Hey Everyone, It looks like Pine64 are releasing Pinebook Pro, a laptop that I'm actually willing to pay money for and then use. https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=7093&pid=43850#pid43850 Specs: * 14" 1080p IPS LCD panel * 64/128GB of eMMC storage* * Black magnesium alloy body * SD card slot * Digital video output via USB-C up to 4K60hz * Audio aux out / UART * USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports * 802.11ac WiFi * Bluetooth 4.2 * 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM * Charging via barrel port or USB-C * Rockchip RK3399 ; big.LITTLE Hexacore A72/A53 SOC * 2mpx front-facing camera * Microphone * Speakers * Slim and slick design with minimal branding * PCIe x4 that can take a m.2 NVMe SSD using an optional adapter * Target Price: $199 Looking on the picture the things I like: * Regular keyboard with thick keys and minimal amount of weirdness (the location of 'Delete' button is questionable, but I'll live with that. * 1080p IPS scree should be pretty nice * NVM.e slot At least I can definitely replace my acer chrome book 11, which works when I need a very light computer in a pinch to dump video from my camera or browse the web, but not much else. I'm hoping that the product would be successful enough that there's going to be a release of a version with 8GB of RAM -- that would put it on par with ultrabooks. Thought I don't think Pinebook Pro ever going to meet its $200 US target price. Thoughts? Alex.
| From: Alex Volkov via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | It looks like Pine64 are releasing Pinebook Pro, a laptop that I'm actually | willing to pay money for and then use. Interesting. Thanks for posting. | Specs: | | * Rockchip RK3399 ; big.LITTLE Hexacore A72/A53 SOC I don't think that there are good open source video drivers for this (Mali-T860MP4). There is a good closed-source driver from ARM but who knows if Rockchip and Pine licensed it. There are "coming along" open source drivers but I don't know it they are good enough. Also: other parts of the SoC may not be well supported by open source stuff. Video codec assists? This chip is perhaps the best popular ARM SoC. I was tempted to buy a cheapish TV box with one and hack it to run Linux. But most of what I read made it look like it might take a lot of hacking. But if the vendor targets Linux that should help TV boxes with rk3399 chips are significantly more expensive than ones with s912 chips. I wonder why. | * PCIe x4 that can take a m.2 NVMe SSD using an optional adapter Optional? I wonder why. | I'm hoping that the product would be successful enough that there's going to | be a release of a version with 8GB of RAM -- that would put it on par with | ultrabooks. I think that the rk3399 is limited to 4G. | Thought I don't think Pinebook Pro ever going to meet its $200 US target | price. Yeah. I've posted a couple of netbook deals with similare prices and capabilities. The Atom-family processors are a lot better supported by Linux distros. But an adventure with ARM might be fun.
On Jan 30, 2019, at 12:22, Alex Volkov via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hey Everyone,
It looks like Pine64 are releasing Pinebook Pro, a laptop that I'm actually willing to pay money for and then use.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=7093&pid=43850#pid43850
The original Pinebook was better than a US $99 notebook should be. Its graphics drivers were not great, and the screen was a little muddy, but the fit and finish was decent. The big thing, though, was support and updates. Stewart
On Wed, Jan 30, 2019 at 12:22:20PM -0500, Alex Volkov via talk wrote:
Hey Everyone,
It looks like Pine64 are releasing Pinebook Pro, a laptop that I'm actually willing to pay money for and then use.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=7093&pid=43850#pid43850
Specs:
* 14" 1080p IPS LCD panel * 64/128GB of eMMC storage* * Black magnesium alloy body * SD card slot * Digital video output via USB-C up to 4K60hz * Audio aux out / UART * USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports * 802.11ac WiFi * Bluetooth 4.2 * 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM * Charging via barrel port or USB-C * Rockchip RK3399 ; big.LITTLE Hexacore A72/A53 SOC * 2mpx front-facing camera * Microphone * Speakers * Slim and slick design with minimal branding * PCIe x4 that can take a m.2 NVMe SSD using an optional adapter * Target Price: $199
Looking on the picture the things I like:
* Regular keyboard with thick keys and minimal amount of weirdness (the location of 'Delete' button is questionable, but I'll live with that.
Never mind delete, who thought moving the '\ and |' key? Swap it with delete which is hardly ever used, but | sure is. Eek. And yeah I am a month late replying, apparently it is possible to neglegt your email for a month. Somehow.
* 1080p IPS scree should be pretty nice
* NVM.e slot
At least I can definitely replace my acer chrome book 11, which works when I need a very light computer in a pinch to dump video from my camera or browse the web, but not much else.
I'm hoping that the product would be successful enough that there's going to be a release of a version with 8GB of RAM -- that would put it on par with ultrabooks.
Thought I don't think Pinebook Pro ever going to meet its $200 US target price.
Thoughts?
Looks interesting. If they fix the keyboard. Otherwise no way. I won't buy something that will keep pissing me off when trying to use it. -- Len Sorensen
On Mon, 4 Mar 2019 at 15:52, Lennart Sorensen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Never mind delete, who thought moving the '\ and |' key? Swap it with delete which is hardly ever used, but | sure is. Eek.
That was a feature of the original Pinebook. I don't think they're going to change it. Stewart
On Mon, Mar 04, 2019 at 04:00:04PM -0500, Stewart Russell via talk wrote:
That was a feature of the original Pinebook. I don't think they're going to change it.
I guess it's a bug of the original pinebook then. Besides they say the Pro is entended to be a full use machine, while the previous one was a tinker toy. Being compatible with a bug from a toy isn't worthwhile. -- Len Sorensen
participants (4)
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Alex Volkov -
D. Hugh Redelmeier -
lsorense＠csclub.uwaterloo.ca -
Stewart Russell