Are there any $200 laptops like this one but x86 powered?
Depends what you mean when you say like this. You can find some x86 Chromebooks for that price but they wouldn't be as open.
Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
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Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#32I've gotten my PineBook Pro and I'm seriously impressed with the build quality and feel for a $200 machine. My touchpad has a minor defect in how it was installed, but it's probably an easy fix.
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#33Are there any $200 laptops like this one but x86 powered?
New chromebooks or used laptops. I recommend used; you get better quality models. Who needs a brand new laptop, anyway?
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#34An "annoying touchpad" is likely a dealbreaker for me. It's the holy grail for Linux to me and I feel like it's never been solved by anybody but Apple (w/o Linux). That being said, I could exist in the command line most of the time...
Apple's touchpads are nothing special, at least these days where you can easily get a high quality touchpad on pretty much anything but the cheapest laptops available. It's actually how macOS handles touchpads that makes them feel special.
However, apparently Pinebook's one is actually pretty problematic and needs some firmware updates to work better.
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#35Enjoyed the article. Thanks for write up.
4GB RAM sounds terrible even for browsing and basic tasks.
I'm looking to switching to one of those devices in future, so far on trusted Thinkpad x230 (no FHD, $150 USD) for travel purposes.
Can anyone comment on "no NPM yet that I know of though" ?
Does node development work normally ?
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#36Seeing all that empty internal space makes me wonder if they couldn't increase the device's appeal by fitting it with a bigger battery. 8-10 hours of charge time is good, but a $200 laptop that could go for (say) 20 or 30 hours on a charge would really turn heads. I suppose it's possible that would require some kind of custom battery, and this is just the most appropriate battery for this enclosure they could get off…
From the technical specs it looks like it is powered via a 5V port: "Barrel Power (5V 3A) Port"
That would mean that you could plug in a battery powered portable USB charger (power bank) to increase its capacity perhaps. If 10000mAh at 5V gets you 8 hours then you you could easily extend the capacity with a couple power banks.
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#37This is a tad tangential but has anyone done extensive software development using an ARM device?
I was able to get pretty far with a rooted Samsung tablet running Debian in a container (C++ development works great, you can install stuff like VSCode and Clang without too much trouble) but when it came to anything mobile, ironically it all fell apart because the Android toolchain isn't built for ARM64 (save the one in the Debian repositories, which is too old). I even tried to update the package myself but apparently Debian copies all the code into its own repositories and doesn't make clear how to update it.
The Pinebook Pro, having the same CPU architecture, should have the same problems, at least for now. I'm very interested in seeing them solved though.
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#38Performance is a pretty known quantity as these chips have been in chromebooks for almost 4 years now.
The big question for me is drivers. Last I checked, rk3399 SBCs had terrible issues with non-android linux GPU drivers. Has that been fixed yet?
EDIT: looks like the biggest 64-bit issues have now been fixed. I'll have to try again. Now to get it booting from an external SSD...
https://ubuntu.com/blog/updated-images-of-ubuntu-for-the-ras...
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure a bigger battery would increase the cost of the laptop. At $200 the margin has to be pretty thin already.
Sure. So charge $250 or $300 for the one that goes 30 hours.
They specifically don't want to have too many SKUs to manage. Adding an option for an extended battery would double their SKUs. The management side of Pine64 is pretty barebones.
Re: Trying out the Pinebook Pro – a $200 ARM Laptop
#40An "annoying touchpad" is likely a dealbreaker for me. It's the holy grail for Linux to me and I feel like it's never been solved by anybody but Apple (w/o Linux). That being said, I could exist in the command line most of the time...
I wish the author expanded on what "annoying" meant. Is it not responsive, too big, too small, jerky, etc?
I have one of these laptops. I would guess that he's talking about the same issue that I would describe as an "annoying touchpad" on my unit. The issue is a tad difficult to describe, but it feels like the trackpad is always a little delayed. I don't notice it when strating to move the cursor, but when ending a movement the cursor will consistently slowly slide a bit further in the direction it was being moved. This happens even for small movements, making fine adjustments a real pain.
My trackpad also won't depress anywhere near its top-right corner, to the point where it only comfortably depresses at the bottom-left.
I want to like this machine, but the issues are bad enough that I've committed to a keyboard-only setup software-wise.