The Hannspree HannsBook SN12E2 Thread!

I'm looking around for a second, even more portable machine. Will run Linux 90% of the time. Basically, it's between this (@mwave) and the Lenovo S205 (w/ AMD Fusion).

Are any of you Hannsbook owners having buyer's remorse?

Some background:
I'm leaning toward this machine. It's $90 cheaper, which I can turn around and use toward a modestly-sized SSD. Other considerations are that ubuntu (Linux Mint, same thing for all intents and purposes) seems to be a hassle w/ AMD Fusion machines. I'm guessing hardware compatibility will be better with an Intel platform like this one.

Other things equal, I'd concede a little graphics performance for better cpu performance. So, no reason to prefer an AMD E350 over an Intel SU4100. The ONLY reason I haven't pulled the trigger is . . . Hannspree? It's not that I have a bad impression so much as I have absolutely no impression at all.

 

As a matter of fact, I sold my original Hannspree because I bought an M11x. Well I regret selling it because I still needed a machine that I could still use outdoors (has a great screen for that) and didn't cost a lot so if something happened to it I would be (as) upset. So I bought another one just recently from Mwave.

The only thing I don't like about it is the voiding of warranty if you swap out RAM or hard drive. Very, very stupid if you ask me. But the build of the machine is solid. Only problem is I think the machines at Mwave have been sitting around a long while. Not a huge deal, but my battery was completely dead when I got the laptop and it showed 4.3% wear with BatteryBar. Most laptops the battery wear is above the "maximum" charge limit, and the battery at least has 50% juice in it.

Not horrible per se but not ideal. I did email Hannspree asking if they'd replace my battery but haven't heard back yet.

Otherwise the machine is very solidly built, has a good performing CPU, and the GPU actually plays a couple older games that I want it to, that a Dell Mini I just sold couldn't run at all.

 

Oh, man, I could live with 5% battery wear. My Portege lists a nice-looking 63Whr 6-cell battery. I installed batterybar within a week of owning it and noticed that it was only holding 48Whr. 25% wear, right out of the box.

Apparently, it's a common issue with Porteges. I never got anywhere w/ Toshiba. If I remember correctly, nobody @ NBR got anywhere, either.

If the information earlier in this thread is right, $50 + $5 shipping isn't bad for a manufacturer replacement. I wouldn't want to have to spend that money immediately. But if I wanted a new battery after a few months, I could live with that. A lot of OEM batteries are $100+.

 

Wow. I just got an email back from Hannspree asking me to call them. The tech said he'd send out a replacement battery right away, no need to send the current one back.

 

My HannsBook 12 arrived today. I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. Right up to last night, I was wondering if I'd made the right call -- wondering why I didn't just get the Lenovo S or HP dm1.

Nope. This little guy's a keeper. I haven't had a problem with keyboard flex, though the feel is a bit different than what I'm used to. It's also been forever since I've had a laptop with something other than a synaptics touchpad. I haven't had a problem with cursor jumping, and the trackpad is functional. Not wonderful, but I'll get used to it.

On the positive side, it feels much more solid than I expected. It's quicker than I expected. It came w/ ddr3 memory, which I didn't expect. The display quality is a bit better than I expected. It's glossy, but not super glossy. It's plenty bright - I can work comfortably at 20-30%.

I'm not going to bother personalizing it just yet. The 96gb kingston ssd that newegg was selling for $99 is going to arrive tomorrow, and it's going straight inside the Hannsbook. I also ordered a 4gb chip to replace the 2gb chip that came preinstalled.

In all, I'm in this thing for $435 or so. Not bad for an Intel CULV CPU, 4gb ddr3 RAM, and a decent-performing, nearly 100gb SSD. Not bad. And I'm sure it will be quicker still when I install the SSD and Linux Mint.

 

@ chris-m

Yeah great little machine for the money. Too bad the warranty is void if you replace HDD or RAM. This machine just begs for an SSD and 4GB RAM. But even so at less than $450 with the SSD and 4GB RAM, you can't find a machine with similar performance for less than $800. And yes, the screen is what I like most about it. Quite bright, use it outside quite a bit with no issue, well as long as I'm in shadow and turn brightness all the way up.

 

Has anybody had any problems with the bluetooth?
I know it's not always installed, but I have one (on the memory cover it says Bluetooth Module Inside : Atheros T77H056), but I can't get it to work, under linux at least. I use a light, debian based distro, and from what I've read, debian has no problem with bluetooth, but for some reason, the device isn't even detected.

Any ideas? Is it possible, that the bluetooth is actually missing?

EDIT: Hell no! It's there and working just fine, after installing a BUNCH of wireless drivers for Squeeze. If anyone comes across this problem, this will help: http://hexwave.blogspot.com/2011/04/debian-6-with-atheros-3011-ath3k-usb.html

 

Available for $300 now at Newegg.com
Newegg.com - Hannspree SN12E23BUP212 Notebook Intel Pentium SU4100(1.30GHz) 12.1" 2GB Memory DDR2 800 320GB HDD Intel GMA 4500MHD

 

I received mine today from Newegg. Out of the box the webcam and mic do not work. Does anyone know how to make them vizible in Windows 7 Home?

Thanks in advance.

 

Fn + F8

If that doesn't work go and update the BIOS. You can get it from the Hannspree website. After BIOS update and reboot into Windows, press Fn + F8 again, it should detect it.

 

HTWingNut,

Yes, I tried to get the BIOS updated by downloading the file from manufacturer's site: http://www.hannspree.com/US/Images/Downloads/Laptops/Bios/SN12E2_Bios_965HGP05.rar. And from what I can tell, during BIOS update process I'm getting "CMOS Checksum Bad Error". After that computer reboots and I'm back to square one. I have not, however, pushed Fn + F8, since I thought that BIOS update was not successful.

I'm at work now, will try to do it again this evening and report the outcome.

 

Fn + F8 in windows will activate the webcam. It toggles it on and off. Only reason I mentioned the BIOS if you look at my review, I noted that my webcam wouldn't activate with Fn+F8 until I updated the BIOS.

 

Has anyone found a screen calibration profile for this? The screen looks ok, but would be nice to be sure of its colour representation (I plan to use mine to edit photos while travelling).

I can't find a calibration profile for the Hannsbook SN12E2, but maybe the hsd121phw1 Hannstar 12.1 screen is used in other notebooks? It would then be possible to use the other notebooks calibration profile for the hannsbook probably with the same results.

I will post up anything I find, and please let me know if any of you calibrate your monitor by this or any other means.

 

HTWingNut,

Thank you so much for the tip, it worked

Hope our Red Wings will spend Raf's money wise this summer

 

Can someone tell what the make and model of the webcam and mic?
If you have it working Windows 7, you should be able to see the details in Devices and Printers.


Problems I've had in Ubuntu
1) No webcam and mic in Ubuntu, as mentioned in a previous post.
I've updated the BIOS, and pressing Fn + F8 makes no difference.
Also tried several other distros, booting live versions from memory card, none of them worked, at least not out of the box (I didn't experiment much, just simple test, does it work? no, then try Fn + F8 and test once more).

If I knew the make and model then I might be able to find a driver to match, at least the information will give me a place to start.



2) The wireless card craps out under continously heavy traffic, usually after around 20 seconds, rarely lasting more than a minute. The system doesn't give any indication that anything has gone wrong when this happens other than the fact that all network traffic stops, i.e. the wireless icon continues to indicate that there is a working connection, even though there isn't

Disconnecting and reconnecting gets the wireless card working again.

Bodhi Linux is the only distribution I tested that did not have this problem.

The problem can be reproduced by using nc to send data to another machine on the network (use something like gnome-system-monitor to watch the network traffic)

E.g. on the Hannspree
-

Code:

nc computerB 11111 < /dev/zero

and on the other machine -

Code:

nc -l -p 11111 > /dev/null

I got around this problem by using ndiswrapper with the Windows 7 wireless drivers from the Hannspree site.

 

How'd you know I was a Red Wing Nut?

Yeah, can't believe Raf decided to call it quits. I understand it, but even if he was benched 90% of the season he'd rake in $6M. But whatever. This is going to be a big rebuilding season for the Wings.

 

I have just taken delivery of my new SN12E2 and it looks very nice for the money (cost me $280 delivered, here in the UK).

Anyway, I have upped the RAM to 4GB of DDR3 RAM (from Crucial), so I would like to install Win7 64bit, and wondered what I need to do to do this.

The machine only came with a 32bit disc of Win7, so will I need to go out and purchase a copy of Win7 64bit (bit pricey!) or is there any way to re-install the 64bit version from the supplied discs etc.

Thanks for the halp.
Kevin.

 

Hi Kevin,

I'm afraid you'd have to get a whole new Win7 64-bit.

Can you check the make/model of the webcam/mic in Devices and Printers for me, please?

 

There is a legit way to download a win 7 ISO. You can use the same key. Will probably have to call to activate it though.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

 

Can I just check (before I go ahead and do something silly like format the drive ) that the Windows 7 license key on the back of the machine will allow me to install and activate Windows 7 64bit?

I already have a Windows 7 64bit install disk from my desktop, so I could use that to install to the Hannspree, and activation by phone is not a problem, as I have done that before with an older computer I had.

I just wanted to make sure the license is good for both 32bit and 64bit activations.

Thanks for the info,
Kevin.

 

Yes, it should work. I just recently downloaded the Win7 X64 ISO and installed with the COA from the sticker on my Hannspree and it worked just fine. Good luck!

 

@HTWingNut - If you're still running Windows 7, is there any chance you check the mode/make of the webcam/mic as it appears in Win 7 please? Webcam should be under Imaging in Device Manager.


Is there much advantage in using a 64-bit OS on a SN12E2 with 4GB? I'd be interested in seeing benchmark results for 32-bit vs 64-bit, or hearing from people who've tried both and can compare.

 

There is no performance difference between 32-bit and 64-bit except that you can take full advantage of 4GB if you run 64-bit. Otherwise only about 3GB will be available to you.

I am using whatever driver Windows used for the Webcam and only indicates Microsoft driver, but here's the hardware ID but couldn't find anything on it online.

 

Thanks for that HTWingNut, that was enough for me to get started.

The webcam appears to be a Fitipower Integrated Technology Inc.

Will give an update if I can it working on Ubuntu 11.04.

 

Webcam suddenly starts working for me in Ubuntu!

Been trying to get the webcam to work in Ubuntu for a while now...

Today I typed 'lsusb' to list the USB devices, as I've done many times before, and the following appeared:

Code:

Fitipower Integrated Technology Inc Webcam

I've never seen that before, so I'm guessing that the driver has been included (or whatever the problem was has been fixed) fairly recently.

Anyway, now the webcam works - the strange is that while Fn + F8 turns the camera off, it does not turn the camera on again. So far only "lsusb" turns the camera on.


Update: The kernel recognizes the camera during bootup sometimes, but not always. Turning the camera on with lsusb has only worked when the camera has been recognized during bootup. It may be the case that there's no way to get the webcam to work if the kernel does not recognize it during bootup.

Doing many reboots, the camera worked for a while, then stopped working for a while (many reboots) and then it was recognized again, until I got the following error in the kernel log and it hasn't worked since:

Code:

kernel: [ 5926.105496] uvcvideo: Failed to resubmit video URB (-27)

I thought earlier that pressing Fn + F8 early in the boot process and then running lsusb had worked, but I've tried that many times since without luck, so I think pressing Fn + F8 was just a coincidence.

If you're running Ubuntu you should see something like this in the kernel log, if the kernel recognises the webcam:

Code:

kernel: [   19.571309] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
kernel: [   19.581598] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB 2.0 Camera (18e3:9512)
kernel: [   19.594405] input: USB 2.0 Camera as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb2/2-4/2-4:1.0/input/input4
kernel: [   19.594715] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
kernel: [   19.594719] USB Video Class driver (v1.0.0)

 

Anybody try getting the mini-pcie slot to work yet? I didn't try too much but after swapping the wifi card from the shorter mini-pcie to the longer mini-pcie, the wireless card was no longer detected. I want to be able to put a 50mm mini-pcie SSD in the slot and use both a hard drive and SSD.

 

Hi All,

I purchased this laptop recently and have found one of the keys doest not work, I have checked the connection between key board and the mother board and it seems fine. I cant take it back for refund but they dont have a replacement in stock so will not get it back.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Most mPCIe slots are not configured as bootable or for HDD/SSD use. They are wired only for wireless connectivity. I doubt this machine is any different.

 

I want to get a portable notebook and have it be a dedicated Ubuntu machine.

I want a portable notebook to write reports and do general work on (10 inch netbooks don't cut it for me). I don't game and battery life is important because I travel frequently.

I recently graduated from college, so I'm on a budget. I've narrowed my choices down these two:

Hannspree SN12

Asus 1215T

What would you guys recommend based on your experience with the Hannspree?

 

Well the Asus 1215T comes with the AMD K125 which is only a single core CPU and doesn't come with an OS, but not a huge deal since you will be installing Ubuntu. I think the Hannspree has a better screen, better CPU, and good build quality. Plus it's only $300 at Newegg.com right now.

But I'd see who offers best driver support for Ubuntu, Intel or AMD.

 

Hello all. I also have a Hannspree that I purchased at Costco (in February I think) I am not as computer smart with the inner workings of a computer as some of you seem so I wondered if I could get some help regarding my internet connection. I have a router in the other room, all of us in the family have no problem connecting, and even my HP laptop, which I am using now, can go anywhere in the house or outside with no problem, but the Hannspree only connects to the interent when I am very near the router. I cannot take it in my room or on the patio and get a connection. Is there a setting or something I should know about? This is driving me crazy because it is so light and portable and I would love to be able to figure this out. Any help would be so much appreciated. :O

 

Hi guys, new owner checking in. Really liking the SN12E2 so far, and I noticed that mwave dropped the price today to $290:

Hannspree SN12E23BUP212 Hannspree HannsBook Notebook PC - Intel Pentium Dual-Core ULV SU4100 1.3GHz, 2GB DDR2, 320GB HDD, 12.1" Display, Windows 7 Home Premium (Black) from mwave.com

Will venture back here as I play with installing Win7 64bit and Linux!

-Matt

 

Thanks for link, they must be trying to exhaust stock. Wonder if they're coming out with a new Sandy Bridge model. But at $300 you definitely can't beat the price. It's been $300 at Newegg for a couple weeks now, probably stay there until stock exhausted. I bought another one because I ended up using one as a media center for my kids. Stream videos, they can do YouTube, play flash games, etc. Works out great. May throw a 1TB 5400RPM 9.5mm drive in there as soon as they get released (I believe Samsung just released them in Europe).

 

DO NOT say Sandy Bridge. I need this machine to last me two years, not two weeks. If I see a 12" with Sandy Bridge, under $400...I'll be one sad puppy. Give me a few months of enjoyment with the SN12E2.

Actually, since mwave has a price-drop guarantee, I paid $310 for it, but will hopefully get the $20 back!

In the meantime, did you see this deal on the Asus UL20 at Newegg:

Newegg.com - ASUS UL20 Series UL20FT-B1 NoteBook Intel Core i3 380UM(1.33GHz) 12.1" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm Intel GMA HD

Holy crap! I wonder if that deal was even real, or a pricing mistake (it's $500 after MIR everywhere else). I WILL HAVE to jump on it if it shows up at $400 again. I don't how I'll explain buying two 12" machines within weeks to my wife, but I won't have any choice in the matter.

-Matt

 

OK, you convinced me. If I see the Asus again I'm picking it up. I'll figure out what to do after. Probably marriage counseling. Or some sort of 12-step program for gadget addicts.

-Matt

 

UL20 is a nice machine especially for $400.

Although I doubt a Sandy Bridge from Hannspree would debut under $400. Might after six months or so. That UL20 isn't that much more powerful than the SU4100 and 4500MHD. Although the UL20 does come stock with 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM, and the 1 yr accidental warranty. Plus it probably wouldn't void your warranty to change out the HDD and RAM.

Guess I'll keep an eye on it too! ack! There's no "notify me when back in stock" button either.

 

Really?...wow, I have new-found respect for the SU4100 (love the SU7300 on my Asus UL30A-X5). Yeah the 4GB RAM is nice...probably better battery life than the Hannspree. But the 1yr accidental, you know that's a scam right? I don't think I've EVER seen an Amazon buyer who succeeded with that--seems Asus does their best to avoid honoring it. Also, haven't you seen the comments on repair attempts with the Transformer tablet? Not pretty.

-Matt

 

Hmm, I guess I better look into that accidental warranty then. So sounds good as a selling point, but in reality they're real particular about the "accident" then? But 500GB HDD and 4GB RAM is worth the $100 difference.

I can get shy of 5 useful hours with battery out of my Hannspree, I think partially thanks to the SSD I put in there. The UL20 quotes 6 hours, so probably close to same. Although not sure why the Hannspree can't do better. My M11x has an SU7300, essentially same chip as SU4100, just 1MB more cache than the SU4100, and it can get over 7 hours when I switch to the Intel 4500 GPU.

I was also just checking the performance of the i3-380um and Intel HD Graphics vs the SU4100 and 4500MHD and the UL20 does seem decently better, so was wrong earlier . Seems the CPU is ~ 25% raw performance better, and GPU ~ 50% better. In any case you're still not going to be playing too many modern games higher than low detail at 720p, if at all. But a little boost would be nice.

Regarding the comment about mwave price match policy. When I bought my first Hannspree from them, price dropped $20 about a week after I bought mine. I emailed them and they said "we don't normally do this but we will this time" ??? Whatever.

You can also overclock this Hannspree. It's limited by both the chipset and the RAM. My LAN disappears past 1.55GHz. Plus RAM CAS stays at CAS 6 no matter how fast you overclock, so your RAM has to be able to maintain CAS 6 at whatever clock speed you push it at. Samsung RAM seems to do the best. Hoping to push my new Hannspree to 1.7 or 1.8GHz when I get it. In any case overclock should push your CPU up to or faster than the i3-380um at least, and the GPU will get a slight boost from the OC too, just not to the new IGP speed.

 

Hey guys, just got my hanspree in the mail last night via newegg. All is well but the one thing that kind of bugs me when the fan comes on there is this weird cracking sound, almost as if the fan is not perfectely alligned. (ive heard it a million times on older laptops) Is this a common occurnace with these net-books? Or should I consider a RMA?

 

Cracking sound? I'd consider an RMA. I haven't heard anything like that on mine.

 

I don't have any firsthand experience, but here are the two things I've seen over and over:

(1) They make it near-impossible to register, e.g., the postcard is addressed to the wrong place (former address, gets returned to sender). IN my case I sent it BEFORE knowing that, and I dunno, but it was received. Get this: I got an email confirmation around the 10-month mark, saying I needed to send proof of purchase to finish the process. I decided to keep my fingers crossed instead.

(2) LOTS (i.e., dozen or more?) of very angry owners at Amazon, complaining that the return/repair process was a disaster. Phone support hangs up. Repair center says shipment never arrived. Lost in repair center for a month. Send back the wrong unit...or no sign of repair done. This could be some kind of PR campaign from Toshiba or Samsung, but it look fishy either way.

I think the kicker for me was reading people's experience with the Transformer (e.g., faulty touch screen). Typical story: owned it one week, call customer service...the owner has to ship at their expense, and the repair takes over a month. Not good.

Ah, that sounds cool. I now have the Newegg page on it's own tab, plus an alert at bensbargains.net! I definitely need therapy.

The cool thing with mwave is that it was actually a third-party guarantee (buySafe). I submitted the claim yesterday, so we'll see. I tend to be a bit...persistent on these things.

EDIT: Woohoo, just got the email from buySafe, the claim was approved. $20!!! ...eh, it feels kinda small in hindsight...

On a random note, I just want to say how superb the build quality is on the Hannspree. I love how solid it feels...the Asus UL30A in comparison (bless its heart) creaks badly when you lift it!

-Matt

 

I definitely second the vote to "return" it. Mine is about 2 weeks old, and the fan sounds like a normal fan.

I forget...do you have to remove the warranty-void stickers to take a look?

-Matt

 

Dam, ya I would. Looks like I need to call up Hanspree support.... Thanks for the quick reply.. Gonna give em a call now, (ill keep you all updated)

Edit: Ended up doing a RMA through Newegg. Should have a new one within a couple of days, ill keep y'all updated...

 

I'm thinking about upgrading the battery in mine, any ideas which ones are compatible? I have no experience with this.

 

Not sure if this helps (it's recent) but there's a nearby thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hannspree/585726-cost-replacement-battery-new-price-la-store.html

-Matt

 

i tried updating the bios but still can't get the webcam to work, all the other fn buttons respond appropriately. i can't see the webcam in windows device manager either. any suggestions? thanks.

 

Hi,
I got my sn12e2 about two weeks ago and am loving it. I read the section about overclocking the sn12e2 but the directions only help if you already know how to overclock. could someone please give a newbie-friendly step by step guide on how to overclock it?

Thanks

 

I will when I get a chance, the hard drive in mine just died. And since I voided the warranty by upgrading the RAM, they won't replace it, well probably. I will still call them and ask if I can remove it and exchange it with them.

 

Hi all.

I found a problem with the Hannspree (not a computer problem, but driver issue) which most of you won't see, depending on how you use Windows update or if you run on battery or AC adapter.

This happened with my first Hannspree from newegg 5 weeks or so ago. I couldn't figure out what it was at the time and had to return it before my 30 day return expired. I just got a second one today (new, different serial number) and it worked fine at first, but after updating all Windows software (about 90 updates using the update Windows option in the control panel), the same probem showed up again.

The problem only happens on battery power. I don't see it with the AC adapter.

When running any video or audio on battery, I see a 1 sec buzz which happens every 5-30 sec. But it happens even if not running audio/video, it's just less obvious since it just shows up as the cursor or scrolling freezing for a second, and hard drive access stops too. But the whole computer freezes for that random 1 sec.

Here is the problem:

When you run Windows update, you are given important updates which install by default, plus optional updates which only install if you select them. I selected all of them. There were about 86 important updates, plus 4 optional ones.

After spending a lot of time on this, I looked into the optional updates. There were two hardware updates; one for the Intel video driver, and one for the Atheros AR9285 wireless network adapter. It's the Atheros driver suggested as optional by Windows update that causes the problem.

If you go to the Device Manager, Network adapters, Atheros Wireless, Driver, you'll see the current revision. The more recent Hannsprees should show revision 8.0.0.238 which is dated 10/5/2009. That one works fine and I can get 150 Mbps on my wireless N router.

I wish I wrote down the newer version that has the problem, but it was dated either 6/10 or 6/11 (version 8.0.0.3xx, I think).

If you want to test your recent Hannspree, just run any audio or video on battery power. There is a nice HD video that comes with Windows 7 called "Wildlife" in the Library/Videos/Sample Videos folder.

With the problem, you'll see 1 second buzzes every few seconds. If you don't see it, then maybe no problem.

If you do see the problem, you don't have to reinstall everything. In the Device Manager, just select "Roll Back Driver". That fixed it for me.

Again, you won't see this unless you select the optional update for Atheros, and then run audio/video under battery power. But it happened on two Hannsprees for me, so I think it is real.

 

renoguy,

Does this wireless driver issue have anything to do with the extremely weak wifi range/signal the hannsbook gets? I almost want to return the computer because the wifi range is so incredibly terrible. After moving 10 feet from my router I already drop 1 bar of signal, I can only get signal in about half of my house. No wifi in my bedroom or basement. Is there a solution for this? Can I replace the wireless card? I love everything else about the hannsbook but this might be a dealbreaker.