I had bought a TM2 last Friday and despite some problems with getting the MS surface applications working, everything was working fine until last night. I was gonna play a game of Dead Space (which I installed and worked fine the night prior) and got some MAJOR graphic artifacting (to be exact flashing textures and scrambled graphics). I tried a different game (GRID) and got the same exact problem. It seemed to be a graphic card problem because when I switched from the 5450 to the intergrated graphics the flashing textures went away. Anyways I just got back from the Microsoft store with a replacement and right away I found something wrong with this one. There is a piece of plastic wedged in the lower left corner of the screen (between the screen and the frame around it. Here's a pic but it's kinda hard to see. I've tried to take it out but all it does is stretch out the plastic. Do you think i'm being picky by wanting to return the laptop because of this? It's one of those things in which now that I know is there, seems to always attact my attention. Sadly between the possible faulty graphic card in the first and this in the second, I probably give up on getting a TM2. I have been checking out the Envy 14. I know this is a tablet forum but if anybody out there can give me some first had experience on the overall quality if the Envy 14 it would be greatly appreciated.
It sounds like your first Tm2 was just fine, you just had to open up ATI CCC and change a few things under the "3d" section. (borderlands does the same sort of f*d up graphics and textures [the plants' textures would jump all over the screen all the time] but a quick change of settings fixed it all) unfortunately you already returned it (though you may be able to get it back if you ask) as to the piece of plastic it looks like it is between the screen and the adhesive plastic "screen protector". if you peel it up carefully you can try pulling the plastic away. otherwise try to get your old one back, you might as well try EDIT: maybe you can get a better picture of the plastic thing, its kinda hard to see
Actually I did try the settings in the CCC. Nothing seemed to change. The fact that it worked fine one day (after a good amount of gametime as well) and then the next day have both games all of a sudden show flashing textures make me lean more toward equipment failure. Of course I could be totally wrong as well. I tried to take a better pic. I had to use my ipod to shine extra light on it but this pic shows it a bit better.
It might have been hardware then, or maybe you just needed to reboot, who knows... the plastic looks like it is a bit of clear plastic (probably a protective film that was supposed to be entirely removed when it was put together) that got stuck there, that means it is really soft plastic (you may want to try to carefully use some tweezers, or a pair of small nail scissors to remove it as much as you can). other than that don't worry; but check the rest of your machine very carefully over.
Funny you mentioned checking the rest of the machine because I noticed an piece of plastic stuck along the top edge of the screen frame but this one is much smaller. You would think that since this laptop went throught the "Microsoft Signature" (whatever that maybe) that someone would've done something about it before packaging it. Thanks for the advice though. I'll see what I can do about it.
They seem to have had protecting plastic covering the bits and pieces at the assembly, cause I have small pieces all over the place. I just discovered one piece sticking out just above the fingerprint sensor and the round thingy that holds the screen in place. I know exactly what you mean, and I think you will have a hard time getting rid of the plastic in the corner of the screen.
Yeah that looks like protective film definitely. Probably a piece that got caught in the seam during assembly. The 'quick' fix is to take a razor and slice it off as low as possible. The easy fix is to send it back for repair. 2 week round trip give or take. The hard fix is to disassemble it yourself. Not recommended for the faint of heart but not all that difficult to do. It's the potential for warranty voiding that's the bigger concern.
Mine also had those plastics but in the front vent and between the hinge. I had a hard time removing them even with tweezers, and unfortunately I couldn't get them out completely. I can see a little piece sticking out but it's not really noticable. Hope you get that plastic out complete.
