
Pinebook: My First Few Surprising Hours with a $99 Linux Laptop - tomcam
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/11/21/pinebook-my-first-few-surprising-hours-with-a-99-linux-laptop/amp/
======
tonteldoos
Looks awesome, but I put my name on the build-to-order notification list
/months/ ago, and am still waiting to be contacted. Does anyone know how
regularly they _actually_ ship?

~~~
johnklos
I just got mine after being on the list for about a year. It's a wonderful
little machine. It's how laptops should be - they should be concerned with
less heat and longer battery life, not on how many cores we can run at super
speed for six seconds at a time.

I'm slowly compiling all the software for it that I think I might ever need in
preparation for making it my primary machine. With NetBSD, the laptop feels
nimble and quick.

The keyboard layout takes a while to get used to, like the article says. For
those of us who are on the command like 95% of the time, the pipe really takes
some time. But aside from the layout, the keyboard feels darned good for an
inexpensive laptop.

Within a month I think this will become my main portable.

~~~
mromanuk
Report back in a month, please! I’m interested

------
tyingq
A recertified Chromebook that will accept a Seabios rom upgrade is another
cheap linux laptop approach: [https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-
firmware/rom-download...](https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-
download/)

------
heywire
I really wish they could commit to shipping the 1080p screen on the 11” model.
I’d pull the trigger tomorrow. But as far as I know, there’s still no
guarantee if you’ll get the 1920x1080 or the 1366x768 display. That’s a
dealbreaker for me.

------
RickS
Disappointing to see that the keyboard layout is so nasty. Does anybody have a
favorite laptop that's netbook size (<=13") with a focus on writing?

It seems the perfect "write comfortably on train, so light you forget you have
it" device remains unsolved.

~~~
culot
A ThinkPad x1 14" model weighs the same as the Pinebook, and is roughly
similar in size. Even an older model x1 would run circles around a Pinebook in
most every respect. ThinkPad x2x0 models weigh in heftier, but generally can
be found at prices aren't much higher than a Pinebook. For heavy typing
there's practically nothing to recommend but ThinkPads.

~~~
yeos_
I have a first gen X1 carbon that I recently purchased on ebay for a little
less than $200 and I haven't ran into any hiccups with general usage on W10.
The keyboard is really nice, but I don't think as nice as the keyboard on the
x200/220, but better than the x230 from when I remember using one.

If you have $200 to spend I think the 1st gen x1 is easily the best
ultraportable for the buck.

------
indigodaddy
Pretty surprising that KDE Neon would be the default distro for this. Why
wouldn't they choose something lighter?

~~~
Sylos
I can see a few reasons:

1\. It's a full-featured, widely tested desktop environment. If a user can't
figure out how to enable Bluetooth in LXQt or there's screen tearing in Xfce,
then they might blame your hardware. You especially also need someone to rely
on, who does ARM builds, which many distros do, but fixing the build of the
desktop environment often is something you need the help of the DE devs for.

2\. It looks modern and polished. You can theme the more lightweight
alternatives, but they often still have UI elements that are not correctly
aligned and such.

3\. The KDE Community is big, and many of them got the news of this Pinebook.
If some buy it for themselves, or gift it to someone, or just tell their
friends about it, that might very well be your first year of funding secured.

4\. It is kind of news-worthy on its own that one of the most feature-rich OSs
ships on one of the cheapest laptops.

