thermal, ssd, and weight modification

[Wylver]

Definitely not, it isn’t thick enough to house a 2,5″.

[Franzli]

@ nipaph Thanks, might try that if I find some time!

@ Jagd Would be a nice idea, but as the previous person said, even without having opened it I don’t see any space for a 2.5″ drive. I suspect it might even be too tight for an M2 or MSATA, especially since you’ll need to fit some sort of adaptor as well – although this one I wouldn’t completely exclude. Thermals might become a problem with those though, as they tend to get warm and there wouldn’t be any space. Finally, there’d bee the question as to how you could connect the drive to the computer – not sure if you can link it up to the POGO connector somehow. I’d suspect (!) it would run at USB2.0 speeds max though, which might be a bit of a waste for an SSD drive.

That being said, if you find a way of pulling this off I’d nonetheless be very interested in hearing about it! 🙂 (Even though I personally might not have a need for an extra internal hard drive)

[nipaph]

I’m agree with the previous posts, there is no space for an ssd 2.5″, and even with a m.2 there would be many technical difficulties imho. Anyway you can put a 512gb m.2 ssd as i did, i also put a 128gb micro sd for extra storage. And don’t forget you can put external hdd/pen drives in the usb 3 ports.

[Jay]

I’ve been thinking of removing the metal from the keyboard and shoving a battery in there (e.g. open up a power bank and put that in there), and cannibalizing one of the USB ports to connect it to the tablet (I’m assuming there’s no option of doing it through the POGO pins). That is, of course, assuming it CAN be charged through the USB port(s) – the Type-C one probably?

At least this way the extra weight would be useful…

Any ideas on compatible power banks (and with batteries thin enough to fit)?

 

[Wylver]

There is no power delivery (I’m kind of getting sick of repeating myself here 😀 ) power bank that is going to fit inside. As a matter of fact there is only one power bank which supports power delivery on the market right now.

Charging through pogo pins will not be possbible.

The keyboard is a little thicker than a USB type A connector because it has one on either side, inside the keyboard is, you guessed it… THE KEYBOARD. I don’t see how any powerbank can fit inside despite of metal plate or not. Come on guys, just be a little realistic here. 😀

 

Here’s an idea for you guys out there:

Just tape the only available power bank, 2×2,5″ SSD’s and a raidcontroller beneath the keyboard and you have the ultimate device. Also throw in a usb-c hub with power delivery for good measure.

[Katagiri]

Lol! It’s better to buy a super laptop instead. XD

[Jay]

Wylver wrote:

Here’s an idea for you guys out there: Just tape the only available power bank, 2×2,5″ SSD’s and a raidcontroller beneath the keyboard and you have the ultimate device. Also throw in a usb-c hub with power delivery for good measure.

No thanks. 😉

I guess the powerbank you mention is the Tronsmart w/ 10.4K mAh (nevermind – just confirmed it’s not compatible with the i7 Book) the RAVPower 28K? I can see how that wouldn’t work. Pity… I was actually thinking more along the lines of a small one – even 3-4K mAh would mean an extra hour+ worth of battery life – which (after gutting it, with some creative (de-)soldering etc.) might be squeezable in there.

I haven’t opened up the keyboard yet (I’m waiting a month to check if everything is working fine before voiding any warranties/returns) so I don’t know what kind of space we’re talking about, but I had figured that on the sides of the touchpad or along the top by the USBs (looks like that part is filled from what I can see in nipaph’s pics) there might be some usable space.

What are those metal plates at the sides of the touchpad anyhow? They don’t look like anything necessary for the keyboard/touchpad to work… more dead weight?

But oh well… was worth considering. Maybe we get lucky with all the new USB-C phones/etc. coming out and someone makes a (compatible) small PB? 😀

[nipaph]

@Jay, yes there are just dead weight i think, i left them just to mantain a little balance.

[Wylver]

http://www.tronsmart.com/products/pd-chargers  Does anything under this link look like a powerbank to you?

Once again, the tablet can only be charged with the power delivery standard when charging over usb-c.

Qualcom Quickquarge will not charge the tablet, no matter if it has usb-c or not.

 

The powerbank i was talking about was a Anker powercore+ PD (short for power delivery) that isn’t being sold at the moment.

But luckily someone in this forum has tried a Ravpower powerbank which also happens to have PD.

[Jay]

Yeah, the Tronsmart I mentioned was listed somewhere (reddit) as having PD, but confirmed it isn’t a few minutes after posting… :S

Either way, that one and the RAV are both waaaay too big for what I was thinking so exact same result: There is currently no compatible power bank small enough.

Hmmm… maybe it’d be worth trying to see if the PCB/controller for the RAV would work if attached to a (much smaller) battery… I’d be a bit afraid to charge it though (not sure if the capacity is detected “live” or pre-defined).

[BrocasHelm]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I want to buy a bigger SSD and a thermal pad and I have a few questions and I haven’t found an answer for my questions elsewhere, and they are related to this thread’s topic.

Should I go for a 128 GB Transcend from a local store or should I go for a 256 GB Kingspec from Aliexpress? Would the write speed be that much lower on a 128GB drive in comparison to a 256GB one? Going for a 256GB Transcend is out of the question unfortunately due to the high cost. For reference I can get a 128GB Transcend or Adata from a local store for 55 EUR, a 256GB Transcend or Adata from a local store for 110 EUR and for the 256GB Kingspec from AliExpress for about 65 EUR.

(I don’t need more than 128GB but if the speed difference is that high, I will consider going for the larger Chinese drive and hope it won’t blow up soon and lose all data).

Also, regarding the thermal pad, should I go for any generic 0.5mm pad from ebay/Aliexpress or should I go for a brand like the Arctic one mentioned in this thread? How much difference would it make in temperature drop? Sure it will cost me like 1 EUR to get the generic pad and about 10 EUR for the Arctic one, but if the difference will be 5-6 degrees Celsius at least I’ll certainly go for the Arctic one.

Some links generally on what to buy would help greatly with all these things, as I’m a bit lost with all the options.

[asan agibetov]

Do you need a specific tool to cut the thermal pad (Arctic silicon pad [1]) or it could be feasible to cut the pad with scissors? Amazon [1] also suggests Arctic’s thermal paste, do you think it is worth buying the two together? Could you advise some cheaper alternative?

[1]: https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00UYTTLI4/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=3370&creative=23322&creativeASIN=B00UYTTLI4&linkCode=as2&tag=nipaph-21

[Katagiri]

I think you can cut it with a switchblade or any similar tool.

I ordered a generic thermal pad for me. http://www.ebay.com/itm/122201145486?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[nipaph]

<p class=”gp-entry-title”>@ BrocasHelm , Regarding the termal pad, i used the one in the link and i’m quite happy, i don’t know if the ebay/aliexpress one are good enough…….</p>
for the ssd i opted for a 2260 size because their performance are far superior compared to the 2240 size, expecially regarding the write speed, you have more choices and in most cases are cheaper, . Of course it’s a little bit tricky to fit them but the game is worth the candle…..

[Rohan Elwadhi]

Hey,

Can you do a tutorial in how to open the keyboard and remove the metal framing. My main issue with the tablet is the weight when using/traveling with the keyboard. It’s just too heavy.

Thanks in Advance!!

[Author]

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