I don’t really see the point in low powered small devices like this, when something like an iPad/Galaxy Tab/eInk tablet is far better suited to the typical tasks you’d use them for.
we don’t do things because we need to. we do things because we can.
playing doom on a iPod or Zune is completely awful. so why does it exist? because someone willed it into existence. why? because they could.
Aperture Science. We do what we must, because we can. For the good of all of us. Except the ones who are dead.
For awhile now I’ve been thinking about how nice it would be to have a something like a modern version of the Poqet PC.
The Poqet PC had a much nicer keyboard than the laptop in the article, and between the simplicity of its software and a very aggressive power management strategy (it actually paused the CPU between keystrokes) it could last for weeks to months on two AA batteries.
Imagine a modern device with the same design sensibilities. Instead of an LCD screen you could use e-ink. For both power efficiency, and because the e-ink wouldn’t be well suited to full motion video the user interface could text/keyboard based (though you could still have it display static images). Instead of the 8088 CPU you could use something like an ARM Cortex M0+, which would give you roughly the same amount of power as a 486 for less than 1/100th the wattage of the 8088. Instead of the AAs you could use sodium ion or lithium titanate cells for their wide temperature range and high cycle life (and although these chemistries have a lower energy density than lithium ion, they’d probably still give you more capacity than the AAs, especially if you used prismatic cells). With such a miniscule power consumption you could keep a device like that charged with a solar panel built into the case.
Such a device would have very little computing power compared to even a smartphone, but it could still be useful for a lot of things. Besides things like text editors or spreadsheets, you could replicate the functionality of the Wiki Reader and the Cybiko (imagine something like the Cybiko with LoRaWAN). You could maybe even keep a copy of Open Street Map on there, though I don’t know how computationally expensive parsing its data format and displaying a map segment is.
I had one of the original netbooks (Asus EEEPC) back in the mid 2000s and I absolutely loved that thing. It was really great for bopping around college and travelling and such and had a killer battery life of like 8 or 10 hours or something like that. I used to run Win 7 dual booted with Ubuntu
There was a MacBook 12 inch like this that my business partner loved. It would last all day on a charge and he was building our app with it (Xcode and I think clang builds).
This was 10 years ago though.
It looks pretty cute. But holy shit the mouse on that thing looks awful to use.
Urgh. Why do they always have to ramble about AI?
There was one paragraph about AI. Hardly a ramble.
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.
Eight inches ought to be enough for anyone!
It was enough for yo mom ohhhhhhhh!
j/k
did her twice, huh?
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.
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.
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.
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…
I remember my 9 inch “netbook.” That thing was dope.
I’m down to see this form factor make a comeback, personally.
ASUS still makes netbooks.
I bought a little $200 model a few years ago. It weighs 9 oz.
Yeah, my favourite ever laptop. Would love to see the netbook return. Cheap and cheerful. Chromebooks just not the same
My 11" netbook is my favorite portable PC I own. A bit slow but rock solid and about as heavy as a tablet.
11 inch is a pretty nice form factor, too!
Still love my Acer Aspire v151, core i5. 11" is a great size, just big enough for a standard keyboard. I wish they would have updated models like that. A Ryzen 9 version would kick ass.
I’m strongly hoping that the framework 12’’ becomes widely successful so that the format keeps being relevant.
Unfortunately I think most of this audience (if there ever was any) have switched to tablets.
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.
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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.
Mad lad installed KDE Neon. Weird choice, but okay!
Uses the calamares installer, comes with all neccessary tools and, above all, is the safest bet if you need all KDE components to work properly. Makes enough sense to me but I’m biased since it’s my daily driver too 😅 It’s my first distro where genuinely so far “everything just works”. I’ve had a much better experience than with stuff like Mint or Pop or whatever else people usually recommend.
