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I don't necessarily agree. Look at Android phones now. Midrange phones come with more RAM, a comparable or better screen resolution (in 5"), and frequently off

I don't necessarily agree. Look at Android phones now. Midrange phones come with more RAM, a comparable or better screen resolution (in 5"), and frequently offer dual band WiFi. [0] Sure, you can't upgrade anything on the phone and you're lucky if even the kernel source code is released. But the Allwinner A64 chip Olimex is using has crap support in Linux anyway: you won't have hardware accelerated 2D or 3D. And please, arguments of "it's modular" don't hold water. You can't upgrade the EMMC because it's not socketed. Ditto for RAM and WiFi chipset. So the only "upgrade" path is to replace the entire PCB. iFixit regularly skewer Apple for putting everything on one board. Conceivably you could upgrade a MacBook by replacing the entire logic board, but no one seriously considers this. Why not just buy a Raspberry Pi and a laptop shell like the Motorola Atrix? You can buy new old stock for around $50, and every other month there's a kick starter to create a USB3 version for ~$100 [1] [0] http://m.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_4_prime-8263.php http://m.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_4_prime-8263.php [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-laptop-f https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook...

kmichaels 10y ago
None of the options you suggest have an open PCB layout/schematic (which this does in Kicad). Not only is this philosophically "good" it also has practical benefits if you are looking to build on the design to say, integrate an fpga.
- kogepathic 10y ago
  > it also has practical benefits if you are looking to build on the design to say, integrate an fpga. Okay, what prevents me from designing my own PCB to replace the one in my phone? I can measure the physical dimensions, look up the datasheet for the LCD screen and camera connector and get a new board made. Since this isn't very practical, no one does it. It's going to cost far more than any reasonable person would spend to manufacture a modified PCB with an FPGA for this laptop. If you're going to tell me "well the design is open so you can kickstart it as an alternative" then I'd invite you to ask the OpenMoko guys about how many units they sold. [0] For anyone who wants a "modular" laptop, just buy one of the above HDMI/USB "lapdocks" and Velcro the Raspberry Pi to the back of the LCD. In the long run it will be just as robust and "modular" as this Olimex product. I previously worked on getting Debian+E17 running on the OpenMoko, so I'm not just talking out my ass on this. [0] https://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 https://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04
  - kmichaels 10y ago
    I think, these are just argument why this isn't a good fit for you. However it's not really a good argument that this is a bad thing in every use case. Calling this a "bad" laptop when the only other laptop that's open to this degree that I'm aware of is bunnie's novena seems a bit silly. Building on an established design is going to be far easier than bringing up a new PCB. I'd estimate you could get prototypes of this board (6 layer) made for <<1000USD. If I needed embedded compute, for an instrument I was designing for low volume manufacture I'd consider these boards. If nothing else, I could probably get them fabbed myself if necessary/desirable. I can see many use cases like this. As well as the fact that some users just philosophically prefer computers whose design is as open as possible.
j3097736 10y ago
>So the only "upgrade" path is to replace the entire PCB. Except that it's not a tightly coupled design so there's enough space to add more boards. Somebody that only want to play with gadgets shouldn't review something he has no understanding of.

kmichaels 10y ago

None of the options you suggest have an open PCB layout/schematic (which this does in Kicad). Not only is this philosophically "good" it also has practical benefits if you are looking to build on the design to say, integrate an fpga.

kogepathic 10y ago
> it also has practical benefits if you are looking to build on the design to say, integrate an fpga. Okay, what prevents me from designing my own PCB to replace the one in my phone? I can measure the physical dimensions, look up the datasheet for the LCD screen and camera connector and get a new board made. Since this isn't very practical, no one does it. It's going to cost far more than any reasonable person would spend to manufacture a modified PCB with an FPGA for this laptop. If you're going to tell me "well the design is open so you can kickstart it as an alternative" then I'd invite you to ask the OpenMoko guys about how many units they sold. [0] For anyone who wants a "modular" laptop, just buy one of the above HDMI/USB "lapdocks" and Velcro the Raspberry Pi to the back of the LCD. In the long run it will be just as robust and "modular" as this Olimex product. I previously worked on getting Debian+E17 running on the OpenMoko, so I'm not just talking out my ass on this. [0] https://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 https://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04
- kmichaels 10y ago
  I think, these are just argument why this isn't a good fit for you. However it's not really a good argument that this is a bad thing in every use case. Calling this a "bad" laptop when the only other laptop that's open to this degree that I'm aware of is bunnie's novena seems a bit silly. Building on an established design is going to be far easier than bringing up a new PCB. I'd estimate you could get prototypes of this board (6 layer) made for <<1000USD. If I needed embedded compute, for an instrument I was designing for low volume manufacture I'd consider these boards. If nothing else, I could probably get them fabbed myself if necessary/desirable. I can see many use cases like this. As well as the fact that some users just philosophically prefer computers whose design is as open as possible.

j3097736 10y ago

>So the only "upgrade" path is to replace the entire PCB. Except that it's not a tightly coupled design so there's enough space to add more boards. Somebody that only want to play with gadgets shouldn't review something he has no understanding of.