win 10, are all of the drivers on windows Update?
Paul M
Hopefully they will bring out a “pro” version with more memory and the SSD slot fully functioning.
Chris G
My fingers are crossed for that. I want to see more tablets and even notebooks with this awesome screen!
Vernal Scott
Hey Chris, can you replace the speakers or add a small sub to improve the sound, or are you stuck with the hardware as is?
Chris G
If you’re good at mods I think it’s possible to replace them.