| From: William Park via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | $119 one is already out of stock. Wow. | I'm eyeing HP x2 Detachable 10-p092ms Signature Edition 2 in 1 PC CAD | $279.00 because it has MS-Office mobile version included.-- My thoughts on this netbook (based on personal tastes): - if you want a normal Linux distro, a tablet is rarely the right choice (Linux's fault) - detachable keyboards are usually a compromise. In particular, the balance is usually wrong. Since the payoff is so slight on Linux, I don't think that detachable is a great choice. - The screen is 10.1". A 10.1" notebook is hard to find. Too bad: it is a great size for portability. - the screen resolution is only 1280 x 800. I like more pixels but in a 10.1" screen, this is reasonable. - The standard minimum screen resolution of a notebook these days is 1366 x 768. This screen has about 2.5% fewer pixels but in a more pleasing aspect ratio (unless you are viewing videos). - the screen is IPS. That's expected in a tablet but sadly that is really unusual (and good) in an inexpensive notebook - no ethernet - Wireless 802.11ac. I think that means that it supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Useful and not that common in inexpensive devices. - I don't know what "Office Mobile Apps" is. Could it be a free for anyone download from the Microsoft App store? I just looked and found "Word Mobile" and "Excel Mobile" as free (but contains in-app purchases). The other likely bits are there too. Many devices bundle a free first year subscription to Office 365. I actually have an unused chit for Office 2013 (non-subscription) that I got with a $100 tablet a couple of years ago. I should probably have sold it, perhaps for more than $100. But I keep thinking that a need for Office might come up. It hasn't so far. If you are thinking of keeping Windows, I don't think that you will be able to have a usable Linux. Just too little "disk" space. You could run the Ubuntu subsystem of Win10. I have that installed on a tablet but I haven't really found a use for it. On a notebook, it might be more useful. But all my notebooks have native Linux installations.

| From: William Park via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | On Fri, Dec 09, 2016 at 12:42:13PM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:> | I'm eyeing HP x2 Detachable 10-p092ms Signature Edition 2 in 1 PC CAD > | $279.00 because it has MS-Office mobile version included.-- > > My thoughts on this netbook (based on personal tastes):> > - if you want a normal Linux distro, a tablet is rarely the right> choice (Linux's fault) | I'm looking to replace my broken Windows laptop, which I use to connect | and manage external devices, like cell phones, GPS, dash cam, etc. I | can do that via Windows VirtualBox, but difficult to carry 50lb toweraround. Perhaps this cheaper box would do the job: <http://forums.redflagdeals.com/newegg-refurbished-hp-probook-6450b-laptop-14-display-intel-core-i3-2-4ghz-4gb-ram-160gb-hdd-135-2063294/> OOPS: it just went out of stock and the price jumped. | > - detachable keyboards are usually a compromise. In particular, the | > balance is usually wrong. Since the payoff is so slight on Linux, I | > don't think that detachable is a great choice. | Actually, the detachable keyboard is very useful as "case" and "stand", | and all for free too! Sorry, what I meant was that a detachable keyboard isn't really better than a permanently installed one. The advantages (for a Windows or Linux user) are minor and the disadvantages are more significant. In a computer with a detachable keyboard, the guts must be behind the display. That means that the weight distribution is awkward. | It's amazing that Microsoft is selling Raspberry Pi, tablets, and | laptops at such cheap prices. Yes, once or twice in a while. I have found a few to be so remarkable that I post them here. If you care about Windows, you should be aware that many of the PC's are sold without non-Microsoft bloatware. They are called "Signature Edition".