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Chuwi Minibook X

tylercipriani.com

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Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#251

Post by neoromantique »

b3lvedere wrote: post #246

I dunno. I never got the hang of what the hell to do with a netbook or netbook likes. I have old Surface 3 tablets, Lenovo Yogo, small HP, Acer and other notebooks. All have this "not enough" vibe to me. They are cute, but have no performance and no purpose my iPhone can't fullfil. Maybe because i never work on documents, sheets or listings while i'm commuting or traveling. I do work on those when at work or at home,…

I use mine as semi-disposable device I wouldn't be afraid to lose or get stolen, it is mostly thin client for my bigger devices (over ssh and rarely vnc), encrypted disk and when lid closes it automatically shuts off, so it's a perfect device to always carry including in shadier areas when traveling.

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#252

Post by jdub »

d3Xt3r wrote: post #228
jdub wrote: post #42

Alan 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.

Perhaps one day...

A few things contributed to its demise: less industry money sloshing around for travel and sponsorships, a growing sense that "Linux" didn't represent the entire community, and a pandemic.

Which left "Everything Open" launching weaker in every sense.

But I don't think Linux or Open Source feel sufficiently radical or inspiring to sustain that kind of community-building (local or global) these days... maybe a "Fuck AI" tech conference. :-D

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#253

Post by singpolyma3 »

farfatched wrote: post #227
alexrp wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I've done all my dev work on devices much less powerful than this. After all, that's all that existed at the time :)

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#254

Post by ginko »

Tade0 wrote: post #235
Tepix wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's much bigger and heavier. I hope Apple will bring back a 11" notebook one day.

Is weight such a concern in this day and age? I have a 14" MBP M4 lying around unused, but yesterday picked it up to have my daughter watch her evening cartoons and at 1.6kg it struck me how light it was. The Zephyrus G14 that's also collecting dust and weights essentially the same also felt handy (just can't ever start from 0% battery powered via PD). Neither fits in the palm of one's hand, but how often is that a p…

I have the first GPD Pocket which I used when traveling for a while (it's now fairly outdated and always had some annoying quirks but that's another story). It weighs 480g. The great thing with that is that you can just drop it in your bag and basically forget it's there while walking/traveling around.

This is definitely not the case with my 1.23kg Macbook Air.

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#255

Post by alexrp »

farfatched wrote: post #227
alexrp wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Depends on what you're doing I suppose? I'm able to work on Zig with both of the devices I mentioned. Of course I'm limiting the test cases to the subset that's actually relevant to the area or target I'm working on. But that would be the case on a beefy full-size laptop too; even there, the full Zig test suite would take many hours and murder the battery in the process.

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#256

Post by alexrp »

drum55 wrote: post #7
alexrp wrote: post #6

The Minibook X is obviously targeted at the netbook form factor in the traditional sense, i.e. small and cheap. If you're like me and appreciate the netbook/UMPC form factors (for travel purposes in my case) but also need better specs to actually get any work done -- and you're willing to fork out a bit more to get that -- I would recommend looking at GPD's Pocket and MicroPC series. I own both a Pocket 4 and MicroPC…

The GDP devices are amazing except for the keyboard, which is some fever dream layout I've never been able to understand. https://img.website.xin/contents/sitefiles3601/18006016/imag...

That's fair; the keyboard layouts are definitely an acquired taste. Not that I've quite acquired said taste myself... but for devices that I mainly use when traveling, I just don't particularly care that much. It'd probably be more of an issue if I was using one of them as my daily driver - but I still very much prefer my workstation at home for that.

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#257

Post by alexrp »

prmoustache wrote: post #185
alexrp wrote: post #6

The Minibook X is obviously targeted at the netbook form factor in the traditional sense, i.e. small and cheap. If you're like me and appreciate the netbook/UMPC form factors (for travel purposes in my case) but also need better specs to actually get any work done -- and you're willing to fork out a bit more to get that -- I would recommend looking at GPD's Pocket and MicroPC series. I own both a Pocket 4 and MicroPC…

I had the GPD pocket 2 and: - the keyboards was terrible - the battery didn't last more than 2h30 after only 6 months of use - it ran super hot

I only started using GPD products with the Pocket 4, so unfortunately I can't speak to your experience with the Pocket 2. I certainly hope the battery doesn't degrade that fast on their newer models...

The only thing I can say is that they seem to have significantly improved the thermals; IME, the Pocket 4 only gets moderately warm to the touch during full CPU load, and that's even with the quiet fan mode.

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#258

Post by daneel_w »

The article immediately makes me think of my PineBook Pro. Blinded by its $300 price tag and "Arm Inside(tm)", I jumped the gun at the second batch in early 2021. The display panel is shit. The keyboard is shit. The trackpad is shit. The webcam is shit. The speaker output is shit. The various hardware bugs are shit. The overall performance is shit. But, finally, after many years of changes and back-and-forth with the Linux kernel, the SoC and platform is finally-well supported, and it gets the simple jobs done.

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#259

Post by justindotdev »

used of one these and its terrible. out of all the laptops i have used this one has by far the worst build quality. the hinge is just horrible and snaps in half after a few months of use.

i also removed windows and installed omarchy and one of the speakers does not work. :( and no its not a skill issue. tried every solution and nothing works. check reddit for the user reviews on literally every product from this brand. you'll understand my frustration.

Re: Chuwi Minibook X

#260

Post by cestith »

daneel_w wrote: post #258

The article immediately makes me think of my PineBook Pro. Blinded by its $300 price tag and "Arm Inside(tm)", I jumped the gun at the second batch in early 2021. The display panel is shit. The keyboard is shit. The trackpad is shit. The webcam is shit. The speaker output is shit. The various hardware bugs are shit. The overall performance is shit. But, finally, after many years of changes and back-and-forth with the…

I’ve heard the keyboards were hit and miss, from shit to halfway decent. I got one I consider halfway decent. It’s pretty good, really, for what the Pinebook and Pinebook Pro were meant to be. I’ve never tried the webcam. The rest of the parts are pretty bad compared to most laptops, but for a super early ARM-powered laptop at its price point I’m still glad to have this little curiosity.
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