No news on the cases, probably delayed by Greek new year (only some empty promises)
Well, my contact has checked that all the fixes have been made to the molds, but the samples need to be produced.
The important thing is that the changes have been done.
CPU boards delayed by Chinese new year
Sure, that's a bummer, but not we can do about this here.
Mainboards WiFi seems to be stronger, boards still need more testing
Thorough testing. It works as good as my smartphone, but you should still test it with different routers, etc.
The important thing is that the revised layout has fixed the Wifi issue.
As all other known issues of the mainboard has been fixed now as well, the layout is fix and we can safely consider the mainboard to be finished as well.
No solution yet for sirring noise removal
That was to be expected if you follow the news:
CPU board production takes 6 weeks, Mainboard production takes 4 weeks.
Testing different capacitors can be done while we're waiting for the PCBs.
Testing whether the known issues had been fixed and that Wifi works fine had a higher priority, as those were mandatory to ORDER the mainboards (they might've needed layout changes).
So if we first would've worked on fixing the sirring noises instead of testing Wifi and fixed, the mainboard production would've been delayed by a couple of weeks.
Not a good idea if you ask me.
At least one more iteration for mainboards is needed
Not really one more iteration. The layout is now done and tested, nothing more is needed.
But how should we build prototypes without the mainboards?
Also, where is the problem with that if the CPU boards need 6 weeks in production and the mainboards 4 weeks (could even be sped up to 2 weeks for a bit money more)?
The important things are...
a) The mainboard has been tested and works
b) The mainboard is being produced in parallel to the CPU board and both should arrive at GC at the same time.
Cooling solution is still ongoing
What's the problem with that? The cooling we had is already working fine (it cools the CPU down by 20°C).
But why shouldn't I try to improve that even further while we're waiting for the PCBs to arrive?
Sure, I could sit down and play some games and have fun... but trying to improve it even further if it doesn't delay anything is even more fun.
We know it works and we can start production with the already working solution
Perhaps a prototype if all of the above are fixed
I'm not sure if you understood the post correctly, but the mainboard IS already fixed, the CPU board has a 99.99% chance of being fixed (as these simulations are very accurate usually), cooling solution is also working fine, the molds should've all fixes included as well.
The ONLY thing not fixed yet is the capacitor sirring noise, but we always had the plan to work on that while the boards are being produced.
So what we're doing now is WAITING for everything to be produced (PCBs and cases) so we can do a final check (though the final mainboard has already been checked, but we need more to be able to produce the prototypes
)
So, nothing has been checked off as finished, everything is still ongoing.
It depends on what you define as "finished".
If "finished" means: The layout and design files are now done, no more fixes are needed, then basically everything except for the sirring noise has been finished.
If you define "finished" that everything has been done AND thoroughly tested (which is what we need the prototype for), then yes, we still need to check the CPU board and the case.
Heating solution and mainboard have already been checked, so these could be considered as being finished then as well.
(then again, I sometimes have the feeling that 90% of the products on the market couldn't be considered as being "finished" then, as they often seem to be missing some thorough testing...)
My guestimate: prototype around summer, production in Q4, delivery in 2019.
Weeeell... if the Chinese New Year ends in July, then yes, it would be summer until we receive the PCBs to do the prototype production run.
Otherwise, I don't see a reason why it should take longer. Global Components have ALWAYS been fast and reliable when it comes to production, so why should they NOT produce them?
Regarding the cases: I've got 25 sets of the previous revision here.
The ONLY fixes that have been made was to the shoulder buttons, the stylus holder and the keyboard part (as the holes were a bit off).
Everything else IS already in the final revision.
Yes, I can understand why one can be pessimistic and think things will take years.
But you should still see the facts of what has been done and what not.
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That's not something to be pessimistic about. If we believe EvilDragon, then he has a cooling solution that works sufficiently well already, and we should be satisfied if that's as far as it went, but he's doing further tests to see if it can be improved while waiting for other stuff to finish. This is an efficient use of time and should not be counted as a negative.
Yep, that's exactly how it is
