The use case seems pretty limited:
“when I’m on the go and I don’t have room in my bag for a full-sized laptop”
First, if you’re on the go, do you need a computer with you? Second, if you do, that’s what a dedicated laptop bag is for.
First, if you’re on the go, do you need a computer with you?
That’s kinda the point of laptops
Second, if you do, that’s what a dedicated laptop bag is for.
Why should I have to carry a whole bag in order to have more compute power available than a phone? This is the same argument as “you already have a bag for your mobile phone battery if you want to carry it everywhere, but why would you do that?”
The answer to that is “because they can”. You don’t have to like it, but others do, so if you can’t understand the potential applications, then it’s clearly not for you.
What I’m saying is, the use case is limited.
You can carry a bag for your laptop and have other things in it vs. fitting an 8" device into the bag you’re carrying.
I have a 10" Chuwi Minibook X. It’s basically my go to when I go to my kids activities. For me, it’s a better alternative than a phone or my tablet. It’s small when folded up and weighs very little. The luggability is surprisingly better than my Framework 13. Plus, I have a real keyboard instead of a touchscreen that is surprisingly much better than I expected . That’s handy for when I do want to do something more productive. And since it only cost me about $300 or so, I’m much less worried about it getting damaged.
I wouldn’t just carry it around with me randomly in public. But, I could if I wanted to. It’s a shame there are so few options like it. One of my biggest factors I was looking for was weight and overall footprint.
Sometimes all I need a small compact SSH machine when I’m at a client’s site. This is a perfect use case for it.
First, if you’re on the go, do you need a computer with you?
Is that a real question? LOL
Well, I’m technically “on the go” right now and my phones work fine.
Phones come with a 6" screen and no keyboard. You do realize there’s an entire market of “on the go” computers?
I do, but if you need an actual computer, say for work or something, they don’t cut it. They’re cute, but as you see above, the limitations drag them down.
By the time you put in the gear to make them workable, you might as well just pack a proper laptop.
if you need an actual computer, say for work or something
Brother you do realize not everyone is using SOLIDWORKS at work? The vast majority of workers can do everything they need on the Netbook in the OP.
I work in a cleanroom. Can’t take a laptop bag in there. Sometimes it would be nice to have a smaller device to connect to a tool vias RS-485/232 and gather logs/teach robots/change controller settings - you know, simple tasks you don’t really need a “proper laptop” to perform. My work-issued T15 G2 is fine, but it runs W11 and is cumbersome when trying to work inside a cramped space or while on a ladder. A smaller device would be preferable. And my work-issued iPhone obviously has absolutely none of that capability, it’s only good for communication and taking pictures.
I remember having 10 inch netbook. It was okay for a while, but I would never want to go back to 10 inch display on a laptop. It’s just horrible to use. 13 inches is ideal for me =)
I’ve got this little tablet…you know how so many people turn an iPad into a crappy laptop by adding a keyboard cover to it? Well Lenovo turned a laptop into a crappy iPad by making the hinge a floppy skin flap with a magnetic pogo pin connector. I intended it as a little computer I can use in the wood shop, I wanted something fanless and preferably with a removable keyboard so it wouldn’t be destroyed by sawdust that can run FreeCAD natively.
I’m not sure Linux is ready for tablets. FreeCAD is not ready for tablets or laptops, holy fuck it’s unusable without a 5 button mouse and a spaceball. I may have to distro hop a little on the thing because it likes to wake up with the keyboard attached, not recognize the keyboard, and stay permanently in portrait mode. So wake up the computer, rip the keyboard off, wait a second, reattach.
It’s kind of fuckpuke, tbh.
10 inch screen size isn’t a problem though. For a general laptop I’d want to go 13 inches but for something I’m mostly going to use as a tablet and then occasionally as a laptop 10 will do.
The library near me has a bunch of 3D printers people can rent time on, or maybe it’s based on filament used I’m not sure I’ve never actually used them.
At one point they had some surface tablets connected up to them so people could review their 3D prints or something, (again not my area of expertise), but apparently it was enough of an issue they eventually got rid of them and just replaced them with some desktops. It seems that the 3D design software just isn’t built for touch screen primary interfaces. They’ll work up to a point but then you’ll come up against something that you have to use a mouse and keyboard for and be stuck, so then you have to go get a mouse and keyboard.
I bet those tablets had their slicer software on them.
A 3D printer is a CNC machine, it doesn’t understand 3D model files, you have to give it a series of gantry movement instructions, usually in G-code format. G-code has to be written for the individual printer it’s being run on, because some of them consider the bottom left edge of the bed to be the origin, some the bottom right, some the center, you need to know the nozzle size, things like that. So you typically slice your model right before printing. And yeah I’m not really aware of any tablet friendly slicer software.
It sounds like the idea is to bring in your ready to print files and load them up and just use the Surface to review and send it to the printer via the slicer? A surface would be fine for that, especially since they support keyboards and mice.
I’ve got this little tablet…you know how so many people turn an iPad into a crappy laptop by adding a keyboard cover to it? Well Lenovo turned a laptop into a crappy iPad by making the hinge a floppy skin flap with a magnetic pogo pin connector. I intended it as a little computer I can use in the wood shop, I wanted something fanless and preferably with a removable keyboard so it wouldn’t be destroyed by sawdust that can run FreeCAD natively.
I have an 11" M1 iPad Pro with a Logitech keyboard case. It was intended to be my “laptop”. Clearly that didn’t work out, as Apple hath decreed that running full-blown VMs on hardware that’s more than capable of doing so is not allowed on the iPad, despite the fact that the same hardware runs Mac OS in the Macbook line.
I have a Thinkpad T14 G1 now.
I did the iPad-only thing for a year back in 2019/20 and while it was fine, I spent much of the time low-key irritated by the shit I had to jump through hoops for. Shit that a regular computer can just do.
By the end of my experiment it was abundantly clear that Apple had 0 interest in making iPadOS more useful for anything more than whatever its apps could do. Five years on and my opinion hasn’t changed. I still use an iPad (mini), but mostly because it was a gift which comes in handy for note taking.
I barely use my iPad these days. I’ll pull it out every once in a while, like if I’m sick in bed and wanna watch youtube for a few hours without holding my phone, but otherwise, yeah, iPads are kinda useless. They even suck at filling out PDFs.
To be fair, an iPad can be used for way more than the average punter will do with theirs. I used to broadcast my radio show with mine, using a mini as a midi controller for my mic. It was pretty cool.
But yeah, for all the workarounds and hoop jumping I had to do, Mixxx could do it all on a regular computer, for free.
So these days mine is a social media / note taker / third screen for my Mac. Very much not worth the £600 Apple are rinsing for this thing. I can’t imagine how disappointing it must have been to shell out for an M1 Pro in the belief that Apple were about to beef up iPadOS. Then they…didn’t.
I can’t imagine how disappointing it must have been to shell out for an M1 Pro in the belief that Apple were about to beef up iPadOS. Then they…didn’t.
Yep. I paid ~$1200 for it and the Logitech keyboard case, right after it came out in 2021. First brand-new Apple device I bought for myself. And it is definitely the last.
You didn’t buy it intending to run VMs on it without checking that it could actually run VMs did you? haha
I get your point though - iPad Pros have absolutely killer hardware that is let down by iPadOS. I would own one of the latest ones if it ran MacOS.
Noooo lmao, I bought it because I had the means and I thought I deserved to buy myself a nice tablet for once, instead of the shitty Samsung A-series or cheap Kindles I’d been attempting to poke and prod at… So when I heard about the M1 going into the iPad, I jumped at it. The “potential” was a bonus.
Now, it’s just a glorified youtube machine that occasionally sees OBD-II usage for my cars. Which my Pixel, or a shitty Samsung A-series, or a Kindle can also do.
cue RCR deep voice BUT IT’S GOT A STYLUS AND A KEYBOARD
Well, you’re in luck. The Piccolo N150 netbook is an 8in screen lol
14 here. Lenovo T-series life.
AMD T14 G1 here, with LMDE. Definitely my most used computer.
Well, at least it’s 1920x1200 resolution. The old 10" netbooks mostly had 1024x600 which was terrible even by standards from 15 years ago.
Idk, seems really cool but I have big hands and I’d be reluctant to get anything smaller than a full size keyboard. Definitely looking for a small linux-only laptop that still has all the ports I would ever need.
It looks pretty cute. But holy shit the mouse on that thing looks awful to use.
“Upon picking it up, you can feel the metal chassis has a surprising amount of weight to it.”
A surprising amount of weight is exactly what I do not want to feel when picking up a micro laptop.
That being said, it’s just a little under the weight of the new 12“ surface pro. Pretty much any bag I have could easily fit a 12" laptop but I imagine it would be hard to get Linux to work well with the surface - especially the touch screen. Not to mention a pretty big price difference.
Either way, it’s nice to see more options for small laptops! Maybe in a few years someone will start making small phones again.
I ended up falling into using a surface for my travel and it’s been surprisingly good. I have surface pro 7+, and it’s small enough to use on an airplane seat, has good battery life, a great screen, and can do some limited gaming. With an upgraded drive (1TB for $100) for movies and low end games it’s a great little computer. They also run for 200-400 dollars on eBay.
I use a Lenovo nano and haven’t looked back to my surface days. Has a touch screen and I really like it. Sounds like used surface market is good, but prices for new ones tend to be quite high. The 12 inch sounds really interesting to me though
but I imagine it would be hard to get Linux to work well with the surface - especially the touch screen.
There’s a dedicated Linux kernel for Surface devices. Surfaces are your best bet for installing Linux out of any of the Windows tablets.
Neat. Like the other poster said I also have an old surface 4 I think that could really use a new life.
Thank you for this! My husband has an old surface and it’s getting slow as shit. Didn’t think there was a way to get Linux on it. Cheers!
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What they kind of eyes do you people have? I mean, my phone screen is smaller but I’m not doing stuff I would normally do on a desktop or full size laptop.
I had better than 20x20 vision when they gave us eye-tests in high school and I’ve often gotten, “Holy shit, you can read that from here?” I always chose screen space over font-size even on small laptops but I recently had to dial it back a notch for the first time. The optometrists come for us all, eventually.
My vision still seems fine but it takes longer to adjust and focus. Like I have a digital clock I used to glance at to check the time and now I have to squint for a few seconds and wait. It’s sort of like a phone camera auto-focus where it sorts things out but it used to be immediate.
Yeah, lots of young people apparently. After the second 24" screen of my dual screen (primary is a 32" QHD) started dying I’ve ordered a curved 44.5" DQHD 1440p as a replacement. Will arrive tomorrow, I hope I didn’t make a mistake by not ordering a second 32" QHD instead.
Urgh. Why do they always have to ramble about AI?
I appreciated it, since he didn’t do a legit stress test. Running a local llm is intensive on the hardware, and if it performs well on that, it’ll likely perform well on most standard, non-useless tasks. So, I see that part as a makeshift stress test.
Right but all it’s testing is the hardware. The hardware would be the same if it was running Windows.
That’s all I want a stress test to test…
There was one paragraph about AI. Hardly a ramble.
But can it play doom 3?
It can play 20 separate instances of Doom 2.
It can play doom 40?
I can’t imagine many people would find this a pleasant device to do any actual work on. Maybe writers on the go, as the author says, though with a dubious keyboard layout even that is questionable.
Well, I carry a keyboard with my 17" laptop. Carrying a keyboard with a 8" laptop is that much easier.
Same here, Meko Blink or GK64 are my usuals for my big laptop
If you have to carry a separate keyboard, it defeats the purpose of an 8" laptop…
It’s not. I carry one(mix 3s) as a pocket laptop for when Im going out but might need to do some work urgently and also as a lightweight backup in case something happens to my main laptop. For the former, it’s been great and saved me many times, but for the latter… this did once happen when I bonked the entire screen out. To say it was a painful week while waiting for the replacement would be an understatement. My back was killing me the entire time, and the thing is so underpowered it was easier to remote into that screenless pc rather than trying to launch stuff locally. And even with that, the thing whirred like crazy. It’s fine for a few minutes at a time but hearing it sll fay got annoying quick. And dont even get me started on the keyboard…
Docks are pretty great now.
I have a dock at home and at work. Single cable to plug in and get proper peripherals, 2 + 1 monitors, and power.
It’s nice to be able to undock and go sit in a Cafe to read emails or do whatever you don’t need full regalia for.
I can see this working on a smaller form factor.
Yeah, I’ve been pretty happy with my usb-c dock. Although randomly I stopped being able to use all the usb ports on it at the same time. I wonder if the cable is failing.
But it’s been super useful and I don’t mind buying a new one down the line.
I haaaate typing on a laptop, layout not withstanding.
My work-issued T15 G2 has a large keyboard with a separate 10-key. It’s glorious.
Eight inches ought to be enough for anyone!
It was enough for yo mom ohhhhhhhh!
j/k
did her twice, huh?
My eeePC still works. Installed a touch screen. The battery and power adapter is long gone but it keeps on chugging with a random 12V power supply.
I had one of those but the tiny keyboard used to drive me nuts it was literally unusable.
Plus it was horrifically slow for everything. Even when new.
I had a 9" HP mini 2140– the keyboard was surprisingly good given its size.
It’s just a shame the build quality matched the price and they fell apart in short order.
I like my T14 with touchscreen but I kind of wish I went a little smaller. Cost $300 refurbished with a 2 year warranty though, and it runs great!
It’s a fair bit older than yours, but I’ve been so pleased with my X260. I originally got it as a side to my T480 but I find myself just taking the X260 when studying and leaving my T480 as a docked laptop because of the smaller form factor, battery life is way better (6 hours for my use) and for what I do (attending online classes, programming, and other studies) the performance is good enough (on LMDE, it probably wouldn’t take Windows well anymore)
The later X series like the X280 have options for quad core processors I believe if you wanted more performance. Given I only paid $120AUD for my X260 and I like the slight chunkiness of it (feels more rugged for on the go) that the X280 lost, I’m not upgrading anytime soon.
I used to travel a lot and didn’t need a full sized laptop but did need something more powerful than a phone, this would have been perfect. I might get one anyways for transferring files on the go from my cameras.
It arguable it’s not more powerful than a phone, but the keyboard would certainly be useful.
Phones are capable of a lot, but even something basic like a network ping is buried and they prefer you to install some crappy app with adverts and in app purchases, rather than let you use the PC in your pocket.
but even something basic like a network ping is buried
Termux on Android solves a lot of that. But the touchscreen keyboard is definitely a tricky issue.
You all know what would be the most awesome thing for 90% of people? Fully developed Linux Phones + Lapdocks.
- Just one device you carry all the time anyway
- Super powerful phones make more sense
- All data in one place without all sync stuff
- Battery for daaays when docked
- 2 displays
- Super portable setup
Samsung screwed it up with Dex and other companies didn’t want to create reasons not to buy more. Luckily devs working on projects like aftermarketOS do not give a fart about such things, and what’s currently possible and being worked on is really promising.
Imagine all you need for general computing and light gaming / editing on the go on any display or TV you come across would be a USB-C dock and perhaps a small keyboard & mouse combo. I want that future.
There have been several attempts at that and none succeeded.
Ubuntu Touch is somewhat there but also not.
The only thing that I would miss is contactless payments via my phone.
Depending on their success there might be at least one app that facilitates payments. If not anything else then at least GNU Taler once it gets adopted (obviously talking about not earlier than 2027 right now for any of this).
Samsung screwed it up with Dex
What do you mean by this? Dex is pretty awesome.
That would be awesome. With legit Debian VMs and desktop mode coming to Android, I would love to see some serious development progress in that area. But we all know the big tech firms are gonna fuck it all up and neuter it.
