Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

pine64.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 75 posts

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#51

Post by Nexxxeh »

zzalpha wrote: post #44
mafuyu wrote: post #25

Here's a review of it by Hackaday: http://hackaday.com/2017/04/28/hands-on-with-the-pinebook/

You can’t give this to your kid that’s heading off to college — or even high school — and expect them to manage. It’s also not really a replacement for a low-end Chromebook, the desktop is sufficiently sluggish that I’d be wary of recommending it as a cheap web browsing laptop for the sofa. Okay, well, that's not great. I guess... On the other hand, I must admit, I rather like it. It’s a lot better put together than…

>Quite what things [will be added inside] I’m not entirely clear on.

That's Hackaday. The fact this laptop is seemingly an answer to a question we didn't need asked, doesn't mean the hardware hacking community won't find a killer use for it.

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#52

Post by jlebrech »

mafuyu wrote: post #29
SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I've been pondering gutting a Toshiba Libretto and putting a Raspberry Pi inside so I can have a modern(ish) hardware in that form factor. I am so the target market for this! Unfortunately I don't have a lot of faith in crowdfunded hardware projects.. :/

I have the same misgivings with crowdfunding hardware, but I ended up backing this project. The same group has shipped two other similar portables in the past, and have some working prototypes. Seems like they know what they're doing. Edit: I think a big part of it is that they've had prototypes since the campaign launched, but filled the promo page with mostly renders for some reason. If you look at the Updates sect…

It's an established manufacturer, but they seem to use indiegogo for some reason as a launch platform.

they are in china so maybe that the best way they do it, create a few prototypes and then have the assembly lines to allocate later.

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#53

Post by tjoff »

zzalpha wrote: post #44
mafuyu wrote: post #25

Here's a review of it by Hackaday: http://hackaday.com/2017/04/28/hands-on-with-the-pinebook/

You can’t give this to your kid that’s heading off to college — or even high school — and expect them to manage. It’s also not really a replacement for a low-end Chromebook, the desktop is sufficiently sluggish that I’d be wary of recommending it as a cheap web browsing laptop for the sofa. Okay, well, that's not great. I guess... On the other hand, I must admit, I rather like it. It’s a lot better put together than…

I'd use it as a thin client.

My core i5 8GB laptop is slower when surfing the web in a local web browser than using it to remote-desktop to my workstation over wifi (all thanks to the power of javascript!).

I doubt the Pinebook would be as good for that purpose but it might work decently, and for terminal use it will of course be just fine.

This is all excellent when you want to travel and have the option to do light remote work but not the bulk or risk damaging a real laptop (or maybe you just want to travel to the US but still want some digital privacy).

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#54

Post by ashark »

ALMOST awesome.

I'd like this but:

1) Keep it thin, however

2) cram all that extra space full of battery, damn the weight, and

3) make the case solid metal. Steel if you must. I want it to feel like a contiguous block of metal with no give (doesn't necessarily mean you have to make it impossible to open, but if that's what it takes, go for it), plus

4) some fast wired interface. Gigabit ethernet or (better) USB3.

Oh, and a screen that isn't awful (approaching MacBook territory, if not matching it) would be nice.

And yeah, I'm aware that exact thing probably can't be delivered for $100. $200-300, though (I know, the nice screen bumps the price up)?

I'd love an absolute brick of a thin, battery-filled laptop driven by something just a bit heftier (mostly on I/O) than the Rpi3. Tech old/open enough that there are no wrinkles to iron out, solid enough case to defend yourself with it then flip it open and deploy to production, small enough to pack well, old-school IBM tank-like longevity. Perfect for a lightweight tiling WM and some terminals, and the occasional light open-source or emulated game.

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#55

Post by prophesi »

shakna wrote: post #46
mafuyu wrote: post #25

Here's a review of it by Hackaday: http://hackaday.com/2017/04/28/hands-on-with-the-pinebook/

That was rather unflattering. Pine still have software issues: * Audio out doesn't work * Video out doesn't work * 11" screen flickers * Reduced battery life

Yeah, and all of those issues except for HDMI-out have been fixed by the community already.

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#56

Post by zzalpha »

tjoff wrote: post #53
zzalpha wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t give this to your kid that’s heading off to college — or even high school — and expect them to manage. It’s also not really a replacement for a low-end Chromebook, the desktop is sufficiently sluggish that I’d be wary of recommending it as a cheap web browsing laptop for the sofa. Okay, well, that's not great. I guess... On the other hand, I must admit, I rather like it. It’s a lot better put together than…

I'd use it as a thin client. My core i5 8GB laptop is slower when surfing the web in a local web browser than using it to remote-desktop to my workstation over wifi (all thanks to the power of javascript!). I doubt the Pinebook would be as good for that purpose but it might work decently, and for terminal use it will of course be just fine. This is all excellent when you want to travel and have the option to do light…

But you could do the same thing at the same price point with a second-hand laptop, and end up with something significantly more powerful and capable.

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#57

Post by pm90 »

Retric wrote: post #37
SomeStupidPoint wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've gotten reasonable support on $100 2-in-1s, $100 appliances, and It being cheap isn't an excuse to ship a defective product.

A 100$ toaster is not a cheap in the way a 100$ laptop is. Basically, if your buying a 1,000$ laptop and they reserve 5% of the price for support that's 50$. If your buying a 100$ laptop don't expect the same 50$ be set aside unless your actually willing to spend 150$ on 100$ of components and 50$ of support.

That is a reasonable analysis. I kinda agree that a computer cannot be treated the same way as a home appliance (well not right now anyways, this made me wonder how support for some of the smart appliances will pan out in the future). There are exponentially more things that can go wrong, whereas with, e.g. a Washer, there are a reasonably finite number of problems which can be fixed by a mechanic.

That being said though, radio silence is NOT the way you treat your customers. If they don't offer support, then simply state that in an email, or better yet, state that explicitly on the website. But if you have a customer support email and don't honor it, it feels pretty scummy IMO.

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#58

Post by tjoff »

zzalpha wrote: post #56
tjoff wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd use it as a thin client. My core i5 8GB laptop is slower when surfing the web in a local web browser than using it to remote-desktop to my workstation over wifi (all thanks to the power of javascript!). I doubt the Pinebook would be as good for that purpose but it might work decently, and for terminal use it will of course be just fine. This is all excellent when you want to travel and have the option to do light…

But you could do the same thing at the same price point with a second-hand laptop, and end up with something significantly more powerful and capable.

Not sure about that, you might get a bulky big thing without any battery left. Two deal-breakers right there.

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#59

Post by galfarragem »

TadasPaplauskas wrote: post #10

HN hug of death... For now, here's the cached version (text only): http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:M-Pti8N... $99.99 CPU: 1.2GHz 64-Bit Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53 RAM: 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM Memory Flash: 16 GB eMMC 5.0 (upgradable up to 64GB) Wireless: WiFi 802.11bgn + Bluetooth 4.0 USB 2.0 Port: 2 MicroSD Card Slot: 1 Mini HDMI: 1 Headphone Jack: 1 Microphone: Built-in Keyboard: Full Size Keyboard Touch…

> Warranty: 30 days

!?

Re: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop

#60

Post by dagw »

zzalpha wrote: post #56
tjoff wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd use it as a thin client. My core i5 8GB laptop is slower when surfing the web in a local web browser than using it to remote-desktop to my workstation over wifi (all thanks to the power of javascript!). I doubt the Pinebook would be as good for that purpose but it might work decently, and for terminal use it will of course be just fine. This is all excellent when you want to travel and have the option to do light…

But you could do the same thing at the same price point with a second-hand laptop, and end up with something significantly more powerful and capable.

A second hand $100 laptop will weigh like brick and have terrible battery life. If weighing less than 3 lbs and having more than 4 hour battery life is important then you probably won't find anything on the second hand marked at this price point.
Post reply on HN