This is pretty much my experience as well. The trackpad is my only complaint about the machine.
There is some ongoing work to reverse-engineer the trackpad firmware (which is apparently behaving badly) from this guy: https://github.com/akirakyle/pinebook-pro-keyboard-updater/t...
> 1080p is pretty decent in a little laptop like this.
When did 1080 become regarded as acceptable, let alone decent? I remember running CRTs as high as 1440 about 20 years ago. What happened? Why hasn't resolution doubled a few times since then?
Since Linux can be installed on pretty much every laptop, I am not sure what is special about this one. Maybe the HN gang can enlighten me?
What fascinates me about Pine64 is that we might finally see Linux on phones and tablets.
I ordered a PinePhone a few days ago. Can't wait to try it. I wonder when they will ship it. I got an email "Your order has been received and is now being processed." but no info when they will send it out. Any idea how fast they will ship?
- It's an open device so you're not locked out of or into anything (Android devices don't cut it on this front)
- It's ARM-based
One thing they haven't:
- You don't pay for a Windows license you'll never use
That last thing has annoyed some of us for decades: funding (even in a minor way) a company that has been actively hostile to the platform we want to use. Plus it adds some amount of cost to the device. Believe what you will about their recent change of stance, some of us still don't want to send money their way unnecessarily.
This is an ARM laptop. Since it isn't intel, that means you can have access to the MOBO schematics as well as the processor data sheet.
This means that the average person can design a computer around the processor without paying a couple million to intel in NDA agreements.
This is a being deal for the FOSS hardware community - I myself am actually working on a project to make an open processor with a GPU. https://systemeslibres.org
I currently have an Acer B115m with Intel N2940, SSD and 8GB LDDR3.
I use this laptop mostly to work outdoors. I get somewhere nice, surrounded by nature, open the laptop, plug in my 4G modem and work from there. It gets me about 6h of real usage, but sometimes I can't charge it up to 100%. I'd also like to have a brighter scree so I deal better with sunlight.
Most of the times I go to places you can't reach by car, so I go on bike or walking, therefore I need to be careful with what I carry with me, be it weight or volume.
An ARM laptop would be a nice upgrade for my battery anxiety, but having everything soldered makes me uneasy, and 64 Gb HD + 4Gb Ram is not enough for me. Also, I wasn't able to find info about the screen brightness.
It's a reasonable question. The main reason is a desire to support the "open" development model of the hardware.
I think most people interested in a device like this would be better served with a Chromebook, of which there are numerous, with much more diverse hardware options. They already run Coreboot and are about the most open laptop devices currently sold in large quantities.
I don't know about the PinePhone in particular, but the time to shipment for my PineBook Pro was very long since it was done in batches after orders came in.
if you ordered before the 22nd may, it will be shipping soon and you'll get an email when it starts (they said shipping began on 28th, but i haven't received my email yet).
if it was after that date, you'll have to wait for the next batch - no idea when that is scheduled.
Yes, I would expect much more from a "Pro" model, at least 8GB, preferably 16-32GB personally.. Running VMs and containers is quite necessary for high security & software development work..
I've had a PineBook Pro for a few months. I added an NVMe drive for extra storage and overall I'm happy with it as a secondary machine since I usually use my desktop.
The one thing that I think is much worse than it should be is the trackpad and my view is much more negative than in this review. For me, it's terrible and often borders on unusable for anything that doesn't have a large clickable area. It is such a contrast to the keyboard that is much better than I expected and probably the best laptop keyboard I've used in a long time.
> The display resolution is 1920x1080, equivalent to about 100 dpi
Maybe a typo? Should be around 157dpi for a 14 inch screen. Though I absolutely agree with the general idea, high dpi screens (over 200 dpi) do make the experience much much better.
I received pinebook pro last week and initially I was really disappointed with the trackpad, double tap was only working 30% of the time, laggy movement, urgh.
I wish the author expanded on how Midori is "really testing my patience" - kind of a showstopper if you can't browse with what is a very lightweight browser
USB-C seems superior because it comes with a data link, and negotiates higher power ratings.
The tradeoff is that this comes with complexity. The Pinebook team, sensibly, decided they didn't want to fuck with building and verifying USB-C power negotiation subsystems.
Guarantee that everyone complaining about it here has never had to implement, or be accountable for the BOM cost of, a USB-C power negotiation system.
Most people would probably prefer USB-C, as yo can use any old power supply. Though in this case it looks like it supports USB-PD anyway, so doesn’t seem like an issue.
I have one. It seems to be a pretty nice machine with a good performance for buck ratio. However, the touchpad and keyboard make it completely unusable for me. The keyboard doesn't register some key combos at all, and I've never used a touchpad this bad...
> There are upgrade kits available, for example an adapter to add an NVMe disk instead of the eMMC. For the original Pinebook, there has been an upgrade kit with a better processor even.
I didn't know you could add nvme disk to the pinebook pro. The emmc storage was turning me off, but with this the machine seem to be more attractive to me. If it has upgradable cpu as well I would seriously consider using this laptop, just need to figure out shipping as international shipping is usually handled by the awful state-owned postal company here, which for some reason can't successfully deliver anything to my address.
[+] [-] Ardon|5 years ago|reply
There's also apparently a bounty: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/88375235-reverse-enginee...
If there is a firmware solution, then I think I'll have no complaints left for the pinebook pro :)
[+] [-] j-pb|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] seltzered_|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m463|5 years ago|reply
Once I turned off the "click in this area for button x" stuff and turned on tap to click, it became 10x more usable.
(I'm not familiar with the pinebook trackpad, so it could be more that just configuration)
[+] [-] itsspring|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hestefisk|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hedora|5 years ago|reply
The only reason they’re not in my daily driver laptop is that I can’t get one with a decent display and a power efficient CPU.
There’s surely pent up demand for such machines. Hopefully someone will build one eventually.
[+] [-] TylerE|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisseaton|5 years ago|reply
When did 1080 become regarded as acceptable, let alone decent? I remember running CRTs as high as 1440 about 20 years ago. What happened? Why hasn't resolution doubled a few times since then?
[+] [-] JonathanBeuys|5 years ago|reply
What fascinates me about Pine64 is that we might finally see Linux on phones and tablets.
I ordered a PinePhone a few days ago. Can't wait to try it. I wonder when they will ship it. I got an email "Your order has been received and is now being processed." but no info when they will send it out. Any idea how fast they will ship?
[+] [-] blihp|5 years ago|reply
- It's an open device so you're not locked out of or into anything (Android devices don't cut it on this front)
- It's ARM-based
One thing they haven't:
- You don't pay for a Windows license you'll never use
That last thing has annoyed some of us for decades: funding (even in a minor way) a company that has been actively hostile to the platform we want to use. Plus it adds some amount of cost to the device. Believe what you will about their recent change of stance, some of us still don't want to send money their way unnecessarily.
[+] [-] BracketMaster|5 years ago|reply
This means that the average person can design a computer around the processor without paying a couple million to intel in NDA agreements.
This is a being deal for the FOSS hardware community - I myself am actually working on a project to make an open processor with a GPU. https://systemeslibres.org
[+] [-] rbanffy|5 years ago|reply
- It's fairly inexpensive, even when compared to cheaper build machines.
- It's very open and easy to hack
- It's fast to the point of being actually useful
- It has a six-core asymmetric CPU (two fast A72 cores, 4 low-power A53 ones). That's not available on any x86 based laptop.
- It's almost completely Windows-proof.
[+] [-] iagovar|5 years ago|reply
I use this laptop mostly to work outdoors. I get somewhere nice, surrounded by nature, open the laptop, plug in my 4G modem and work from there. It gets me about 6h of real usage, but sometimes I can't charge it up to 100%. I'd also like to have a brighter scree so I deal better with sunlight.
Most of the times I go to places you can't reach by car, so I go on bike or walking, therefore I need to be careful with what I carry with me, be it weight or volume.
An ARM laptop would be a nice upgrade for my battery anxiety, but having everything soldered makes me uneasy, and 64 Gb HD + 4Gb Ram is not enough for me. Also, I wasn't able to find info about the screen brightness.
[+] [-] JeremyNT|5 years ago|reply
I think most people interested in a device like this would be better served with a Chromebook, of which there are numerous, with much more diverse hardware options. They already run Coreboot and are about the most open laptop devices currently sold in large quantities.
[+] [-] branon|5 years ago|reply
Shipping schedules for Pinebook Pro and Pinephone do fluctuate since they are produced and shipped in batches.
[+] [-] amock|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ipnon|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DNied|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ferzul|5 years ago|reply
if it was after that date, you'll have to wait for the next batch - no idea when that is scheduled.
[+] [-] f00_|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] candiddevmike|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] metta2uall|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amock|5 years ago|reply
The one thing that I think is much worse than it should be is the trackpad and my view is much more negative than in this review. For me, it's terrible and often borders on unusable for anything that doesn't have a large clickable area. It is such a contrast to the keyboard that is much better than I expected and probably the best laptop keyboard I've used in a long time.
[+] [-] pahool|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] type-2|5 years ago|reply
Maybe a typo? Should be around 157dpi for a 14 inch screen. Though I absolutely agree with the general idea, high dpi screens (over 200 dpi) do make the experience much much better.
[+] [-] seoirsewalker|5 years ago|reply
After some experimentation and someone on the forums pointing me to https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebook_Pro#X-Windows_.26... I am getting decent performance.
[+] [-] arprocter|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eeereerews|5 years ago|reply
What's wrong with this?
[+] [-] CoolGuySteve|5 years ago|reply
Their commoditized nature means people are making smaller and lighter adapters.
Depending on the wattage you can use the same USB-C adapter for multiple devices.
There are many USB-C external batteries available.
[+] [-] chrisseaton|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cushychicken|5 years ago|reply
USB-C seems superior because it comes with a data link, and negotiates higher power ratings.
The tradeoff is that this comes with complexity. The Pinebook team, sensibly, decided they didn't want to fuck with building and verifying USB-C power negotiation subsystems.
Guarantee that everyone complaining about it here has never had to implement, or be accountable for the BOM cost of, a USB-C power negotiation system.
[+] [-] rsynnott|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paulryanrogers|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asutekku|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] seba_dos1|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bufferoverflow|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neurostimulant|5 years ago|reply
I didn't know you could add nvme disk to the pinebook pro. The emmc storage was turning me off, but with this the machine seem to be more attractive to me. If it has upgradable cpu as well I would seriously consider using this laptop, just need to figure out shipping as international shipping is usually handled by the awful state-owned postal company here, which for some reason can't successfully deliver anything to my address.
[+] [-] sam_lowry_|5 years ago|reply
The keyboard is a cheap no-name, far worse than a Thinkpad keyboard or an Apple keyboard. I had trouble with the button S since the beginning.
But this is fine for such a cheap laptop.