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Depends how far you have to walk…
Chuwi Minibook X
211–220 of 318 posts
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#212Could someone please recommend a small, lightweight 2in1 style x86 laptop? Weight should be way under 1000g/2.2p. Best guess until now was some used Surface model, but those seem to be of really random quality and have overheating issues.
The Surface Book or whatever is going to be your best option because you want the 2-in-1 features. We had a few at my job before I switched to an XPS 13 since I never used it as a tablet and it was a weighty thing to have in my bag. Didn't hate using it like a laptop, though. Unfortunately, the price tag is also going to reflect the branding, so it won't be cheap. Same thing with a Lenovo Yoga or X13. That kind of functionality with good hardware is almost always going be pricy, I guess.
Can I ask why you want 2-in-1? I've personally never found the convert-to-tablet useful, and I have to imagine only visual artists might. I bought a nice case with a keyboard for my iPad Mini thinking I'd use it as a tiny laptop on the go, but in all honesty, I forgot the keyboard existed until I started typing this.
Not knocking your needs, just curious what kind of user those are for since I am obviously not the market
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#213I have a GPD Mini, the very first preproduction one.
Stock Ubuntu runs just fine since about 24.04 or 23.10 (do not remember). Keyboard is fine. Trackpoint instead of a cheap trackpad which is great. Touch screen.
And incredibly mind-bogglingly slow eMMC storage. Like, makes it impossible to use.
So as cute as it is, I haven't found any use for it for the last ~10 years that I own it. Maybe I have used it for emergency ssh from the mountain hike once or twice.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#214I have one of these. It's an awful piece of shit and I love it. I bought it because I was going on holiday and didn't want to take a real laptop both in case it got stolen and to dissuade me from using it. I ended up using it more than I would have a normal laptop because it's so small and easily carried. My current use case is for my commute into the office, it easily fits on the microscopic train tables and doesn't…
> It's an awful piece of shit and I love it. I think, realistically, the issues the author describes - particularly with the keyboard and trackpad - would drive me up the wall for any kind of serious use. But then, if you're travelling on holiday, do you really want serious use? I like your rationale of taking something that's bad enough that you won't want to use it but you have something if you really need it even…
I've been to a lot of countries (and thus through a lot of customs agents), the most they ever ask me to do, if anything at all, is turn the laptop on. I think the point is they want to make sure it's an actual laptop and not just a shell hiding something else. I've never had an agent touch my machine or show any interest in doing so, and I say that as someone who gets the extra searches often because I carry a lot of odd looking parts and small tools for work. Just pointing that out because I think the paranoia about what customs agents are allowed to do is a bit overblown unless you're suspected of smuggling or transporting something nefarious. They're not interested in what's on your laptop until you give them a reason to be.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#215Used laptops are such a good deal that you could something high quality in excellent condition for so little that I almost can't justify buying something like this. Like used Dell XPS laptops are ridiculously cheap and they're amazing for the used price. Or really buy any laptop rated highly by Dave2D or other reviewers that's 4 to 5 years old.
What decent secondhand thing can you find at $350. It is being thrown away in the first place for a reason.
Lenovo T495s.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#216I have one of these. It's an awful piece of shit and I love it. I bought it because I was going on holiday and didn't want to take a real laptop both in case it got stolen and to dissuade me from using it. I ended up using it more than I would have a normal laptop because it's so small and easily carried. My current use case is for my commute into the office, it easily fits on the microscopic train tables and doesn't…
> It's an awful piece of shit and I love it. I think, realistically, the issues the author describes - particularly with the keyboard and trackpad - would drive me up the wall for any kind of serious use. But then, if you're travelling on holiday, do you really want serious use? I like your rationale of taking something that's bad enough that you won't want to use it but you have something if you really need it even…
> the issues the author describes - particularly with the keyboard and trackpad
I don't have the same problems with my model, possibly theirs is bad. I don't like that the keyboard is teeny and in the ANSI layout but I got used to it.
The trackpad isn't great but that's just yet another reason to avoid using the mouse and do everything with the keyboard.
That being said, I would never use it for fulltime use. I'm not even using it to type this message even though it's right next to me. I use it while travelling and it remains off at all other times.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#217> Keyboard is terrible – it only registers keystrokes when you hit the exact center of each key.
I wish laptop manufacturers would pay more attention to this. I'm stuck using older laptops because modern laptops can't reliably pick up keystrokes.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Bigger screen" (i.e. being bigger on the length/width dimension) is a bad thing in this discussion. Some people want a programming/writing laptop that fits in a handbag, so that they don't have to decide to bring it, but can just leave it in their bag the way many people do with an iPad.
A "programming" laptop should be powerful enough to run code, no?
I was running gentoo on a 2011 Macbook Air for years with no problems. These computers are more than fast enough to compile and run code. They aren't going to by my first choice for reencoding video or running a build server, but for local development you really don't need a lot unless you're working on the type of stuff that really actually requires special or very powerful hardware.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's an awful piece of shit and I love it. I think, realistically, the issues the author describes - particularly with the keyboard and trackpad - would drive me up the wall for any kind of serious use. But then, if you're travelling on holiday, do you really want serious use? I like your rationale of taking something that's bad enough that you won't want to use it but you have something if you really need it even…
I've been to a lot of countries (and thus through a lot of customs agents), the most they ever ask me to do, if anything at all, is turn the laptop on. I think the point is they want to make sure it's an actual laptop and not just a shell hiding something else. I've never had an agent touch my machine or show any interest in doing so, and I say that as someone who gets the extra searches often because I carry a lot o…
I almost got denied boarding for a EU -> US flight ~13 years ago because the TSA agent at the gate noticed my 2011 MBP had 2 screws missing on the bottom panel (I've opened it up a bunch of times and lost some screws in the process). It didn't convince them that I turned it on and logged in etc. They still had doubts because, apparently, missing screws on a macbook was unheard of.. in the end, they held up the plane for ~10 mins due to waiting for a go/no-go decision via phone from some decision maker at the airline (as the final call was apparently theirs to make for some reason). Luckily, they were OK with missing screws and I was let on board.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely. The 11" MacBook Air was the best laptop Apple ever made.
I yearn for an updated version of the 12” MacBook with modern specs and keyboard. The 13” Air is way too large to be the smallest MacBook ;_;
I really liked the 12" MacBook (although my all time favourite computer was the 12" PowerBook G4 - chunky by today's standards but I just loved it).
I saw a review of the MacBook Neo where the reviewer was yearning after the 12" - but suggested that Apple has made UI elements so big with such ridiculous spacing and border radius that it would be almost unusable at anything less than 13".
Which would not surprise me in the least - I struggle with my 16" MBP and this crappy UI "framework".