When the new machine was received, I checked out these features.
In summary, most of the features that the machine was supposed
to have, performed with no hassle out of the box.
| Does it boot at all? | Conf
|
| |
It boots the network installer and the rescue system off USB sticks, and
it boots both Linux and Windows off the Kingston NVMe flash disc.
For Linux to use the NVMe disc, the controller has to be switched to AHCI
mode in BIOS setup,
|
| UEFI Boot | Box
|
| | Both Linux and Windows out of the box are
set up for UEFI, including the installers, and boot successfully.
|
| Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-10210U | Box
|
| | CPU Family | Comet Lake
|
| | Cores | 4
|
| | Hyperthread available but disabled | Off
|
| | Lithographic technology | 14nm
|
| | Nominal clock speed | 1.6GHz
|
| | Turbo clock speed (1 core) | 4.2GHz
|
| | Minimum clock speed | 0.8GHz
|
| | Bogomips | 4200
|
| | Jimc's benchmark (Mb/sec) | 205286
|
| | MPEG-4 playback (VLC), CPU% | 5.7%
|
| Memory | Box
|
| | Main memory as delivered: 8Gb
|
| | Per
ASUS' tech specs for S532 series, different models have 4Gb or 8Gb
soldered in, plus one slot for 4Gb or 8Gb, maximum 16Gb.
|
| | Per
Memorystock.com, the S532FA has 4Gb memory soldered in, 2 slots,
and maximum of 12Gb. The memory is DDR4 PC4-19200 2400MHz
Non-ECC SODIMM, 4Gb or 8Gb.
|
| Graphics: Intel GT2 UHD Graphics | Box
|
| | Base frequency | 300MHz
|
| | Maximum frequency | 1.10GHz
|
| | Maximum video RAM | 32Gb
|
| | Execution units | 24
|
| | Number of displays | up to 3
|
| | Output protocols | eDP/DP/HDMI/DVI
|
| | Max resolution (60Hz except 24Hz on HDMI)
| 4096x2304px
|
| | DirectX version | 12
|
| | OpenGL version | 4.5
|
| | On the 1920x1080px
display (1080p), the machine can perform MPEG-4 encoded media
with no problems: way more than enough CPU power and no dropped frames.
CPU utilization 5.7%; excess power around 1.9W (varies).
|
| Display | Box
|
| | Display size is 1920x1080 pixels (1080p).
Technology: IPS. Colors are uniform in all directions, ±90°.
Brightness is 250nit per spec sheet
|
| Disc | Conf
|
| |
Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB, 476.9Gb NVMe/PCIe flash disc. (This is 500Gib
in powers of 10.) It works out of the box under Windows. However, the
Linux driver reports that it is remapped in RAID mode, and will
have to be switched to AHCI mode before the driver can do anything with
it. This was easily accomplished in BIOS setup, unlike for the
previous Acer Aspire 5, A515-54-51DJ.
|
| LAN | Add-on
|
| | The S532FA doesn't have an Ethernet
port. I'm using a USB dongle with it (to good effect).
|
| Wi-Fi | Box
|
| | Intel Comet Lake PCH-LP CNVi WiFi (apparently
part of the SoC). Driver: iwlwifi . PCI ID: 8086:02f0. Protocols: 802.11
b/g/n/ac (and presumably 'a'). Firmware was loaded (intel/ibt-19-0-4.sfi).
This device has been operating with no problems on 802.11n (2.4GHz); it
communicates well from the usual locations in my house, as much as 20
meters away through walls. Specifically, to a Terow ROW02FD in access
point mode (Mediatek mt7612u.ko), it can download at 50.4Mbit/s and upload
at 36.8Mbit/s when 14.5 meters from the AP through one wall. This is good
(but not peak) performance for 802.11n with a 20MHz channel and one spatial
stream. The data rate is higher when closer to the AP. It can connect to
a 802.11ac repeater in the 5GHz band, but the repeater has functional
limitations preventing a real evaluation.
|
| Bluetooth | Conf
|
| | USB ID 8087:0026 by Intel; it is probably
part of the Comet Lake family SoC. Uses driver btintel and firmware
intel/ibt-19-0-4.sfi (and friends?) Confusingly, the Linux Bluetooth
infrastructure promiscuously loads btrtl (Realtek) and btbcm (Broadcom)
in addition, with firmware. I can't find any evidence that any of these
are actually operational, but the Intel driver is the most plausible.
I successfully paired Xena with Selen (cellphone) and sent a file to it.
|
| Keyboard | Box
|
| | It has 98 keys (counting the power button).
It's backlit. The feel of the keys is fine, with normal negative
resistance. Key spacing is standard size, except F1-F12 etc. on the top
row are shrunk about 15%. There is a numeric keypad on the right side,
normally laid out. The arrow keys are below the right shift key, and Up and
Down are split into one key cell. Home, PgUp, PgDn, End are overlaid on
the arrow keys; you have to press Fn to get them. It was OK once I got
used to it, but some people may complain about these keys. Home, PgUp,
PgDn, End are also on the numeric keypad and you need numlock off to use
them. There are separate Ins and Del keys, both on the top row and on the
keypad. There are many multimedia keys which are multiplexed on the
function keys (F1 etc); there is a BIOS option to choose which group of
keycodes comes out when you do or don't press the Fn shift key.
|
| Touchpad | Conf
|
| |
The touchpad is civilized in its feel; speed and acceleration are set
adequately out of the box. See Setting Up
the Touchpad in the Setup page where I show how to get three buttons.
A two finger gesture works for vertical or horizontal scrolling.
For acceleration, slow finger motion bottom to top on the touchpad
moves the cursor about halfway across the screen; fastest motion from the
bottom to the center moves the cursor all the way across. Due to the
pad's skinny aspect ratio, horizontal moves are longer.
The special feature of this pad is, it's a cellphone display turned
sideways. Setting Up the Touchpad
describes how to turn it into a multi-head display. If you don't
explicitly set it up (or disable imaging), when you put the machine to
sleep and wake it, it has its creative ideas about how to arrange the pad
image, which many people complain about, myself included.
|
| Fingerprint Sensor | None
|
| | The S532FA doesn't have one.
|
| Audio | WIP
|
| |
- Intel Comet Lake PCH-LP cAVS, presumably part of the SoC.
- Analog stereo (speakers): tested and
works , but far from
audiophile quality.
- Analog stereo (wired headphone): tested and works.
- S/PDIF on HDMI: avaiable but not tested.
- Microphone: records speech.
- It has a four-wire jack for a headset including a microphone,
but I didn't test the wired mic.
- **UPDATE do the tests properly again.
|
| Webcam | Box
|
| | USB ID 13d3:56cb, IMC Networks USB2.0 HD IR
UVC WebCam. It is sensitive to short wave infrared, for use with face
recognition in Windows.
The cheese selfie software uses it with no setup needed.
Saved photos are 640x480px; I don't know if they're compressed to this
size, or if that's the sensor dimensions.
|
| USB Ports | Box
|
| | It has 4 USB ports: on the left are 2 USB-2
ports (type A), and on the right are USB-3.1 type A and type C ports.
They have been used extensively. The machine cannot charge
from the type C port.
|
| Special Features
|
| | Random number generator (use rng-tools package) | Box
|
| | Virtualization (using qemu) | Box
|
| | Wake on LAN | N.T.
|
| | Watchdog timer from iTCO | N.T.
|
| | PXE (network) boot | N.T.
|
| Suspend and Wake | Conf
|
| | The machine will suspend on systemctl suspend ,
GUI logout confirmation box, or closing the lid. While it's in S3 the
power button blinks, which you can't see if the lid is closed.
It will wake on lid opening, or (if the lid
was never closed) on pressing the power button.
Times to suspend / to wake, in seconds:
|
| | S3 (suspend to RAM): | <1 / < 1
|
| | S4 (hibernate to disc); See
here in Setup for some quirks and
configuration I had to do. When
hibernating it brings back the former screen image for a moment, before
finally turning off power. To wake, press the power button; it ignores
lid opening.
| 7 / 18
|
| | S5 (power off / boot to greeter) | 7 / 45 sec
|
| | Login: greeter to XFCE desktop | 2 sec
|
| | Onboard devices including graphics can suspend and wake successfully.
|
| Power use and battery life | OK
|
| | Measurements were done in Linux. Battery lifetimes were
calculated from capacity/power, except (*) indicates
charging/discharging 9% to 100% and extrapolating to 0% to 100%.
|
|
| | S3 (suspend to RAM overnight) | 0.25W, 135hr
|
| | Idle, screen off (DPMS) | 3.56W, 10.8hr
|
| | Idle, screen on with ScreenPad (*) | 6.2W, 6.2hr
|
| | Light document editing (*) | 7.42W, 5.2hr
|
| | Playing MPEG-4 1080p video (CPU utilization 5.7%)
| 8.60W, 4.5hr
|
| | Maxed out, 4 cores | 21.4W, 1.8hr
|
| | Charging an empty battery (*) | 29.8W, 2.20hr
|
| | Battery capacity (when new) | 42.1 W-h
|
| | Battery capacity (after 10 mo) | 38.4 W-h, 91%
|
| | Power brick provided | 45W
|
