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Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

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Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#71

Post by rjsw »

gspr wrote: post #34
rjsw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only have one Pine device, a Pinebook. The build quality seems good to me, it isn't just a collection of components thrown together.

I'm so close to buying a Pinebook, and I know that everyone wants "just one more feature", but jesus, 4 GB or RAM?! If it had at least 8 I'd buy it in a sec. But 4 just won't cut it (thank you, modern web).

The small RAM sizes on these devices is a limit of the SoC. The RK3399 in the Pinebook Pro can only drive 4GB of RAM. The A64 in the original Pinebook and this tablet can use 3GB but that would mean using more memory chips.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#72

Post by kick »

Lex-2008 wrote: post #47
kick wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4GB is actually more usable than you'd think; most web browsers have performance settings that make the experience just fine with even a hundred tabs on low-end devices (Chromium gets more points than Firefox on this for its toaster mode), and outside of web browsers, there's not much else to worry about. If you set it up with one of the 'in-RAM compressed swap' solutions available like you should, you probably won't…

saying "toaster mode" do you mean "Toast" extension from dotoast.com?

No, I mean the flag you can pass to Chromium for ultra low-end devices. --enable-low-end-device-mode

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#73

Post by jleahy »

hebrox wrote: post #17

I did some actual work on an ASUS Chromebook C201P, running VS Code, Postgresql, pgAdmin and Node.js. It was a little bit slow, but not too bad. I kind of expected/hoped this to be better than that old Chromebook, but reading this https://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/09/relative-performance... it looks like it has even worse performance (A17 vs A53)

I still have an Acer C720, which cost $250 back in 2013. It's a lovely piece of equipment, once you remove ChromeOS. I've taken it apart more times than I can recall, lots of empty space inside. The only downside is 2GB of RAM, 4GB would have been better, otherwise it's a perfect device even today (for development and browsing the web).

I always meant to buy a couple more RAM chips and solder them down to the motherboard (there's a couple of unpopulated pads), but never got round to it.

Sadly the wifi chip is soldered down, that's one of my only grips (RAM I get, but typically wifi would be an m.2 slot unless you're really cheap).

So I imagine you could get a lot done with this, even with the terrible performance. If you're just programming and using a browser you really don't need much oomph.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#74

Post by Iolaum »

founderling wrote: post #20

I wonder why they price their products so cheap. They seem to be totally overrun by demand. And give a terrible user experience when you try to order from them. Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes…

I ordered a pinebook pro on April 1st and arrived on June 3rd. I knew it was a pre-order when I paid. This meant months before the product arrives and that I would have to monitor the news from their website. They posted monthly (and bi-weekly, towards the end) updates on the shipping status, manufacturing issues and coronavirus impact. I had a problem because I am moving houses and their support team has been very helpful in accomodating me.

When I got the laptop I was expecting a cheap plastic build but got an aluminium sturdy frame. Best laptop purchase I ever had, this comment is actually being written from my new pinebook pro.

I m sorry you feel you are not treated like a customer. Given the company's size they are really doing wonders.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#75

Post by omgwtfbyobbq »

jleahy wrote: post #73
hebrox wrote: post #17

I did some actual work on an ASUS Chromebook C201P, running VS Code, Postgresql, pgAdmin and Node.js. It was a little bit slow, but not too bad. I kind of expected/hoped this to be better than that old Chromebook, but reading this https://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/09/relative-performance... it looks like it has even worse performance (A17 vs A53)

I still have an Acer C720, which cost $250 back in 2013. It's a lovely piece of equipment, once you remove ChromeOS. I've taken it apart more times than I can recall, lots of empty space inside. The only downside is 2GB of RAM, 4GB would have been better, otherwise it's a perfect device even today (for development and browsing the web). I always meant to buy a couple more RAM chips and solder them down to the motherb…

Soldering everything down and limiting max memory for mobile chipsets have been my biggest gripes with chromebooks and newer computers in general.

I upped my C710 to 16GB for $50 a couple years ago (also swapped the 847 board for a 1007u, and dropped in an SSD), and it's been great. If and hopefully when 16GB DDR3 sodimms drop in price I'd like to bump it up to 32GB.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#76

Post by JeremyNT »

founderling wrote: post #20

I wonder why they price their products so cheap. They seem to be totally overrun by demand. And give a terrible user experience when you try to order from them. Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes…

> This taints the whole Pine64 brand for me. I totally want a Linux phone and a Linux tablet. But I don't know if I should trust a brand that treats their customers like this.

Frankly, it seems like this isn't the device for you. I agree, you should probably wait. But words like "taint the brand" seem incredibly strong to me.

These devices are for developers and tinkerers, not the general population. The goal is to get these devices into as many hands as possible, hitting a price point as low as possible. This allows for more people to get access to the hardware and start tinkering, helping to build out the (woefully lacking, at this time) software ecosystem.

To be honest, I feel like they have done a really good job of setting expectations around this, so I'm not terribly sympathetic to this class of complaint. I ordered a PinePhone and am patiently waiting for it to ship. I'm glad it's so cheap! It's not going to be a device to replace my primary phone (yet), it's a project to tinker with. As such I don't want to spend much more money.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#77

Post by morganvachon »

founderling wrote: post #20

I wonder why they price their products so cheap. They seem to be totally overrun by demand. And give a terrible user experience when you try to order from them. Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes…

> Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes will inform you when be shipped".

They are very transparent about the delays in shipping. You can find the most up to date information in a sticky post on their forum[1].

> This taints the whole Pine64 brand for me.

That's an extremely charged response, you definitely should check the forum post to get some perspective. In short, there were QA issues with the first batch of Pinebook Pro and PinePhone orders, they are running the remaining unshipped units through a second round of testing before shipping, and the combination of COVID-19 and China/Hong Kong border issues have further delayed shipping.

[1] https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=9942

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#78

Post by maxwellg »

jleahy wrote: post #73
hebrox wrote: post #17

I did some actual work on an ASUS Chromebook C201P, running VS Code, Postgresql, pgAdmin and Node.js. It was a little bit slow, but not too bad. I kind of expected/hoped this to be better than that old Chromebook, but reading this https://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/09/relative-performance... it looks like it has even worse performance (A17 vs A53)

I still have an Acer C720, which cost $250 back in 2013. It's a lovely piece of equipment, once you remove ChromeOS. I've taken it apart more times than I can recall, lots of empty space inside. The only downside is 2GB of RAM, 4GB would have been better, otherwise it's a perfect device even today (for development and browsing the web). I always meant to buy a couple more RAM chips and solder them down to the motherb…

I took my intro to databases course on a $160 (sale) Acer C670 in 2015. Fantastic battery life, Crouton was a breeze to get working, and was my first introduction to doing work in a unix environment. The only problem was that the larger tests would take more than 2GB of ram, and start swapping out to disk - so suites that took my classmates 5 minutes to run took me closer to an hour. I got very careful at thinking over the code in my head before hitting run.

Wonderful little system for a broke CS student, and nothing but fond memories.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#79

Post by waiseristy »

morganvachon wrote: post #77
founderling wrote: post #20

I wonder why they price their products so cheap. They seem to be totally overrun by demand. And give a terrible user experience when you try to order from them. Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes…

> Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes will inform you when be shipped". They are very transparent about the delays in shipping. You can find the most up to date information in a sticky post on thei…

My PinePhone was lost in shipping during the start of the pandemic like you mentioned. They happily sent me another a few short weeks later, no complaints! Awesome customer service

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#80

Post by SahAssar »

ndesaulniers wrote: post #51

Pretty sure Walmart sold RCA brand Android tablets for $50.

In common parlance "Linux (Phone|Tablet)" does not include android because the userspace is usually very different than what most people running linux think as linux.
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