Lenovo Ideacenter Stick 300 ... my impression

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yamawho
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:08 am
Location: Montreal

Lenovo Ideacenter Stick 300 ... my impression

Post by yamawho » Sat Feb 27, 2016 6:16 pm

I ordered this from Lenovo and it arrived this week.
http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/desktops/i ... lleryPhoto

Used RCA 28" 720P TV I purchased last year as monitor and a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard.
System feels very good for browsing, very responsive.

So far here is what I have noticed ...

When I first plugged it in it would not power up but did by moving the power brick around.
1st boot went well and windows updates has no updates when I checked yesterday.
Played music from networked USB stick and no issues.
Played video for same and it locked up after remaining idle for a while ... did this once so far.
After shutdown the fan on the device sometimes stays on. I once left it alone and it was still running 2 hours later. The 2nd time I just pulled the plug on it after a few minutes. It has not done this since the 2nd time.
The only bloatware seems to be Lenovo Hardware checker.
When fan is running you need to be close to it to hear it.

I read this was a problem on Intel sticks so I followed this advise below ...

To perform in place upgrade. Just disable Write Caching on the Kingston eMMC Drive in device manage. Make sure you have all the latest drivers from Intel installed, then you can upgrade to 1511 without issue.

Got this here ....
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ff7c4ac?page=5

I not sure if I should set the wifi to metered to stop any updates at this point.

I actually purchased this and a Kangaroo PC which also has the same windows build 10204.

Having played around with the Kangaroo all day, I can say that the Lenovo stick makes a better HTPC in my opinion. Although the Kangaroo has an extra USB 3 port, the form factor of the stick makes it better suited. The way it plugs directly into a hdmi port (male connector) has the device become one with the TV. In contrast the Kangaroo hangs from a dongle and the power brick with wiring is larger.

I added a 64G microSD card and streamed media from it and a networked USB stick without issue using the wireless connection on both devices.

The kangaroo however will be the one I travel with since it has a integrated battery and the HDMI port is female so you need to use a standard cable (which is not included) that has male connections at both ends. This means this device can easily be plugged into a projector or the usual cable on a conference room table that connects to the presentation TV. It also has a 64 bit install compared to the Lenovo 32 bit. Although there are small differences in the OS between the two, perhaps since the Kangaroo comes with the signature edition windows explains this ... one example there is no replay button on the FilmTV app on the Kangaroo.

The unexpected discovery that I cannot set the OS to install programs on the microsd card with the 10204 build is disappointing. Apparently this used to be possible but was disabled in this build. I read that the 1511 update will unable this once again. However, I also read the this update has bricked many Intel and Lenovo sticks ...

The solution to avoid the bricking is above ... this was on the Intel version which seems to have a Kingston eMMC Drive. The Lenovo has a Sandisk and the Kangaroo has a Toshiba but there is not much info online about the work around for these. To be safe, I followed the advice on both devices.

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