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I am strongly hoping that the 8GB Rpi + NexDock would be a good low cost laptop for web browsing, text editing and terminal. I've been turned off from investin
by intsunny 6y ago
I am strongly hoping that the 8GB Rpi + NexDock would be a good low cost laptop for web browsing, text editing and terminal.
I've been turned off from investing in a new laptop for a variety of reasons:
- Apple has made questionable hardware design decisions lately. If Louis Rossmann is to be believed, the T2 chip + secureboot situation is just as bad as the old keyboard situation. It sucks having no say over the hardware.
- Apple's newest Catalina OS has been strangely unstable for many (including me) and is headed in a strange direction. It sucks having no say over the software.
- Intel's chip vulnerabilities are too many and too confusing to keep track of. While their chips are advertised as "Quad core @ 2.4Ghz", I wonder what the actual performance is when all the kernel protections are enabled.
- AMD's Ryzen 4000 products look amazing, but (almost?) none of the laptops are 13" with high quality screens.
A "laptop" composed of 8GB Rpi + NexDock would allow me much greater control of the hardware and software.
- phonon 6y ago> - AMD's Ryzen 4000 products look amazing, but (almost?) none of the laptops are 13" with high quality screens. Check out the Xiaomi RedmiBook 13 (100% sRGB coverage).
- ChuckNorris89 6y agoThat tops out at 16GB RAM and curios how warranty service looks like in case you have issues.
- nine_k 6y agoTwice as much RAM as the RPi from the article, to say nothing of the CPU, SSD, battery, screen, and keyboard.
- bscphil 6y agoMy laptop's display panel is almost 10 years old, and has about 96% AdobeRGB coverage. 100% sRGB should be considered barely above shit-tier. Probably fine if you don't do any photo or video editing ever, I guess?
- phonon 6y agoIf you're doing photo/video editing for web, sRGB is your target anyway. This is a $530 laptop btw. Which 10 year old laptop had 96% Adobe RGB coverage, out of curiosity?
- bscphil 6y agoMy screen is the AUO B173HW01 v4, which was shipped with several laptops from that era. The spec [1] was actually finalized in 2009 and that's when my EDID information says the display was manufactured, so "10 years old" was actually a bit conservative it seems. The spec says it's supposed to have 90% NTSC coverage. I've had it calibrated with a colorimeter, which tells me it has the following properties: * 89.0% DCI-P3 coverage * 97.8% AdobeRGB coverage Here's the graph of its gamut vs sRGB.[2] I edit a lot of photos (though never professionally), and honestly I would never edit on an sRGB screen. Plus, what about HDR video? It's becoming extremely common these days. [1] http://www.yslcd.com.tw/docs/product/B173HW01%20V.4.pdf http://www.yslcd.com.tw/docs/product/B173HW01%20V.4.pdf [2] https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/Qmaq6553VxMazANuLiFh95aW6fAJBRkAKE9pj5iMd3ZyPJ https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/Qmaq6553VxMazANuLiFh95aW6fA...
- phonon 6y agoThat's a 6-bit TN panel, with a decent gamut. Color accuracy will be so-so, most likely. (What's your delta-E?) Viewing angles are not great either. [1] An 8-bit IPS panel with 100% sRGB would likely be superior for most purposes. It's also a 17.3" screen vs. 13" which was what was being discussed. I did the photography and color grading for a published coffee table book on a monitor with less than 97% AdobeRGB. I would have liked a better monitor, but it worked out....Lightroom and Photoshop have nice tools to help. If you're doing HDR video editing, get an HDR display. If you're doing professional video/picture editing, get one with a wide-gamut and good color accuracy. For most people, 100% sRGB will be pleasing and accurate for most purposes. [1] http://www.panelook.com/B173HW01%20V4_AUO_17.3_LCM_overview_738.html http://www.panelook.com/B173HW01%20V4_AUO_17.3_LCM_overview_...
- 6y ago
- cat199 6y agoInteresting thought - how do you plan to power the Pi? seems this would more be a 'portable' than a 'laptop' Also - there is the 'pi top' kit if that suits your fancy.
- techdragon 6y agoI looked into this for the rpi4 a while ago and unfortunately the PiTop stuff won’t actually fit a rpi4 due to how it’s designed... at least that was what I was able to work out, I would love to be wrong.
- willis936 6y agoRaspberry Pi 4s are powered via USB C PD. You can buy 50 Wh USB C PD battery bricks for $20 (or 100 Wh for $40). RPi4s pull between 2 W and 5 W, so you’re looking at a long, long battery life with a cheap travel battery.
- sneak 6y ago> Apple has made questionable hardware design decisions lately. If Louis Rossmann is to be believed, the T2 chip + secureboot situation is just as bad as the old keyboard situation. It sucks having no say over the hardware. His claims were significantly overblown. If your T2 dies, yeah, your data is toast, because the disk keys live in the T2. But the same applies for your SSD dying itself, and the T2 is not especially or uniquely unreliable. Even if it dies as frequently as an SSD, the failure rate is still well within the realm of normal/acceptable. He’s blowing it up for clicks. The keyboard on the other hand was a documented design flaw. The T2 works fine. It also significantly improves platform speed and security (and they even left a platform security escape hatch if you want to disable the boot security and run Linux, something they didn’t have to do). His post was inflammatory clickbait, nothing more. This sort of Apple-flaming, choir-preaching basher content has been extremely popular regardless of merit since long before the T2 or even the removal of the headphone jack from the phones.
- mangix 6y agoUnlike you, he owns a repair shop. I’m sure he’s basing his statement on the amount of MacBooks that come his way with a failed T2.
- read_if_gay_ 6y agoUnlike GP, his life is also about hating Apple in every way possible. Just looking at his YouTube channel for about 4 seconds makes it pretty obvious that he isn't even trying to be fair.
- wiseleo 6y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFIVZYevfGU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFIVZYevfGU - nope... he's fair. That's Louis's list of recommended macbooks.
- read_if_gay_ 6y agoCounterexample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiCBYAP_Sgg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiCBYAP_Sgg It does not take a genius to see how the cooling design is supposed to work. Him saying that fan is "for placebo effect" is certainly not fair.
- qzio 6y ago> - AMD's Ryzen 4000 products look amazing, but (almost?) none of the laptops are 13" with high quality screens. Lenovo will release a x13 with ryzen 4000 later this year.
- esmi 6y ago> web browsing, text editing and terminal. If that’s all you want try an iPad2. I think it would make a better “laptop” than a RPI. RPI doesn’t have a battery.
- nine_k 6y agoGood luck testing your design in several browsers on an iPad :-/
- dewey 6y agoCould always use something like https://www.browserstack.com/ https://www.browserstack.com/ if you really want to.
- nine_k 6y agoDoes it support opening Dev tools? If so, terrific.
- Normal_gaussian 6y agoIts slightly too laggy to be that useful like that imo. Sure you can pop open the console and get some info, but prolonged manual use is painful. Its fantastic automated tool however; and the live interface is great for irregular checks
- read_if_gay_ 6y agoWhere exactly did you get "testing your design in several browsers" from "web browsing, text editing and terminal"?
- Jonnax 6y agoWhy are you comparing $1000+ laptops to a raspberry pi and a dock? If the raspberry pi meets your needs, consider a much cheaper laptop
- sigotirandolas 6y agoYeah, it's weird to see the comment criticizing the impact of Intel's CPU patches and Ryzen 4000 systems and then talking about using a RPi4 as an alternative. I don't have experience with the RPi4, but in previous versions the CPU and IO performance was terrible compared to even a mid-range laptop, so I assume it still is. If you use the system for any kind of work (even if it's just web browsing), an RPi system is going to have an awful ROI compared to a 'regular' laptop.
- greyhair 6y agoAny relatively cheap (like $300) laptop is going to kick any RPi to the curb. And that gets you the display, the keyboard, the touchpad, and storage, all in the base price. And no screwing around.
- intsunny 6y agoBeacuse if I spend $1000 (even $2000) I want to get that much value for that purchase. Or I can spend significantly less and be that much less married to that purchase. Between Apple's missteps, Intel's not ideal products/roadmap, and AMD's lack of uptake, the current products do not seem to offer the value for their costs. The 2015 13" rMBP was by far my most favorite laptop I have ever owned. I have never regretted spending what I did on that machine. If a Raspi + Nexdoc costs $300, I'm not going to be very broken up over replacing it in a year or two. I cannot say the same for a $1000-2000 laptop.
- kiddico 6y agoWhy not just continue to use the 2015 13" rMBP? It outclasses a Raspi + Nexdoc in every way I can think of, and if you still have it it's free :D Since 2015s doesn't have the T2 nonsense and you were fine with linux on the rpi and there's no T2 stopping you, then you can just wipe it and install what you want.
- eloisant 6y agoI really have a hard time understanding the appeal of the NexDock. With a phone processor it will still be ARM, you won't get a great laptop. But it already costs $250, for that price you can get an entry-level laptop that will probably perform in a similar way while still leaving your phone independent.
- wegs 6y ago(1) Phones have your data, settings, apps, etc. on them. Syncing things sucks. (2) The ARM in your phone is probably faster than a $250 laptop CPU. It can be plenty fine for most tasks. (3) Many of us aren't CPU-bound in the first place. The only thing holding our phones back are software, keyboard, and display. Done well, it'd be awesome. I definitely want something like the NexDock. However, I'll probably wait for V2 or V3. I think V1 will be good for people who would use it like a Chromebook. My V5 NexDock would look like an actual dock, and plug my phone into: * a pair of 4k monitors * a keyboard, a mouse * a pair of external HDDs (keeping my data backed up in RAID, and holding larger files) And have good software / application support.
- linguae 6y agoI've been thinking the same thing lately, though I didn't know about the NexDock project until I read your post. My dream would be something like a modern-day ThinkPad X61 or ThinkPad X220 for its durability and its keyboard. However, it would have an upgraded monitor (I would like something better than 1024x768 or even 1333x768), and it would be connected to a Raspberry Pi 4. Any time I want to upgrade, I just upgrade the Raspberry Pi while I keep my laptop chassis.