[Billy]

It’s more a replacement as I knacker keyboards. Not that fussed about layout, a simple key combo puts a £ in when I need.  But it would be good to source a spare. I write a lot of python code so keyboards end up shiny and worn quite quickly.

 

[Billy]

I went to the Microsoft website, searched for the Surface book (not the new V2 surface book)  software/firmware updates, you get a selection of MSI files, download the most recent, then get hold of an app called lessMSI (its freeware) it lets you extract files from MSI files, i then extracted them to a folder on my desktop using the app, it creates folders withing the folder you pointed it to, now look for folders marked, display, pen, digitiser etc.. don not install any of the others! as the thinker is not a piece by piece clone, only the display, digitiser and pen.. within those folders, there can be a single or a couple of drivers.. and right click on the diff files (i think its the sys files from memory)  and select install.. it will take a sec but say its been installed. also install the wintab (x64 in my case) file from the Microsoft site if you intend to use the surface pen with photoshop, illustrator etc. as it might help with using the pen with those apps.

Surface Book software https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49497

lessMSI http://lessmsi.activescott.com

[Billy]

The problem with mines.. as far as i was able to work out was the constant crashing of the latest intel drivers, so i rolled back to the one the machine shipped with, so far.. no graphic crashes, and now that i have installed the Surface, screen, digitiser and pen drivers. the display is correctly identified as a surface screen, instead of a generic pnp display, and the tracking seems better with the surface pen. as well as the pressure sensitivity. I really dont know what the issue is with the latest intel gen 7/615 drivers, but both the latest and previous versions caused this constant crash, i figured it out by looking at the logs using event viewer, and seen graphic driver crashed, driver restarted in a long list. It does make one wonder if cube have done something or added something to the drivers shipped so they remain stable.. if outdated. or is there a bios setting we should be tweaking. and since the distinct lack of documentation or support from cube, there isn’t as much as a updated bios or any driver files on there site regarding the thinker… its a nice machine at a decent price, but the lack of support makes me think next time around ill pay a little more for a better known and supported brand.

[Billy]

Im happy in general with my Thinker, But after doing the Fall Creators Update.. clean install, and updating all the drivers to the latest versions, including the Intel GPU. my thinker seems to sporadically seize up for a second or so, then the screen goes black, like windows explorer has crashed. I may have to investigate if people are having these issues with the surface, as its more likely that Microsoft will get on it and fix the issue than cube are. I have also had the issue before i did the thermal mod. and it still continues after. the temps are at around 38 to 40c doing standard browsing etc, and go up to 65-72c when cpu load is at 100% over a 20-30 min period.

Now as far as i am aware, the Thinker does not have Thunderbolt 3, just USB C. now this is my first Chinese market laptop. do they just stick in a generic bios, so it has options for things that are not built in? as I’m far more used to laptops that only have options to set things in the bios that are built in. so they wouldn’t have thunderbolt settings there if it wasn’t available on the machine.  and has anyone looked at setting up the bios for optimum performance from the hardware? I run photoshop CC etc on the machine. I have also extracted the Surface display drivers from the Surface book update available on Microsoft site, as well as the pen drivers (I own a new surface pen 4 id like to use with the thinker)

lots of questions i know. But it may prove helpful to others as well.

[Billy]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I ended up opting for the Cube Thinker i35, gearbest had it up for £385 on offer, so I couldn’t resist. I just hope it arrives in one piece and works fine. Overall it should be more satisfactory for basic photoshop etc.

[Billy]

Thank you Chris. I was going to order the Thinker, but it seems there are issues with the i35, reports of screen flickering, keyboards and trackpads not working properly. And the casing not being very hard wearing compared to other alloy bodied notebooks. I have to admit that worries me a lot. Hence why looking at the Chuwi. Its a lower amount of money to be risking. over half as cheap. yet still with a 2k screen. Its a shame that i don’t know when the new Chuwi LapBook Air is coming out, as it seems a lot closer in spec to the Thinker. compared to the 12.3.

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