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No reason for this post at all, just airing my gripes.
Got this lovely new Lenovo W541 from work. It's essentially the same angular black slab as the old one, but it's got an SSD and some I7 CPU that does 2.8GHz, so it's really snappy especially with Ubuntu on it and battery life is great at 7.5 hours ish. There are a few bizarre things about it though.
1) Numeric keypad on the side - annoying. I'm not a data entry clerk, so I'd rather have my keyboard in the middle.
2) I like touchpads, but this one is almost impossible to avoid brushing with my palm. Plus they've done away with the buttons favouring a press to click type thing like my wife's Chromebook. It works on the Chromebook, but not on here - when I try and use a different finger to hold down the click the pointer jumps about.
3) There's no hotkey to disable the touchpad
4) There's no wireless kill switch
5) There are no indicator lights on the thing at all - so you don't know when wireless is active, and you don't know when the HD is going. So given there's also no sound, you don't know if it's doing somethign or you're waiting around like a mug if something's hung.
6) Function keys operate the laptop features by default, and to get application F1, F2 etc you have to hold down Fn.
7) It's completely silent, which seems really weird.
I can't for the life of me why they've done 3, 4 and 5.
Humph.
No idea if mine has a hotkey to disable touchpad - I presume not, but then is that something many people want to do? How big is the touchpad? I have about 1/2" space either side of the touchpad between where my palms rest. No wireless kill switch (Fn F5 if I wanted to, but can't think of the last time I used that, or a HW switch on other laptops I've used which have one - it may not be something as many people use as you think). Also no indicators apart from a power one, which is also something I don't really miss, but then none of those features are things I had on my previous one either.
Fn-F5 is the wireless hotkey on mine, yes.
6) Function keys operate the laptop features by default, and to get application F1, F2 etc you have to hold down Fn.
Never seen that on a laptop but the Lenovo desktops do it and it's really, really, really annoying. Fortunately you can change it, it's a BIOS option.
Is it the one with the annoying red button mouse controller in the middle of the keypad? 👿 I hate that button I'm always catching it as I touch type.
Cougar + 1 sometimes at 3a.m. (on a rare callout) I forget and have a moments panic that I'll not be able to access functionality
I can't for the life of me why they've done 3, 4 and 5.
It's due to the mysterious workings of the oriental mind 😆
No idea if mine has a hotkey to disable touchpad - I presume not, but then is that something many people want to do?
See point 2 - I don't have a problem on any other laptop, but I do on this - perhaps because it's off-centre.
The hardware kill switch is useful because if you've suspended it with the wireless on, you can then switch it off before you wake it up.
Is it the one with the annoying red button mouse controller in the middle of the keypad? I hate that button I'm always catching it as I touch type.
Hah.. lots of laptops have them, but it is quite big on this one.
Cougar - BIOS option - you're a star!
Could be worse - the one I was looking at had the power button just beside the delete key...
But yes, I'm with you on having to hit FN and f5 etc.
For touchpad off try holding the top left of the touchpad for a few secs
Easy...
1. Go into the BIOS and alter the settings so that the Function keys work as function keys i.e. F1-F12 without having to hold the FN button.
2. Holding down the FN button press various combinations of the function keys (f1-12) to alter volume, screen brightness, enable/disable WiFi, enable/disable touchpad etc.
This is what I do on my Lenovo laptop bought 6 months ago. I guess they don't have physical buttons for this on some laptops as it saves them 10 pence. Interestingly my HP work computer has buttons for WiFi and you double tap the top left of the touchpad to disable it then enable it.
1) Numeric keypad on the side - annoying. I'm not a data entry clerk, so I'd rather have my keyboard in the middle.
tht bugs me too..I've been considering buying a new laptop but not that many without the numeric pad (think there is a Dell XPS one).
6) Function keys operate the laptop features by default, and to get application F1, F2 etc you have to hold down
On [my] Dell - there is Control-Panel -> Windows Mobility Centre -> 'Function Key Row' where the default can be toggled (I think this might be a Dell customisation)
I had one of those for a few days and then swapped it out for a macbook pro instead from the new employer.
It's not too silent when you start stressing it, mine got quite noisy doing little else than browsing the internet and having outlook open.
They are huge slabs of things though, no getting away from that!
It's not too silent when you start stressing it, mine got quite noisy doing little else than browsing the internet and having outlook open.
Sitting here surfing and emailing etc it's silent. Can't vouch for Windows though. On Linux, if I want, I can customise the fan profile so it can either be off until needed when it suddeny comes on, or blow a bit more gently and even out the spikes of temperature.
I could've had a Mac but I didn't get one, mainly because I couldn't add a second internal drive and I could only have 16Gb RAM. And, you know, Macs 
[quote=molgrips ]I don't have a problem on any other laptop, but I do on this - perhaps because it's off-centre.
Ah, that would explain the issue.
The hardware kill switch is useful because if you've suspended it with the wireless on, you can then switch it off before you wake it up.
Nope, still don't know why you'd want to do that.
On planes, you can turn it off knowing it's not going to start beaming rf signals all over the place before you can log in and turn it off in software.
If its a similar model to mine, I find clicking/double clicking using a light tap on the touchpad is much more effective and accurate than actually clicking like its a button, its a big old clunky button when used like that and often doesn't seem to recognise the click.
Read up on how to use the touchpad if you are not familiar, with the two finger right click, two finger scroll functions etc. Annoyingly the two finger scroll is a mirror image to my Chromebook at home, on the Chromebook you slide two fingers down to scroll down, on the Lenovo its two fingers up to scroll down. It would make sense if it was on a touchscreen as you'd be 'pushing' the text up the screen to scroll down the page.
I suspect I'd probably not worry too much about something which listens for signals before it transmits anything.
Just a nicety allows you to follow the rules properly. I'm not *worried* about it, it's just one of those things that mildly annoy me. Gripes, they are called.
On planes
On planes, if Wi-Fi could cause planes to fall out of the sky you wouldn't be allowed laptops on planes. The problem with Wi-Fi is that you're not paying attention to the safety briefing or being otherwise antisocial.
[i]See point 2 - I don't have a problem on any other laptop, but I do on this - perhaps because it's off-centre.[/i]
+1
I've been looking for a new laptop and my wifes' work one has an offset keyboard/mouse (due to the numeric pad). Quickly decided that I'll be buying one that isn't.
For two finger scrolling you can reverse the direction in the trackpad settings. I've done so because as you say it's counter-intuitive to swipe up to scroll down, unless you're using a touch screen when it makes sense. Odd how we perceive it differently.