For that price, I'd get an old, second hand, Thinkpad X1 carbon with a new battery.
Chuwi Minibook X
221–230 of 318 posts
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#222I wish there were more laptops with a similar form factor. I was looking forward to the MacBook Neo before it was officially announced; I thought it was going to be more like an upgraded MacBook 12", but it ended up being more like a downgraded MacBook Air 13". Nobody likes small things anymore :(
Isn’t the Neo almost identical to the 12”? It’s only ~1cm wider
When you look at each dimension in isolation, the difference is fairly small. But the 12” is 60% of the volume and 75% of the weight of the Neo. It’s significantly more portable by these metrics.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#223I just unpacked my eee PC from college after a move. 8gb of RAM and can barely run a very stripped down version of windows 7. Just the thought of writing my final year project on that little machine again is giving me RSI. I'll stick with my 13" MBP going forward. Netbooks served a purpose but I'm not sure they make much sense anymore
> 8gb of RAM and can barely run a very stripped down version of windows 7
Not sure what you're doing, but Win7 itself uses 1 GB of RAM or less. Even just 2 GB of total system RAM was enough for basic usage, like document editing and single-tab web browsing.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#225Why did they use x86_64 in the article instead of AMD64?
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#226I 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 emergen…
maybe try a linux distro like tinycore or porteus? it puts the rootfs in ram so things run insanely fast, and sync changes to disk before shutdown
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
The specs on this thing look pretty great. Which part do you find insufficient?
The CPU is just too underpowered; I'm sure it's fine for basic computery stuff, but building software and running medium/large test suites on it would be far too slow. Also not enough USB ports; I don't want to carry a USB hub with it. Battery life on it is comparable to the MicroPC 2, but for the netbook form factor, it should really be compared to the Pocket 4. Similar story for the RAM, as well as the odd screen r…
> building software and running medium/large test suites on it would be far too slow
I'd figured remote development was the only viable workflow for these devices anyway?
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#228Alan Cox had a pre-netbook netbook smaller than a VHS tape at linux.conf.au 2001, and milled about chatting with colleagues and fanboys while his kernel builds scrolled by in the background. Everyone would gawk at the strange little machine. It was Japanese, naturally. At linux.conf.au 2007 we chose a smaller conference bag, designed to carry your electrical accessories and nick-knacks... it turned out to be the perf…
Speaking of which, is there ever going to be another IRL linux.conf.au? I really miss those, and the good old LUG meetups. I'm surrounded by Microsoft people at work day in and day out and I'm desperate to reconnect with my kind.
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#229Earlier 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 think it probably depends where you're going. We have relatives in a country where it might be a bit more of a concern, and we did briefly research taking a trip there to visit them, which is when all of this came up. In the end, for a variety of reasons, we decided it was going to be too risky to take that trip unless and until conditions change.
There are many countries where I wouldn't be at all worried about that, but I'd still be concerned about the possibility of theft (which, let's be real, can happen anywhere: I went on a trip to Switzerland once - generally considered very safe and low crime - where somebody had their laptop stolen from their room).
Re: Chuwi Minibook X
#230I 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…
Oh man. I have a ThinkPad L14 as my personal, beater, okay to take on the plane to Japan or whatever machine. And I hate it because it's too big. But I'm also hooked on it because it has pretty decent performance, excellent battery life with the third party battery I put in it, acceptable keyboard, acceptable trackpad.
I read this review with mounting excitement until I got to the part about the things he doesn't like. And yeah, those things would drive me up the wall too.
Although it might be fine if that touchy keyboard works well for touch typists. For me, that's everything.