Huawei Revises MateBook X Pro with Speaker Distortion Remedy
Previously, the Huawei MateBook X Pro’s speakers would produce distortion because they rattled against the laptop body. As shown in this unit purchased in November, Huawei has addressed this issue by putting small pieces of foam underneath the speakers. Is this because they saw my original post, where I both pointed out the issue and introduced a solution? We may never know.
Spectre X360 13t (2018) Teardown
The bottom lid: 4 Phillips screws hidden under the rubber strip/foot, 2 T5 screws on the bottom corners. HP, fuck you for hiding screws under the rubber foot, and for double-fooling people by putting them under only one of the two strips.
Full frontal without the battery and Samsung PM981 SSD. Kudos to HP for efficiently using internal space, such as by extending the speaker chambers into the machined cavities under the palmrest areas.
MateBook 13 Models: 16GB Variant Internally Tested
With a 4.6GHz i7-8565U and a full 25W GeForce MX150, Huawei’s upcoming MateBook 13 is looking to become the most power-dense ultrabook. But apparently, it only has 8GB of RAM? Let’s investigate.
Huawei’s Weibo account told me that the MateBook 13, coming (at least to China) in December, has the model number Wright-W19 for the i5 version and Wright-W29 for the i7. Interestingly, they’re telling me the full internal codename instead of the actual model number, which made me realize that Huawei names MateBook models after famous scientists and engineers.
Benchmarks from both a “WRT-WX9” with 8GB RAM and a “WRT-W29D” with 16GB RAM have appeared on Geekbench’s database. The latter was probably an internal test unit, assuming Huawei is keeping the tradition of shipping MateBooks with only unified model numbers in firmware. (For example, my i7 MateBook X Pro says MACH-W29 on the bottom lid but MACH-WX9 in the OS.) If it is a test unit, it must be a recent one, since it was uploaded just one day before the MateBook 13’s announcement.
Previously, ITHome guessed that the MateBook 13 is the “KLV-WX9” (with 16GB RAM) found on Geekbench. Huawei’s response has now rejected that theory. This means KLV-WX9 should be yet another upcoming MateBook, such as an updated MateBook X Pro.
Here’s what I’ve gathered about MateBooks’ model number format:
| i5 | i7 | (code)named after | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MateBook X | WT-W09 | WT-W19 | |
| MateBook D 2017 | PL-W09 PL-W19 | PL-W29 | |
| MateBook X Pro | MACH-W19 | MACH-W29 | Ernst Mach |
| MateBook D 2018 | MRC-W50 | MRC-W60 | |
| MateBook 13 | WRT-W19 | WRT-W29 | Wilbur and Orville Wright |
| Unknown upcoming MateBook | KLV-WX9 | Sergei Korolev? |
Now, enough with model etymology. The real question is,
Will MateBook 13 have a 16GB RAM option?
Maybe sometime later.
So far, Huawei has only indicated 8GB on their website. Their official Weibo account stated on Nov. 22 “no 16GB spec for now”, but their wording leaves the possibility open.
This report from the China Quality Certification Centre shows both WRT-W19 and WRT-W29 getting energy-certified. Notice each version gets A/B/C/D suffixes. Let’s seek out the suffix pattern from MateBook X Pro configurations sold on various retailers:
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MACH-W19 (i5) | Does not exist | 8GB/256GB | 8GB/256GB/dGPU | Does not exist |
| MACH-W29 (i7) | 8GB/512GB/dGPU (UK/Europe) | 8GB/256GB/dGPU | 16GB/512GB/dGPU | Certified but never released |
Since MACH-W29D (specs unknown) was certified but never released, the 16GB WRT-W29D we saw on Geekbench may well suffer the same fate.
From the revamped, VRM-covering cooling system to the increased battery voltage for higher power draw, the MateBook 13 has been engineered with performance in mind, but Huawei seems to be deliberately neutering its potential, almost like dissuading buyers against it… perhaps to make way for a more flagship line like a refreshed MateBook X Pro.
Show CPU/GPU Stats in Notification Area with Afterburner
By the way, I’m using NetSpeedMonitor to show my network throughput.
If you want to show CPU or GPU stats like usage, frequency, power and temperature in the Taskbar’s Notification Area/system tray, like iStat Menus in Mac OS, you can do it using MSI Afterburner.
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Extract Image from PDF in Acrobat DC (with transparency)
Here’s how you can extract a PNG image from a PDF in Acrobat DC while preserving its transparency.
- Go into edit mode.
You’re Probably Doing 3D Printing Tolerancing Wrong. Here’s a Better Way.
Do you use 3D printing to make functional parts? Do your printed parts have slight dimensional errors, such as undersized holes? It is essential to take care of this if you use your FDM 3D printer to make precise or functional parts. Here’s the easiest and most elegant fix, using nothing but your slicer and a caliper.
Because the extruded molten plastic gets squashed by the nozzle and also flows outward toward the sides, everything you print is fattened, creating overall oversized prints and undersized holes.
Fortunately, there are ways to fix this flaw. First, I would recommend against these methods, if you currently use them:
Bad methods
- Compensating by slightly changing the values in CAD: this is cumbersome if you use different printers or have collaborators, and problematic if you work with assemblies in CAD.
- Changing the size in the slicer: FDM 3D printers generally have undersized ID and oversized OD, so enlarging or shrinking the size is bound to reduce one problem while worsening the other.
The Elegant Way: Horizontal Expansion
[Fix] AdGuard Breaking MasteringPhysics in Chrome
The Problem
All the math symbols and equations show up as unformatted code on MasteringPhysics.com.
The Cause
AdGuard’s “Send statistics for ad filter usage” option appears to be causing this error.
The Solution
Go to the “Miscellaneous” section of the AdGuard settings and turn off “Send statistics for ad filter usage”.
Fix Equalizer APO Not Working in Windows 10
The Problem
Equalizer APO is not taking any effect in Windows 10.
The Solution
- Open the Configurator program by searching for it in Start.
- Select your device and check “Troubleshooting options“.
- Choose “Install as SFX/EFX (experimental)“.
- Restart Windows.
HE400i EQ Correction using Rtings Data
Introduction
I found a frequency response measurement of the HE400i that is more accurate than the ones I previously used in my equalizer settings. I discovered a way to extract the graph data from Rtings.com. Rtings.com has measurements of lots of headphones, and their methodology is one of the most accurate. So, I imported their data into Room EQ Wizard and created an equalizer profile to correct the frequency response of my HiFiMan HE400i.
Measurements and Correction
I came up with the filters manually. I’m choosing not to boost the troughs or over-correct the treble to prevent side effects that arise when any particular listener’s ears don’t exactly match this graph.
Here’s Why MateBook X Pro Charges Slowly
PSA: Please take this MXP user survey about issues and mods!
Forget CPU and GPU thermal throttling — charge rate throttling is now a thing.
Exposed charging circuit with shielding cover peeled off. Plugged in, CPU idle.
- The charging circuit doesn’t have enough cooling and tends to overheat.
- Since the charging circuit and the CPU use the same heatsink, heat from the CPU gets dumped onto the charging circuit, making it even hotter.
- The charging rate is temperature-dependent, but the charging circuit doesn’t seem to have a temperature sensor, so Huawei probably went super conservative about protecting the charging circuit and modeled its temperature after the CPU temperature.
Therefore, even when the CPU is a little bit warm, the charging rate thermal-throttles.
I will discuss solutions to reduce this as part my throttling elimination project.
Also, the recent BIOS updates (especially since 1.17) seem to have slightly improved the charge rate.