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StarBook 14-inch

starlabs.systems

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Re: StarBook 14-inch

#91

Post by zucker42 »

Klonoar wrote: post #81
goosedragons wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to run macOS. There's full support for Windows and Linux and x86 applications. This is also upgradable. Run out of storage? You can replace the drive! Add more RAM! Choice is good.

Asahi's making decent enough progress that, eventually, you may not need to run macOS to enjoy macOS hardware. Why would I pay ~$930 for this, instead of buying an M1 Air? The comment you're responding to hit the nail on the head - once you've gone fan-less and sleek, it's really hard to go back. Few vendors, if any, hit the quality feel of Apple's products.

A good OS existing for M1 in 2 years does not make Intel/AMD laptops paperweights now.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#92

Post by freedomben »

VTimofeenko wrote: post #31
freedomben wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't comment on the StarBook, but the Framework touchpad is really great. I had an early model that had a slightly annoying out-of-the-box issue where I had to click kind of hard, but after doing that it works great now. Two-finger scroll is super smooth, and it properly detects 1/2/3 finger gestures, etc.

I think my frame.work is doing the "kinda hard" click thing too. Did you just break it in, or change something mechanically? I mostly use the keyboard, so it's a very minor annoyance to me.

ah yes, let me find the instructions!

EDIT: this is what fixed it for me:

> Pressing the bottom center of the touchpad firmly a few times has resolved the issue in some cases.[1]

Said in a slightly different way:

> There were also a small number of early units produced that may have contact issues on the physical switch on the Touchpad. Try pressing the bottom middle of the Touchpad firmly a few times to see if that resolves the issue. If it does not, please contact Framework Support.[2]

[1]: https://community.frame.work/t/known-issues-on-early-framewo...

[2]: https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/touchpad-not-working-...

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#93

Post by kragen »

kelnos wrote: post #87
kragen wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the plus side it does have three USB A ports, and it has a barrel charging port instead of one of those shitty USB-C ports for power. And you can plug USB-C-charging things into a USB A port with just an adaptor cable.

It's funny; my reaction is the opposite. Yes, I think the barrel charging port is good to have, but only because there is just a single USB-C port. I don't want a barrel port! I have USB-C chargers littered around my house already! And that's how I like it! And I definitely don't want my default to have to be using adapters for my USB-C devices, so they can be plugged into the USB-A ports.

I guess my experience with USB charging ports is that they always break, and then they're a huge pain to fix, and my experience with barrel charging ports is that they almost never break, and then fixing them is pretty easy. So I think of a computer that can only be charged via USB as a piece of cheap trash. Maybe USB-C is different on this axis; I don't know yet. I really miss barrel charging ports on cellphones. I don't know, maybe I just abuse my hardware.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#96

Post by jamal-kumar »

kajaktum wrote: post #62

Damn, I wished I had bought the mini-PC from them instead! I really don't understand the appeal of laptops, it only makes sense for the people that is really on the move like university students or blogger. Even then, they only need cheap laptop for browsing (cue memory hod jokes). That or you prefer to do your work at public spaces like libraries or cafes. What's the point of spending huge sums of money on a laptop…

I travel constantly and get to do my job from a hammock instead of some ass-destroying desk and chair.

A desktop computer would be like a ball and chain against that level of freedom.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#97

Post by BSOhealth »

PhileasNietzche wrote: post #45
BSOhealth wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I purchased and returned an XPS last year and the trackpad was unbelievably bad. After using Mac laptops for the previous 10 years, I hadn’t thought the difference in hardware quality could be so far apart. MacBooks are at least a generation ahead of the best PC hardware (generation as in, 10 years)

https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-laptops?test_uuid=06r4M... The XPS isn't a great example of the best PC hardware, but it IS a pretty good example of the best laptop performance one can get for the price of an iPhone. ^^

I mean, to Dell and the XPS's credit, it all appeared great until I started using the trackpad. Structurally it's super rigid and the hinge was satisfying. I also really prefer the rubberized+carbon fiber thing other Dell laptops have going on, much more than the cold and sharp MacBook. Even the packaging is getting Apple-esque with heavy cardboard and near-mechanical boxes. But, that trackpad produced so much dissonance and is such a critical part of interacting with the machine and software.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#98

Post by BSOhealth »

hackmiester wrote: post #39
BSOhealth wrote: post #3

Website doesn’t work all that great on mobile. But I’d be supportive of a Linux laptop that can market itself to regular consumers rather than already-converted Linux folks.

I had to laugh when I scrolled down and it claimed to have a 0th generation processor

Agreed, the labels for some of the numbers never loaded (or the CSS just borked) and it was just a vertical list of random numbers.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#99

Post by rxhernandez »

3np wrote: post #65
goosedragons wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get a 14" 4K ThinkPad (e.g. P14s).

I do not count Thinkpad as open enough to be in the same segment anymore. I have owned many generations of them and some are still in use but will not be getting a newer one the way things look now. One practical aspect is how they are very inconsistent in making crucial firmware updates available. In theory, they're on fwupd/LVFS. In practice, that can lag behind by months or even years and the only way to get neces…

> In practice, that can lag behind by months or even years and the only way to get necessary updates to get security fixes or get certain hardware working is many times to boot from Windows.

I feel like I get updates fairly often with my p50 on Ubuntu which is 5 or 6 years old at this point.

My gen 9 x1 carbon is the best Linux machine (which includes desktops) I've ever owned.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#100

Post by bscphil »

Hello71 wrote: post #67
bscphil wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this back-and-forth happens every single time there's a conversation about this on HN, but I just want to point out that trackpads are extremely personal, and I've had nothing but bad experiences with Apple trackpads until recently. The "hinge" models of the previous decade border on unusable for me because of the force required to click them, whereas my (early decade) XPS model has the best trackpad of any la…

huh? apple hasn't used the "hinge" touchpad since 2015 , more than 7 years ago. unlike afaik every other touchpad out there, the actuation force is actually adjustable. i'm not sure whether this is necessarily a good change, but it certainly is a change, and your data seems woefully out of date.

My comment is literally a response to someone talking about a MacBook Air from 2012.

Regardless, the comment stands, as even though Apple's trackpads have improved I would still strongly prefer a device with physical left/right buttons.

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