expired Posted by Kevork • Dec 11, 2019
Dec 11, 2019 12:38 AM
Item 1 of 1
expired Posted by Kevork • Dec 11, 2019
Dec 11, 2019 12:38 AM
Motile 14" Laptop: AMD Ryzen 5, 14" 1080p, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
+ Free Shipping$299
$699
57% offWalmart
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Seems to be 2 M.2 slots and 1 DDR4.
1,764 Comments
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I noticed something that slightly annoyed me- the max volume seemed pretty low and the max brightness seemed low too. I was happy to see some potential solutions for this on the 1st page. Will try them out!
I was hesitant to initially purchase since I vowed to never use a laptop with a screen size less than 15". For now, pretty happy with it since I intend on using it for non-gaming activities. LOVE that it's lightweight as well.
Any thing special needed to swap the wifi chip? I've got the replacement one, but I've never swapped one out before. the NVMe and 16 GB memory were easy to add.
Just need to get a case so it can last longer. It survived a rough and tumble sea voyage, but I still have concerns about it long term survivability.
The warranty booklet I read mentions a 1 year hardware warranty, and only 90 days for labor.
What is everyone's thoughts or plans to hedge risk given that? I mean, I want this laptop to last awhile. Certainly, more than 90 days!
My card benefit will extend the warranty, but only mirrors the existing warranty. I'll only get an extra year of hardware and only an extra 90 days of labor making for a total of 6 months for labor. This seems below average on the labor side as far as laptop brand support goes.
Sure, if something basic fails, shouldn't be a big deal to replace ourselves, but the labor costs may be expensive when that runs out in a very short 6 months if it's something more.
I'd love to see Walmart invest in this lineup so we see in the future dual channel and next gen Ryzen in this quality and form factor and so on. I don't want this to be a one off laptop line! The weight... the specs... the build quality... It's just such an exciting "hidden gem" we've found here.
Any thing special needed to swap the wifi chip? I've got the replacement one, but I've never swapped one out before. the NVMe and 16 GB memory were easy to add.
Just need to get a case so it can last longer. It survived a rough and tumble sea voyage, but I still have concerns about it long term survivability.
There is a piece of tape over the antenna wires when you first open the back of the case. Be careful to preserve the tape and put it back once you are done installing the new card.
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The warranty booklet I read mentions a 1 year hardware warranty, and only 90 days for labor.
What is everyone's thoughts or plans to hedge risk given that? I mean, I want this laptop to last awhile. Certainly, more than 90 days!
My card benefit will extend the warranty, but only mirrors the existing warranty. I'll only get an extra year of hardware and only an extra 90 days of labor making for a total of 6 months for labor. This seems below average on the labor side as far as laptop brand support goes.
Sure, if something basic fails, shouldn't be a big deal to replace ourselves, but the labor costs may be expensive when that runs out in a very short 6 months if it's something more.
I'd love to see Walmart invest in this lineup so we see in the future dual channel and next gen Ryzen in this quality and form factor and so on. I don't want this to be a one off laptop line! The weight... the specs... the build quality... It's just such an exciting "hidden gem" we've found here.
After taking this laptop apart, and upgrading various parts of it, It certainly appears to be very well put together. I wouldn't worry too much if you don't experience any real serious problems in the first 90 days, you will likely get a long service life out of it.
Tongfang makes a lot of well liked laptops and is growing a good reputation so far. Where they lack is end user support, as that is left up to the companies putting their name on the resulting product.
The warranty booklet I read mentions a 1 year hardware warranty, and only 90 days for labor.
What is everyone's thoughts or plans to hedge risk given that? I mean, I want this laptop to last awhile. Certainly, more than 90 days!
My card benefit will extend the warranty, but only mirrors the existing warranty. I'll only get an extra year of hardware and only an extra 90 days of labor making for a total of 6 months for labor. This seems below average on the labor side as far as laptop brand support goes.
Sure, if something basic fails, shouldn't be a big deal to replace ourselves, but the labor costs may be expensive when that runs out in a very short 6 months if it's something more.
I'd love to see Walmart invest in this lineup so we see in the future dual channel and next gen Ryzen in this quality and form factor and so on. I don't want this to be a one off laptop line! The weight... the specs... the build quality... It's just such an exciting "hidden gem" we've found here.
Walmart offers their own protection plan through SquareTrade - 2 years for $48 and 3 years for $69. It does seem to cover accidental damage, which makes the price a little more palatable...but you're probably better off not getting a plan, rolling the dice, and if there's an expensive non-covered repair in the future, to get a new laptop (and by then there will probably be a dual channel laptop, maybe with the next gen Ryzen). I'm personally still on the fence... i mean, if you add the $70 to the price of the laptop, $370 is still pretty cheap for this laptop with a 3 year warranty with accidental damage coverage.
To add the plan, go to https://www.walmart.com/protection and sign in.
I've gone thr three M142 now. They all seem to have some issues with hdmi. The first one keeps intermittently blanking out for no reason... even with just having the standard windows background only with no apps running.
second one did better but still having the same issues. just less frequent
third one i am on now seems to have issues only when i play a video on the 2nd screen connected via the hdmi using chrome. playing with firefox seems ok.
these things only seem to happen on the hdmi screen. the laptop screen itself never have anu blanking out problem. I am thinking this is somehow related to the vega igpu.
Was hoping more people would maybe check out and see if they have this issue but seems like no one else cares or really use their hdmi frequently.
After taking this laptop apart, and upgrading various parts of it, It certainly appears to be very well put together. I wouldn't worry too much if you don't experience any real serious problems in the first 90 days, you will likely get a long service life out of it.
Tongfang makes a lot of well liked laptops and is growing a good reputation so far. Where they lack is end user support, as that is left up to the companies putting their name on the resulting product.
Walmart offers their own protection plan through SquareTrade - 2 years for $48 and 3 years for $69. It does seem to cover accidental damage, which makes the price a little more palatable...but you're probably better off not getting a plan, rolling the dice, and if there's an expensive non-covered repair in the future, to get a new laptop (and by then there will probably be a dual channel laptop, maybe with the next gen Ryzen). I'm personally still on the fence... i mean, if you add the $70 to the price of the laptop, $370 is still pretty cheap for this laptop with a 3 year warranty with accidental damage coverage.
To add the plan, go to https://www.walmart.com/protection and sign in.
However, the laptop as you say is already very cheap, even with the added cost of buying a protection plan with the accidental (as you pointed out accidental might make it easier to justify), but I've always heard you shouldn't get them generally.
I probably wouldn't feel so tossed up if it wasn't feeling this risky with some of the issues I saw in the thread (granted, good news is they seem to show up very early so far... but who knows nobody has owned this long enough yet). I wouldn't even feel this way if I got 1 year labor and then my card extended into 2.
After this Motile, I can't go back to any other laptop. That's literally how I feel having used this now. I need this chassis/build quality going forward at this value. If they continue this lineup in dual channel + next gen Ryzen... wow I'm a Motile & Walmart customer for life. I still feel every time using this laptop, wow, this is too good to be true somehow... what's the catch?
I've gone thr three M142 now. They all seem to have some issues with hdmi. The first one keeps intermittently blanking out for no reason... even with just having the standard windows background only with no apps running.
second one did better but still having the same issues. just less frequent
third one i am on now seems to have issues only when i play a video on the 2nd screen connected via the hdmi using chrome. playing with firefox seems ok.
these things only seem to happen on the hdmi screen. the laptop screen itself never have anu blanking out problem. I am thinking this is somehow related to the vega igpu.
Was hoping more people would maybe check out and see if they have this issue but seems like no one else cares or really use their hdmi frequently.
I tested the HDMI on mine (I've got a checklist I made to test every component of the laptop to make sure every aspect is working), and HDMI had no issues. I haven't used it extensively yet, I simply played some YouTube videos on Chrome hooked up to the TV, and also some basic mirroring of desktop. Sound and video quality were smooth, and I've used the HDMI cable and TV before with no issues. How long does it take for your issue to show or how frequent does it occur so I can look for this issue?
firefox seems to do ok.
do you output to a 1080p or 4K tv? I outpput at 4K 60hz. thr the hdmi.
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However, the laptop as you say is already very cheap, even with the added cost of buying a protection plan with the accidental (as you pointed out accidental might make it easier to justify), but I've always heard you shouldn't get them generally.
I probably wouldn't feel so tossed up if it wasn't feeling this risky with some of the issues I saw in the thread (granted, good news is they seem to show up very early so far... but who knows nobody has owned this long enough yet). I wouldn't even feel this way if I got 1 year labor and then my card extended into 2.
After this Motile, I can't go back to any other laptop. That's literally how I feel having used this now. I need this chassis/build quality going forward at this value. If they continue this lineup in dual channel + next gen Ryzen... wow I'm a Motile & Walmart customer for life. I still feel every time using this laptop, wow, this is too good to be true somehow... what's the catch?
I'm still on the fence -- accidental damage coverage is a plus, and the odds of being able to find parts for this in the future are probably not great. For example, I'm not having much luck finding parts for Walmart's Overpowered brand on eBay, nor much under "Tong Fang", and I expect similar availability for Motile.
As an aside, some credit cards will also extend the warranty after a purchased extended warranty -- Amex seems to be one. So for example, if I get the 3 year plan, I'd have 3 years parts + labor through the Walmart protection plan, then Amex's extended warranty benefit will add duplicate the manufacturer's warranty (so another 90 days labor + 1 year parts), for total of 4 years of parts and 3 years and 3 months of labor.
firefox seems to do ok.
do you output to a 1080p or 4K tv? I outpput at 4K 60hz. thr the hdmi.
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