39 ms·

I love my GPD Micro PC

• tcbawo 4y ago
  I recently bought one of these after seeing this post. I had been looking for something along these lines for a few months. So far, I really like the form factor— it’s tiny, but just large enough to type comfortably. However, it came with a somewhat shady version of Windows 10 installed. Automatic downloads were disabled and other policies were set by “my organization”. So, I wiped it and installed Pop!_OS with an encrypted drive. How worried should I be about key loggers/spyware after a full reinstall? I’m debating whether it would be risky to log into my password manager/financial accounts.
• zapu 4y ago
  Doesn't seem that you can get these for 300 EUR anymore, or am I missing something obvious?
  • AshamedCaptain 4y ago
    He probably has one of the 1st generations which were cheaper (and crappier). I would not recommend paying more than 100EUR for it. The build quality was terrible and the firmware ridiculously buggy. I am told both things have improved in recent GPD endeavours but then so has the price.
  • nathell 4y ago
    OP here – I got it second-hand, from a guy who ordered it directly from GPD as a note-taking device but it didn’t work out for him.
• ryukafalz 4y ago
  I have one of these and also loved it… until the hinge snapped. They sent me a replacement top panel, but I still haven’t gotten around to fixing it because it’s a bit nervewracking. You have to lift the (pretty delicate-looking) screen off which is held on by adhesives. Lovely little device, but not as durable as it might appear.
  • mazug 4y ago
    Did you get a sense for how long the battery was lasting while you were using it?
  • unsignedint 4y ago
    It's a nice little device, but did experience fair share of problems too... - Hinge snapping -- a little screw in the front that holds the screen in angle pretty much broke out from the chassis, breaking the part of front panel in process, too. Now I can't hold the panel in angles. Either I have to open it all the way or close. - Battery stopped charging -- ended up removing it. Now I just have it plugged in to do trivial things once in a while...
• idle_zealot 4y ago
  My concern with a device of this size is typing. How do you use a keyboard barely larger than a credit card? Do you thumb-type, touch type, hunt-and-peck with just your index fingers?
  • doubled112 4y ago
    Thumb type, I'd imagine. Like a BlackBerry. It is one of those devices I could see always carrying with me but only using in emergencies. It has HDMI, Ethernet and serial ports. What more could you ask for?
  • asveikau 4y ago
    Maybe when throughput is a high concern you take a Bluetooth keyboard in a bag. Though at that point maybe also a light laptop would work...
  • cesarb 4y ago
    > How do you use a keyboard barely larger than a credit card? If you can use a phone's virtual keyboard, which is even smaller and has no physical separation between the keys, you should be able to use a keyboard like that one. It feels strange at first, but you adjust quickly. (I don't have any experience with that GPD, but I have experience with an old EeePC, which is similar-sized but probably has smaller keys because it doesn't have any keys to the left and right of its trackpad.)
    • Arainach 4y ago
      A phone keyboard supports swiping for words and never requires multiple buttons to be pressed. Tapping on a small target is one thing; trying to hold down a modifier without pressing adjacent keys is something very different. I am proficient with phone keyboards, but part of that proficiency is almost never using any punctuation, numbers, or symbols that aren't on the primary screen. Once I need anything more specialized (say if I wanted to do any coding) my speed drops by a huge factor.
    • olliej 4y ago
      I can hold my phone in one hand, and type with just my thumb, and my thumb covers the full spread of the keyboard. Or I can type with two thumbs for things that are longer than a few words, and again reach the entire keyboard without shifting grip. But also I don't type much - in fact as little as possible - on my phone, and certainly not code. I will switch to my laptop for anything more than a few words if it's possible.
• recursivedoubts 4y ago
  reminds me of the oqo, which I was really excited about back in the mid-2000s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OQO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OQO wonder how this form factor w/ some arm iron in it would perform... I tend to use my lappy plugged in to a real keyboard/monitor to get anything done, so the small size is very attractive.
  • VectorLock 4y ago
    OQO was proto Kickstarter disappointment.
• coverclock 4y ago
  I also have a MacBook Pro and a GPD Micro PC. The latter is ideal for taking into the field (in the case of my GPS work, literally a field) to connect to the various pieces of hardware I deal with. It's really a pocket-sized industrial PC, in the sense it has a lot of physical ports, e.g. Ethernet, a DB9 serial port, etc. taking it quite useful for hardware hackers.
  • afandian 4y ago
    I’m quietly excited about the MNT Pocket Reform [0]. There’s some real progress being made by the looks of it [1]. [0] https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-06-20-introducing-mnt-pocket-reform.html https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-06-20-introducing-mnt... [1] https://mobile.twitter.com/minut_e/status/1558053560906031104 https://mobile.twitter.com/minut_e/status/155805356090603110...
    • ryukafalz 4y ago
      Same, this is the one that’s caught my eye the most. I hope they get suspend working reliably though (and cut down on power usage in suspend) - that’s been my biggest issue with my Reform 2 and it’ll be even more important for a more portable device.
• jdmoreira 4y ago
  this thing needs a gsm modem
  • MarkusWandel 4y ago
    Does it though? Practically everyone has a smartphone on them these days that's capable of hotspot mode.
    • detaro 4y ago
      For regular/long use the battery drain is a pain though, so yes, there still are reasons to have it built into a laptop/tablet.
    • gsibble 4y ago
      That's what I did. Never felt the need for a built in modem, especially considering they are notoriously difficult to get working in Ubuntu.
    • dTal 4y ago
      If it had the modem, I wouldn't need the smartphone at all. My smartphone is just a sensor suite + hotspot now; the Micro PC form factor and functionality is superior for all actual computing tasks.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• epakai 4y ago
  The Micro PC is a really cool device, but owning one I couldn't really recommend it outside a very small niche. Form factor, ports, and performance are all great. The firmware is very frustrating though. Mine shipped with a newer firmware (4.18) than was available to download, and it was miserable. The machine would power on to blank screens, and have random crashes. I was wary of downgrading because I couldn't put the "newer" firmware back on. Finally gave in and stability was much improved on 4.13. Boot issues still happen though (less frequently). They seem possibly exasperated by Linux. It can require 3 or 4 attempts at holding the power button to force a reset. Unplug anything that could be back-feeding power so it will actually reset (not confirmed). Just all around annoying if you power it on and off a lot. Other issues to consider. The hinge support is somewhat fragile. I try to be gentle opening and closing. I think I also put some epoxy around the plastic screwhole pillar. The battery has a permanent over-discharge cutoff that a number of users have hit so I've been careful to keep a charge on it.
  • snyhfgb 4y ago
    there is a good chance you could try out other firmwares on your micropc. the win and win2 both had read/write capabilities via flashrom. i've done the backup/restore of the firmware on both. the caveat is you stand a chance of soft bricking your device if you reboot after a failed write operation, or fully bricking your device if you didn't back up your firmware prior to a failed write.
• Psyonic 4y ago
  "Better not hop on a city bike with it in my backpack, ’cause what if I fall?" How often do people fall on bikes? I biked for years in SF with my work laptop and never had an issue.
  • abbusfoflouotne 4y ago
    For one our president https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSm7bjGjEwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSm7bjGjEwM
    • Psyonic 4y ago
      lol, fair enough.
    • ansible 4y ago
      At least he can ride a bike.
    • dubya 4y ago
      The first few stops with toe clips are pretty dicey.
  • TheFreim 4y ago
    I bike nearly every day, it's been years since I fell and, if my memory serves me, I fell because I was being a goofball with friends or something along those lines.
  • tgv 4y ago
    I've been bicycling my whole life, so I've got a bit of practice, but I've only fallen once, when the steering column of the crappy foldable bike I was using at the time broke off. My laptop easily survived the crash: when you fall from a bike, you don't fall on your back.
• nfriedly 4y ago
  I had a GPD Win 2 for a while. It's a similar device, except targeted at gaming instead of productivity. I loved it! (I did occasionally use my Win 2 for productivity, but it was 99% for playing games.) GPD's newer Win models are all more powerful, but they're also bigger and the Win 3 has a completely different form factor. They're good in their own ways, but I still miss the pocket-ability of the Win 2, and occasionally wish I hadn't sold mine. There's a small group on the gpd_devices discord that throws around ideas for a "Win Min" - something in a similar size and form factor, but with upgraded specs. I'm not holding my breath, but I would love to see that.
  • RainaRelanah 4y ago
    > There's a small group on the gpd_devices discord that throws around ideas for a "Win Min" - something in a similar size and form factor, but with upgraded specs. I'm not holding my breath, but I would love to see that. OpenPandora vibes. One day the Pyra will come out. One day.
• korse 4y ago
  Had one for three years. Use it nearly every day, but I work with embedded systems in robots/industrial machinery. One handed operation, tons of IO, dual boot, fits in back pocket etc. have made this indispensable. One dead battery, replacement part from alibaba via GPD rep given link. Easy to disassemble via screwdriver and spudger. Works great now. Injection molded piece that held the threads where the hinge attached also failed. Drilled a little pinhole and added a small machine screw, nut and threadlocker. No more problems. Nut goes under the plastic hinge cover. The fix is literally better than original. Other than that, the only issue I've had is getting grub to see the screen as landscape. Grub config options seem to get ignored. Oh well. Standard rotation is sorted with boot scripts and the OEM Windows 10 side works great.
• alchemist1e9 4y ago
  You don’t need a fanny pack, it fits in my jeans pants, granted I wear TAD Intercept jeans which have slightly larger front pockets, but still most pants it fits fine. GPD Micro PC is also my favorite device and I carry it everywhere along with a Verizon LTE usb stick and I’m never in a situation I can’t work if the need arises, even without a seat as you get good thumb typing on it. Highly recommend it to those with system admin components to their responsibilities. I’ve also used the serial port several times while working at a data center.
  • h4waii 4y ago
    So, I've been looking for jeans with magazine pockets ever since 5.11 stopped making their Defender-Flex in regular colors. How are the legs on the Intercepters? Any taper at all?
    • alchemist1e9 4y ago
      There is a very slight taper. I actually own a pair of 5.11 Defenders (not sure about flex part) and I would say very similar cut. However TAD jeans are massively higher quality than 5.11, much better work, more pockets and extremely durable. They are real denim and should be treated as such. I typically wear same pair daily for around 2-3 weeks straight and then wash them. I have 3 pairs in total and well worth the investment for me. When I have to wear other pants I feel naked and don’t have all my EDC how I want it, all the pockets, including magazine pockets I find useful and probably carry more than women can in a purse without being noticeable to a causal observer.
• gsibble 4y ago
  At a previous job, I was the engineering manager for a new neo-bank and was on call 24/7 for it. I have a beefy Lenovo P52 that I hated carrying around and leaving in my car lest it get stolen. So I got a GPD Pocket. It fit very well into my back pocket. Not only did it work great for emergency situations (I ran Ubuntu MATE as well) when I needed to SSH into machines, check stuff on Datadog, edit code to make a quick fix, push code to our K8S environments and more, but I actually found myself frequently at coffee shops and bars coding away happily on it. It brought a certain amount of freedom and cool factor with it. It was a delightful little device with a very sharp and crisp screen, a surprisingly useful keyboard that combined well with my i3 environment, that I could actually be productive on (save for running our test suite which took around 30 minutes and sucked the life out of the battery). It also got a lot of onlookers asking questions about it, leading to those ever so fun random conversations that can lead to night long friendships over wine and coffee. I genuinely miss it and will probably pick up another one now that I just got hired as a CTO for another project with equally demanding on-call schedules and uptime requirements. Although I don't drink anymore so none of those fun conversations. Ce la vie.
  • MutableLambda 4y ago
    Which one did you have? I have P2 MAX (just changed the battery after 2-3 years), but rarely use it outside vacations. Cannot really see myself coding happily on it, even though the keyboard and the screen are decent it's not really comfortable for long typing sessions
  • iancmceachern 4y ago
    Those P52 suck, way too heavy. I insist in a Dell Precision after carrying those P52s around (sometimes 2 at a time) I'm putting my foot down.
    • gsibble 4y ago
      Eh. I never minded the weight so much for the power I got out of it. The P17 is bigger and heavier and it's my favorite laptop I've ever used.
  • 4y ago
• vasilakisfil 4y ago
  I wish I could use one of those, I had one actually some years ago but my eyes were burning (I have huge fonts compared to average people in my regular 17inch laptop).
• AceJohnny2 4y ago
  Tangential, but: > I’m very vigilant and still a bit freaked out when I carry the Macbook around. Careful in tight spaces! Better not hop on a city bike with it in my backpack, ’cause what if I fall? I've actually found MacBooks to be impressively sturdy. Perhaps I've been lucky. I've dropped my 2016 Intel MBP once while coming out of my car, it hit the pavement on its corner. There was a little dent in the corner, and the screen/lid was a couple millimeters askew from the body, but it worked fine and was my mainstay for a few years more. A colleague had this beautiful star-streak pattern on the aluminum back of their screen from the time they knocked their Mabook down their driveway, in a botched attempt to catch it as it fell. They were even a bit sad when they had to upgrade, and actually asked if they could swap the case! In contrast, I had an old Lenovo laptop just explode from falling on the pavement. (On the other hand, I've had to get the macbook repaired twice due to the butterfly keyboard issue...) With all that said, the MBP is obviously heavier than the GPD Micro, and the lightness of the latter makes it inherently less fragile.
  • password4321 4y ago
    MacBook Air M1 screen crack for no apparent reason 20220815 490 points, 571 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32474827 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32474827
  • olliej 4y ago
    I agree with you on sturdiness - I thrown one 7 feet onto concrete and it was dented but kept working for years. I think the bigger issue is the mental model of "what if I break it?" being applied to a $300 machine vs a $3000 machine is very different.
  • xiaomai 4y ago
    My MBP fell off my chair (maybe 18"?) onto a wooden floor and the screen shattered. Not sure what it cost my employer to replace that, but I am extremly unimpressed w/ the durability of these things. It was certainly inconvenient for me to have to switch computers for a couple weekswhile mine was being repaired.
    • 4y ago
• olliej 4y ago
  All of this seems perfectly reasonable, but I take issue with the "walled garden" comment for Macs. It's a true, and legitimate, complaint about iOS. Personally on iOS I find it makes for installing software much less of a concern, but I do understand that other people prefer a different balance. Macs aren't walled gardens, you're free to install whatever you want, the default security requires that software be signed but does not require the use of the app store, and apple put a _lot_ of work into ensuring that Macs remained secure but could also have whatever non-tacos OS you might want. I am not sure what more could be done to make a Mac not be a "walled garden".
• pdimitar 4y ago
  > rather than mindlessly reaching for the phone and scrolling through news, I choose to pull out the Micro and read some code. That's the gem here. I'm looking for ways to stop reaching for my phone. Looking at many people around me I definitely do pretty well but I want even more. That's why I was looking at various small machines, even some modern reimplementations of LISP machines but nothing caught my eye. Maybe the GPD machines are it.
• em-bee 4y ago
  i got the GPD pocket 1 with 8GB ram and a 128GB ssd. for comparison i had a 2012 macbook with 4GB ram and 128GB ssd. yes, the mac is snappier, but i always admired the irony of this tiny thing having similar specs. for extra fun i put an apple-logo sticker on it and used them side by side. the battery died after about 2 years of use. and i could not find a replacement battery, so i got a onemix 1s whose battery died less than a year later. ironically i was then able to replace the gpd pocket battery, but not the onemix battery. my next device though is going to be the pinephone with its keyboard extension. i found that i only use the pocket when outside when i don't want to carry a real laptop, and that happens rarely enough that an even smaller and much cheaper device should be enough. i still want a device with a keyboard because typing shell commands on a touchscreen is just painful.
  • Rebelgecko 4y ago
    I have a Chuwi minibook, similar form factor. I'm on my third battery, which has convinced me to avoid this sort of niche but poorly supported device in the future.
    • rchaud 4y ago
      Where did you buy the Chuwi minibook? I have only seen some videos online, but AliExpress doesn't seem to list any sellers.
      • aidog 4y ago
        I'm researching the Chuwi minibook now and amazon.co.jp sells an japanese quality tested version "FFF UMPC FFF-PCM2B". Also in Japan, Donki Hote is selling a similar device called NANOTE NEXT (7inch, 8GB RAM, 64GB SSD). Both are at a similar price point. I'd also like to namedrop panasonic let's note (bigger form factor)
• anotheryou 4y ago
  I wished pine64 would make one. I'd prefer that over their phone or tablet with keyboard.
  • cevn 4y ago
    The Pinephone + keyboard fills this niche for me. I guess there could be an in between size w/ that and the Pinebook.
• georgewsinger 4y ago
  RE the GDP's portability: I had a One Mix Yoga (similar form factor) a few years ago and also used a bunch for this reason as well: > It’s ultra-portable. It resides permanently in my waist bag (a.k.a. fanny pack for my American readers) alongside my wallet and phone, and I carry it around everywhere when I’m out and about. It’s super lightweight for a laptop (I hardly feel the extra grams), and reaching for it only takes a second or so, as does putting it away. Though I'm pretty biased, this makes me excited for the future of VR computing.[1] Obviously headset form factors are larger than the GDP Micro right now, but there's a lot of appeal to being able to strap a device on virtually anywhere you are (in your background, on the couch, on your bed) and being able to make some incremental progress on some problem you're working on. [1] https://simulavr.com https://simulavr.com
  • layer8 4y ago
    It seems you’d still need a separate keyboard though, or else be very limited in he kind of work you can do.
    • mr_spothawk 4y ago
      I'm excited about the prospect of cordless, chorded keyboards
    • georgewsinger 4y ago
      Yes. Things under consideration for this: 1. A chorded keyboard: some people are working on this. 2. A keyboard apron: I've built a prototype of one here: https://www.wolframcloud.com/obj/george.w.singer/business/png/keyboard_aprons.png https://www.wolframcloud.com/obj/george.w.singer/business/pn...
      • Rediscover 4y ago
        > ...chorded keyboard... Verbose mode, please.
        • layer8 4y ago
• jldugger 4y ago
  I'd rather just have a good linux phone than have to carry around a phone and PC separately. n900, ye will be missed
  • hacker_homie 4y ago
    I do miss my n900 best portable computing experience I ever had. I think the security model or rather lack of a security model, would have done it in in the end even without Microsoft's help.
  • WhyCause 4y ago
    I want my Psion Series 5 back.
    • regularfry 4y ago
      https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/gemini-pda-1 https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/gemini-pda-1 - form factor-wise it hits all the right notes, but the chip's a bit underpowered. In fact, noodling around as a result of this thread has revealed a more recent model from the same people: https://www.techadvisor.com/article/797640/planet-computers-astro-slide-review.html https://www.techadvisor.com/article/797640/planet-computers-... That looks interesting enough to take a punt on.
• nottorp 4y ago
  Hmm i didn't know stuff this size still exists. It would be a nice toy... at toy prices tho. Looks like it's a bit expensive new. The OP says it was 300 eur used. What else is available in this form factor but more towards this one's used price?
  • onemoresoop 4y ago
    Just looked it up on amazon and am not sure how 300 euro turned to $600+, without taxes and shipping. Overpriced if you asked me. Not too fond about Celeron processors either.
    • dTal 4y ago
      Low supply (out of production most likely), high demand (those of who like them REALLY like them). Their retail price has been steadily rising, when they're in stock at all, and the ebay prices have gone completely insane.
• Marazan 4y ago
  It's because the genuinely small 9inch netbooks were good. The 10inch netbooks were not.
  • nonrandomstring 4y ago
    Loss of the eePC 900/1000 series is another exhibit in the case that "Markets are a Myth". How could such a self evidently near perfect form factor be deemed "niche"?
    • bombcar 4y ago
      Because small is really hard to sell. Even Apple can't really do it, the very small Air is gone, and the iPhone mini has left the building.
• Y0s 4y ago
  Is there anything similar size which would work as a KVM for a server?
  • imiric 4y ago
    The GPD Pocket 3 has a unique module system, one of which is a KVM/RS-232. It allows you to use its display and keyboard/touchpad to drive a headless system. It's a super versatile and ingenious little machine. I love it to bits.
    • Y0s 4y ago
      Interesting, thanks! Does the KVM functionality work on Linux? Can it be broadcast over IP like a TinyPilot?
  • Y0s 4y ago
    Oh, their Pocket3 model does have KVM input module ...
• stakkur 4y ago
  When I see expensive ($600+), small niche toys like this, I always think "what is that, a keyboard for ants?" I appreciate clever ideas, but it has to be practical--and my hands (and neck and shoulders) need a usable keyboard. Otherwise, it's a toy.
  • dTal 4y ago
    It's actually surprisingly practical. It's designed for thumb typing, rather than touch typing. The keys are clicky and easy to hit. I can do about 60WPM on it. (this comment typed on a GPD Micro PC :)
• ajsnigrutin 4y ago
  Damn... this looks great for $300! I wanna buy one! Google, amazon, aliexpress... and 666eur was the cheapest I could find :/ Yeah... no.
  • ezoe 4y ago
    In Japan, the cheapest I could find was 68000 JPY which is about 500 USD in the current exchange rate. It's better than your situation but still.
  • MisterSandman 4y ago
    Exactly what I was going to say, it costs 700 CAD... not sure where OP got 300 EUR from. Those specs, even on a normal laptop, go for around $600
  • VectorLock 4y ago
    Yeah when I saw they're $600+ my first thought was "There has got to be cheaper models of this." You can still get Chromebooks for less than this.
    • numpad0 4y ago
      But you're not paying for a laptop by its mass, more like lack thereof. And Chromebooks has about literal kilograms more than strictly necessary, so there comes the delta.
    • fomine3 4y ago
      It's nonsense to compare with Chromebook that is made as cheap as possible. Small != Cheap.
  • aidenn0 4y ago
    $534 from Ali express which is about $100 more than the 2021 price of $445. It is going on sale on 8/22 for $417 which is much closer to the price in TFA.
    • ajsnigrutin 4y ago
• jgrauman 4y ago
  I feel like someone should encourage the Raspberry Pi people to make a handheld with this form factor based on their latest board.
  • Sirened 4y ago
    There's the clockwork devterm! https://www.clockworkpi.com/ https://www.clockworkpi.com/ It's a weird product that I can't realistically imagine using but it's cool nonetheless
• walrus01 4y ago
  that keyboard is an abomination
• LAC-Tech 4y ago
  If it breaks, it breaks; but who knows! I once accidentally dropped the Eee from ~1 metre of height, chipping off some of the chassis plastic, but the computer continued to work. Stuff like this was why I keep buying Asus. I was once watching an engrossing video and put my zenbook ontop of a washing machine. The top was slanted, so it slid off and kerb stomped the concrete floor face first. Zero all effects except for some scratches. I still use it.
• avg_dev 4y ago
  Interesting article. I never thought I’d see a moving line of poetry on a HN article, least of all one about PC hardware, and yet here I am. > I walk, I lift up, I lift up heart, eyes I’ve discovered the pleasure of walking around my city since the pandemic started and when the weather is nice it’s a really wonderful thing to do. Even this morning it was lightly misting and still I enjoyed my walk. > It dual-boots Windows and Linux and is my only x86-64 computer. I like many things about macOS and the Apple ecosystem, but the walled garden of Apple still irks me. One of my favorite pieces of PC hardware was my 2015 MacBook. It was 12” and had a high resolution screen. It was extremely portable and beautiful to use. And yet, I feel like I agree with the author about the Apple walled garden. It’s not quite BSD and generally all of the software I write is for Linux. I’m going to be a true heathen: I have been using Ubuntu on the desktop for years and I finally grew tired of it. The experience is just IMO pretty poor as of a couple years ago. But I recently got a Windows PC for work and I use Windows Subsystem for Linux and it’s a real joy to work on so far. Maybe a Micro PC with WSL would give me a bit of a physically portable reminder of what I first loved about programming.
  • haolez 4y ago
    Until Microsoft start putting ads and Telemetry in your shiny new WSL environment :) I'm seriously considering not upgrading to Windows 11 and just move back to Linux.
    • dcow 4y ago
      They did that in Windows 11?
      • RajT88 4y ago
        Preview feature. But yes. They were testing it out. I hope it is now killed with fire now that the backlash has gotten pretty big.
  • dcow 4y ago
    I have a GDP Pocket 3 with WSL. It's supposed to take over my old 3rd gen Thinkpad X1 Carbon, but that thing keeps trekking on. The KVM support is amazing on the Pocket, though. Wish it had the battery life of my M1.
• bragr 4y ago
  My experience with GPD was pretty bad in the past. I had the first generation Pocket, and while on paper it was exactly what I wanted, in practice what I received felt more like a development unit in terms of build quality and the software. It would only run their custom remix of ubuntu and not even that well, and that required a different BIOS flashed than the one for Windows. I tried to live with it for a bit, but eventually the battery catastrophically swelled, damaging the case. Support was practically nonexistent, promised updates never appeared, and they were a bit spammy after trying to push their other devices. The new devices do seem more refined, and people here in this thread seem happy with their newer devices, and while I'm curious about trying the latest gen, my trust is low.
  • jabbany 4y ago
    Yeah, the Gen 1 pocket was quite questionable (I had one too), mostly because the hardware back then was hacked together. Support came mostly from the community rather than GPD as they were already working on the next gen Win and Pocket (which makes sense, their goal was never to make a LTS device). I remember the Gen 1 pocket as having these problems: - The display was actually taken from a tablet display so it was oriented as portrait in hardware and flipped to landscape in software. So you often got cases where Windows updates, entering the bios, or installing Linux would start off with the wrong UI orientation. - The screen hinge cover was plastic and the fitment of it against the aluminum unibody shell was not perfect. It would kind of obscure the vent and sometimes squeaked. - The PD charging was ... poorly implemented. It would only try to negotiate 12V PD, which most chargers and power banks did not support. There were also issues with passthrough charging via docks and just UBS-C dock compatibility issues everywhere (though USB-C docks are not perfect with even proper computers from mainstream OEMs even today). - The cooling design was very beta and you often had throttling issues and the CPU not boosting up (0.9 GHz is not a fun place to be at). Again community fixes existed but definitely an experimental device. This space has gotten considerably more mature over the years. By the time I moved to the OneMix 2S Yoga, I essentially didn't have any negative experiences with the device at all (my only gripe is that the active pen tech requires AAAA batteries and unless you take them out they'll just run out every month with or without use). In fact the new GPD Win Max 2 seems exceedingly attractive since they apparently still listen to enthusiast community feedback unlike regular laptop OEMs... Ryzen 6800U, 16:10 display, 16-32G RAM, dual M.2 slots for 2 NVME ssds, 4G LTE modem, thunderbolt support... the list goes on. If I had to say, the slightly rough part with enthusiast UMPCs is that they end up being a "committee designed" device that crams in a bunch of features to maximize the audience they appeal to , so they don't have any consistent design language. Things will change drastically across each generation, unlike traditional OEMs.
• mark_l_watson 4y ago
  I get it. Reminds me of a friend who used to live in the same little mountain town where I live who was paid full time by IBM to work on Apache Foundation projects. He used a super-cheap netbook and it was the only computer he owned. I bought a Lenovo Duet Chromebook last year, and for a cheap device I really like it: very small, useable Linux containers for some Common Lisp and Python dev work. Otherwise I have a bunch of expensive Apple gear. If I had to, I could get by with just my phone and the Duet.
• hyperpallium2 4y ago
  Android tablet + termux + bluetooth keyboard is cheaper, and better performance in some ways... The only problem is Google slowly locking down and squeezing the life out of termux.
  • dhon_ 4y ago
    I carry a folding bluetooth keyboard when I'm on call and just use my phone to SSH to another system. It's a great setup in a pinch. Decent battery life, built in 4G and close to a full sized keyboard which is much easier for typing than these micro PCs. I've also used my phone connected to a screen/keyboard/mouse through Samsung Dex and it was a very desktop like experience for my use case. Although it's rare that I'd have the required equipment and not be carrying a full sized laptop.
  • msh 4y ago
    I have tried that with tablets. Its decent when you have a table to set it on, but sitting somewhere where you have to place it on your lap (train, bus, bench) the laptop formfactor works much much better.
• 800xl 4y ago
  This reminds me of why I like cheap little Chromebooks. The cost to utility ratio is amazing for a little over 100 bucks, I don't worry much about the laptop getting damaged or lost, more ports than a MacBook, and a Linux VM is built in.
  • resoluteteeth 4y ago
    Yeah I was thinking about buying a gpd mini laptop but I got a dirt cheap 11.6" chromebook instead and while it won't fit in a pocket it's probably much more practical for way less money. I don't have to worry too much about it getting broken or stolen (I would just immediately buy another), it has a keyboard that's basically full sized, it has great battery life, it charges well enough from even a 20w usb c charger in a pinch, and the android integration that allows initiating wifi tethering from the chromebook rather than having to turn it out from the phone makes it very fast to get stuff done on the go in a pinch. I would never want to bring my expensive/bigger laptop around if I didn't know I need it but the chromebook is great to take just in case. Chrome os itself is limited but thanks to crostini it can do anything.
• rr808 4y ago
  I really thought $200 (non-Microsoft) Windows tablets with bluetooth keyboards were going to succeed. Small, cheap, powerful enough to run terminals, use a browser and read books online. I guess all laptops are cheap enough these days.
• hatware 4y ago
  I went with an iPad mini and a Keychron K7, price came out about the same and I can play Civ 6 on it.
• mastazi 4y ago
  I wanted to ask the HN community if anyone has tried this kind of handheld pc as a smartphone replacement. It doesn't have to have a sim card slot, my idea was to use a feature-phone with personal hotspot functionality in conjunction with a micro PC. my 2 fears: * despite feature phones normally having very long battery time, this is probably not the case when using personal hotspot - this problem could be eliminated by getting a micro PC with sim card slot, but those are much less common and I would not have as much choice. * these handheld PCs are really small, but not really as pocket sized as a smartphone (well, modern smartphones have become pretty big! But still, there seems to be a size difference) Regarding size: I would like to have a keyboard but I could also live with something more similar to a Steam Deck, if that means having a smaller device that I can keep in my pocket. So, has anyone tried this?
  • dTal 4y ago
    It depends what you want to use it for. It doesn't have GPS, or a camera, or NFC, so you won't be using it to navigate, take photos, or pay for things. You also aren't going to have much fun using it to make phone calls, and it won't run Android apps - at least not without a serious investment of effort. It also runs warm, and can only sustain 8 hours or so of screen-on time. That said - yes. Folded, it's almost exactly the same size as my Unihertz Titan smartphone. Open, it is an extremely capable machine for googling things, buying tickets to events, checking train times, chatting on WhatsApp, watching YouTube, and wasting time on Reddit.
    • mastazi 4y ago
      Thank you for this! Just a question, have you been using the same model as the OP - GPD Micro PC?
      • dTal 4y ago
        I have! Although mine is a slightly later revision with an N4120 CPU, and also I forked out for the 1TB SSD.
  • colinsane 4y ago
• Shank 4y ago
  The allure of small PCs has been very, very strong for me these days. I think the problem is that we used to have this as a market by default, but size keeps creeping up. There used to be a 11.6" MacBook Air, which was a lovely little machine. The difference between 11.6" and 13" is astounding when you're looking at things like carrying it around or sitting on the couch. Smaller devices are even more portable just enabling. It's an itch that's almost scratched by tablets, but not quite. I have an iPad Mini, but the prospect of using it as an ultra-portable is dashed by the fact that keyboard cases and the like are just not great experiences. iPadOS isn't as strong as a normal desktop OS, particularly when it comes to something like SSH. The only thing that's stopping me from grabbing a GPD Micro is the fact that multiple people here have expressed doubts about the hinge's longevity. There's also a pretty prominent Amazon review where a user said that the hinge snapped after just 10 open/close cycles per day. Ouch. Are there any other prominent small form factor laptops like this?
  • iflp 4y ago
    surface go?
    • sbisson 4y ago
      I recently put Ubuntu one one. A nice little device!
  • nextos 4y ago
    The MBA 11 was a nearly perfect form factor. It's a shame it got discontinued. Plus it ran Linux like almost no other computer. It was a plain Intel machine, indistinguishable from other PCs. With a slightly better screen and narrower bezels and M1 fanless CPUs it'd be amazing.
    • Joeri 4y ago
      The M2 mba doesn’t seem that much bigger than the 11 inch. When I compare my old 11 inch and my m1 they feel of a similar size and weight class, and the m2 is smaller and lighter than the m1. 11 inch mba: Dimensions: .11-.68 x 11.8 x 7.56 (0.3 cm-1.7 cm, 30 cm, 19.2 cm) Avg. Weight: 2.38 lbs (1.08 kg) M2 macbook air: Dimensions: 0.44 x 11.97 x 8.46 (1.13 cm x 30.41 cm x 21.5 cm) Avg. Weight: 2.7 lbs (1.24 kg)
• dTal 4y ago
  >this little thing has a soul Yes. This is how I feel. I love my Micro PC more than is probably healthy. It enables a qualitatively different relationship with computing. It's a special, special device. I'm so glad someone put some of my feelings into words, and that it made it to the front page. (also, it is sturdy as hell - I'm notoriously clumsy with my devices, and despite owning it for over a year and dropping it many times, the only sign of wear on it is a shiny touchpad)
  • dm319 4y ago
    I don't have a microPC, but I've had a couple devices with soul. They've never been a regular phone or a laptop, but my old Psion 3a and Nokin N900 had it.
  • vanderZwan 4y ago
    I felt this way about my Eee PC 1000HA a decade ago. Still miss hacking away on it.
• sedatk 4y ago
  > and be able to play an occassional Windows game. > Intel Celeron N4100 (4 cores @ 1.1 GHz) Well, if you're into Solitaire.
• kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
  Wow, full-sized up/down arrow keys!
• webgoat 4y ago
  My setup for this is my phone with a B.O.W folding keyboard and chrome remote desktop. I don't have any of the I/O but I can access my main setup from anywhere and don't need to lug around another device that does what my phone can already do.
• emptyparadise 4y ago
  I love this form factor so much. I'd kill for a Vaio P with an M1 chip inside.
• wikitopian 4y ago
  Chromebooks are perfect, and it's unfortunate that the open source community remains in denial, still clutching their moribund "Linux Desktop" instead of stealing ChromeOS and putting a solid distro directly under it.
  • LAC-Tech 4y ago
    What's moribund about the linux desktop? Millions of people use one, including myself. Is that not enough?
    • wikitopian 4y ago
      The open source user interface is, was, and always will be the web page. Desktop Linux is another attempt to ape monolithic corporate desktops. And most of the people using Desktop Linux just have a web browser (and maybe an xterm) maximized on it all day anyway.
      • LAC-Tech 4y ago
        checks open windows few browsers, graphical file managers, email client, text editor, terminal. AKA the exact same kind of shit I have open when I use windows.
        • wikitopian 4y ago
          If you're not managing your files and editing your text in the terminal, ...you're a Windows user. PS: Chromebook's terminal emulator is top notch, even supports animated gifs and wallpapers.
          • aliqot 4y ago
            > top notch > even supports animated gifs and wallpapers I like that HN has a particular type of high brow comedy that flies under the radar for most. I owe you one, wikitopian. Have a good weekend!
  • 4y ago
• zcmack 4y ago
  the keyboard is so small, why not just use your cell phone? yes your on screen keyboard is far from ideal but it has already built some muscle memory. typing on a tiny keyboard with a non-standard layout is just painful.
  • function_seven 4y ago
    Eh. Not a fan of the small keyboard on the GPD, but I'd take that over my phone's keyboard any day, especially for programing. I have 10 years' of muscle memory for on-screen keyboards, and I still find them absolutely painful to use for anything other than a few words. When sending text messages, I use voice transcription (with the awkward "exclamation point", "newline", etc.). If I were to use this, I'd set it up on some surface and just 2-finger type it like old-timey authors did on their typewriters. And, FWIW, 20 years ago I jerry-rigged together a few gender benders and a null modem adapter so I could use my Palm Pilot to interface with VT100 terminals. Using Grafiti to send control characters and navigate TUIs was... interesting.
  • nvllsvm 4y ago
    Neither are ideal, but I'm far faster on my GPD Win 2 than my phone - especially when in a terminal. Tactile keys allow me to build a stronger muscle memory than zero-feedback touchscreens will ever let me.
  • msh 4y ago
    YMMV but I was using phones of this type https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/astro-slide https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/astro-slide with a slideout keboard for quite a while some years ago. It was not that I could type faster (a swipe style onscreen keyboard is faster than all non full QWERTY keyboards IMHO) but that when I was writing a lot, long text or terminal command it was much more comfortable.
• causality0 4y ago
  I'm quite looking forward to the GPD Win Max 2 coming out next month. It's exactly the device I've been wanting for a couple decades.
  • hamsterbase 4y ago
    I just got my max2 yesterday and it's really good. 1. The keyboard is really good, you can type with both hands 2. High resolution, comfortable in 200% mode 3. I can put the win max2 on your lap to share the weight while playing games in bed.
    • causality0 4y ago
      I'm waiting until it's on Amazon or somewhere else with a robust return policy. GPD isn't known for the best QC and some reviewers have pointed out things like light bleed issues.
  • nemasu 4y ago
    Same! I just wish the hinge was 360 degrees, using the pen looked awkward.
    • causality0 4y ago
      Or at least 270. "Tent mode" is amazing both for better thermals and for getting a small screen closer to you on a tabletop. Frankly I could've used a track point and a pair of mouse buttons at the bottom as well.
  • jaunkst 4y ago
    Waiting on my Win Max 2 now. It's shaping up to be an incredible device.
• dimensionc132 4y ago
  I would rather use a Pocket Reform https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-06-20-introducing-mnt-pocket-reform.html https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-06-20-introducing-mnt...
• zeristor 4y ago
  Can I buy one without the Windows tax? A new meaning for the word defenestration, when you chuck the Windows out.
  • jayhoon 4y ago
    Microsoft does not charge the Windows license fee for the devices with screen sizes under 9 inches. [0] Your wishes have come true. [0] https://www.onmsft.com/news/windows-10-9-remains-free-oems-anniversary-update https://www.onmsft.com/news/windows-10-9-remains-free-oems-a... Updated: spelling
• RajT88 4y ago
  My big takeaway is I didn't wait long enough when I bought my GPD Win. Amazing device. Bad battery life. Battery died wayyy before its time too. Eventually took to random crashing. When I travel for work again, I will be looking at whatever the latest one of these is.
  • jqpabc123 4y ago
    How about a slightly different approach? I just use a tablet --- supplemented by a compact foldable bluetooth keyboard with touchpad as needed ($30 on Amazon).
    • RajT88 4y ago
      I haven't loved getting a shell / IDE running on my Android devices. I refuse to buy iOS, but if I could get some decent dev environment going for .Net Core or python, I'd buy an iPad. If you have a solution, I'm all ears. Otherwise, the dream of running my full work stack on a mobile device other than a desktop OS remains a pipe dream.
      • nathanasmith 4y ago
        Have you looked at the Lenovo Duet Chrome OS tablet? I have one and it's great. Runs Linux and Android programs quite well, very portable (516 grams/1.14 pounds) an 11 inch screen, and battery life is great since it has an ARM processor. Comes with an attachable keyboard and kickstand in the box too. https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/lenovo/lenovo-edu-chromebooks/ideapad-duet-3-chromebook-(11-inch-qcom)/len101i0034 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/lenovo/lenovo-edu-chr...
      • jqpabc123 4y ago
        Windows Subsystem for Linux ver 2 (WSL2)? RDP/VNC?
• nsonha 4y ago
  What's the most powerful Micro PC? I really like the form factor but the spec is rather underwhelming
• arthurcolle 4y ago
  My bios time always gets reset if its not plugged in. I love the device but this really makes it hard to use with like 5 minutes of manually setting up the bios settings before usage.
• jmmv 4y ago
  I have a Surface Go 2. It’s bigger than the GPD but still small and lightweight enough that I carry it everywhere “just in case”. Even if it’s not the most comfortable machine to code on due to keyboard constraints and general speed limitations, it offers a kid of… intimacy that’s hard to describe. I love writing blog posts on it from different places of the house.
  • lkois 4y ago
    I was recently tossing up between a ThinkPad x1 nano and a M1 air. Got them both second hand for a steal and had some time to play with them. If the nano had the battery life of the m1, and didn't sell for 50% more than the m1 was worth, I would have kept it. It just felt like an inviting machine, like a well worn paper notebook. More at home in my actual lap than any desk, no matter what position I was contorted in. And felt fine to toss around and treat rough, with the slightly cramped space only enhancing the experience of a light, portable machine. All making it something I carried around, just in case. Helped that it barely weighed anything at all. The air isn't too bad, but there's something sterile about it, and it doesn't fade in the background, or even a backpack, quite as well.
  • dboreham 4y ago
    I used a Go for many years but recently switched to the SP X because I realized I really only needed thin and light, not small, and a full sized keyboard is so much better to use.
• kytazo 4y ago
  Nice wallpaper, resembles mine a bit hehe tinyurl.com/ktz-plants Please share a link to the image if possible as well
• fio_ini 4y ago
  I sit down at the coffee shop. It's so magical... the way it wisps across the room as I pull it out of my pocket. The wind blows and brushes a beautiful brunette woman's hair across her face. She smiles at me. Is that a GPD Micro PC? Yes I say smoothly as she touches my thigh and asks if she can borrow it. I want to email my dad and tell him that I've found the man that shall hold my hand in marriage. A man walks out of the bathroom and over to the brunette woman. Honey are you ready to go? a devil appears. only in your dreams will this laptop do anything worth writing home to mom about plus shes with me now. the keyboard is cramped and the screen is so tiny. it's cool for about a day but welcome to hell. if you want to feel trapped then stay here forever. your fingers can try to shift windows around navigate your home space. as the dream turns into a nightmare i wake up from my deep slumber. how did I get here?
  • yomkippur 4y ago
    Jeff Bezos whispered in my ear: 256GB model is $700+ CAD
    • jack_pp 4y ago
      so the ebay thinkpad still reigns king. Hah, "cheap"
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
• monstertank 4y ago
• dboreham 4y ago
  OP should add an affiliate link.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• chx 4y ago
  Note if you want a very similar sized machine which has significant processing power then the One Mix Yoga 2S is the only non-Atom, non-eMMC 7" laptop. It's essentially a same-year Macbook Air folded in half on both axis.
• sneak 4y ago
  I think I’d prefer my M1 iPad Pro with keyboard cover and an ssh client (it’s also super portable and comes in my bag everywhere with me), even though it is missing an escape key and costs a small fortune, because I’m a slut for dpi and fps. I have to do my programming remotely, but blink is f/oss and supports mosh. It also has a secure enclave for keys which is not that common on laptops (and why all of mine have to have Yubikey nanos living permanently in one of their ports).
• perth 4y ago
  A shame that it spies on you. It had so much potential.
  • bpye 4y ago
    Do you have a source?
  • HailTheGreenOne 4y ago
    It does? Do you have a source?
• sireat 4y ago
  I love the idea of GPD Micro PC - the ports the portability. Having bought one two years ago I have used it twice. I think I was clouded by rosy memories of Toshiba Libretto from a long time ago. GPD Micro PC is a lovely device but it is really not practical to type any serious amount of text. And my eyes are not getting any better so the tiny screen is only suited for emergencies not for daily use. Unless you are in a profession where the serial port is actually needed on a daily basis you are better off using something like XPS13 (or Mac Air or whatever 13 incher). I still think there is a room for nice light 9-11 inch device with decent keyboard.
• kaffeeringe 4y ago
  I use a 2014 Chromebook with GalliumOS and it's the only notebook I need. Sadly Gallium isn't developed anymore and the battery isn't very strong anymore.
• azinman2 4y ago
  Be careful with such a small keyboard. Taking notes in multi hour lectures with an Apple Newton keyboard gave me permanent RSI 20 years ago that I still have today.
  • marttt 4y ago
    I am using a Dell Mini 9 netbook daily for various reasons. Interestingly, its (cramped) keyboard causes no noticeable strain in my hands -- whereas I got carpal tunnel syndrome from heavy trackpoint usage on a beloved Thinkpad T42. When using the Mini 9, my wrists are not on the palmrest: the keyboard is so small that my palms extend above its edge. So, the wrists are not relying on anything, I keep them "in the air" while typing. This appears to give the wrists constant movement and flexibility, thus resulting in less tension. I suppose this wrist position must be closer to "correct ergonomics" as shown on e.g. this photo: https://www.daskeyboard.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/keyboard_posture.jpg https://www.daskeyboard.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/... The Mini is 8.9". Interestingly, with any bigger machine (even a 10" netbook), I cannot constantly keep palms "in the air" the same way. When the palmrest is bigger, I'm leaning on it, and can't help it. I emphasize that this is anecdotal, though. I'm an end user; do not make ergonomics decisions based on what I say. It just seems to work for my body.
• mxnkxy 4y ago
  The GPD Win MAX together with Shadow cloud gaming are my daily driver for productivity and gaming. A really nice device, which got from me a battery replacement last month. Cause of my continuous charing with my Thunderbold dock over the last 2 years, the old battery turned a little bit round and pushed the keyboard up.
• ribit 4y ago
  Long long time ago when Asus introduced the netbook I purchased an the Eee PC. I installed Linux on it and felt like one of the cool kids, sitting there in my university class typing on my tiny keyboard into the tiny vim window.
• dm319 4y ago
  I've yearned for a small ARM device with a keyboard, since the Psions of old. He is right that there is something about having one of these devices in your pocket that is empowering. I was recently on holiday with poor reception in the countryside, when the kids were asleep I ended up playing around with a phone calculator (plus42) and a programming manual, and had a bit of fun with it. On another note, I use UbuntuMATE for all my (big) devices. It's a great rock-solid distro.
• MezzoDelCammin 4y ago
  Any chance of more details on "where" did You buy it for 300EUR? Looking at Google Shopping results (location:Germany) right now and there seems to be no chance of getting it below ~450EUR, more like 500+EUR (when shipping is included). Portability is nice, but I'm finding it hard to imagine a scenario where the small width/height would be the killer feature. For that kind of price I think there are much nicer options (ebay/used Thinkpad X for durability, or MS Surface for comparable portability). It's not quite as small, but still in the realm of "fits in my usual papers / notes folder" kind of portable. And with a reasonable CPU to boot...
  • di4na 4y ago
    Probably was before the current euro crash. Euro went from stablish 1.20 USD to parity the past few months
    • moffkalast 4y ago
      Looking at Amazon.de prices with Keepa it seems that the price has gradually been upped from 450€ in March to 600€ now in August. So they're just price gouging it for whatever reason, probably more demand than they can produce with China still presumably on lockdown. Checking aliexpress pricing history it seems to have gone for as low as 320€ before covid hit. So assuming he got one of those checkout coupons he could've saved another 20€ easily, making it a flat 300€ as stated. This thing has been on the market for quite a while.
      • di4na 4y ago
        Not price gouging. Compensating for euro losing purchasing power. This is a forex problem
• ctrlmeta 4y ago
  Lovely post. > a screen that you have to squint to notice anything on This one can be solved easily though in display preferences and selecting larger text.
• dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago
  It would be great if you could actually buy it for €300 - the current price for a minimum configuration is almost twice as much which makes it much less attractive.
• umen 4y ago
  I love this thread , What is the cheapest linux laptop do you recommend ? Not the smallest
• suprjami 4y ago
  So... who else bought a GPD Micro PC because of this post?
• rbanffy 4y ago
  My go-to laptop for these situations is a small Acer "Cloudbook" - one of the first Chromebook-like computers that came with Windows. It has a Celeron, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of eMMC flash and is running Fedora. It's not fast by any standard, but with a 10" screen and costing about $100 new when bought, it fills the role perfectly.
• ngcc_hk 4y ago
  It is not a Ferrari but an mx5. Other than that it is a good small thing to go with. And if you can share it with an ipad and use ssh and some iOS editor with ssh you can even do editing lying in hotel bed.
• johnklos 4y ago
  > at home, I’m still mostly using a two-year-old Intel-based Mac Mini > It dual-boots Windows and Linux and is my only x86-64 computer. Isn't the Mac mini an x86-64 computer, or am I missing something?
• lrvick 4y ago
  I do not have a phone, but I carry a GPD Pocket in a leg bag. Fantastic for conferences etc. No need for a backpack.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• loudmax 4y ago
  The first laptop that I was truly happy with was my Acer Aspire One I bought in 2008 for $250. It had a 9" display, so slightly bigger than this GPD, but pretty close. With Gentoo Linux it was fast, and with Compiz wobbly windows it really looked like something from the future. One of the best parts was that it was so cheap that I didn't need to worry much about dropping or breaking it. Eventually the solid state drive stopped working. It had some non-standard connection and it was going to cost $100 to replace, so in the end I just upgraded to a ThinkPad like a normal person. I like my ThinkPad, but it never brought me the same joy as that $250 netbook.
  • NBJack 4y ago
    Wow, I felt similarly about my Aspire One. There was something special about how tiny and portable it was. It was so nice to be able to comfortably bring it to work with my work laptop if I wanted to work on a side project during lunch, and it travels well in coach. These days my Surface Pro 6 fills that role.
  • alexpotato 4y ago
    > One of the best parts was that it was so cheap that I didn't need to worry much about dropping or breaking it. I bought a Dell Inspiron 11" laptop for about $180 a few years back as my "commuter" laptop for this very same reason. Drop it and it breaks? Who cares! Lose it? Have the home dir encrypted aka Who cares!
  • rchaud 4y ago
    Yes, those 2008 generation of Netbooks, all w/ 1GB RAM and Intel Atom processors did a great job for their small size and low cost. I had a Dell Mini 9 I carried around everywhere and wrote 50% of my undergrad thesis on. This being a full laptop, I could install all my weird educational software and statistical packages on it. OEMs ruined the form factor by stuffing the same specs into 11 and 12-inch screens, and jacking up the price. To date, I still haven't owned a full computing device as satisfying as that. This was before tablets, and frankly even now, I find tablets cumbersome because you can't fold them shut like a netbook so it takes up a ton of space on a couch or bedside table.
• stall84 4y ago
  lol look at that lil thing!
• stevenhubertron 4y ago
  I use an iPad mini that I plug a Raspberry Pi into to do any hacking on the go. I have a nice foldable keyboard that is better to type on then the GPD and the iPad screen is great to look at. Since I am running Kali on the pi I don't have any apple lock in.
• jacooper 4y ago
  How do you deal with eye stress at that size? Text size and desktop size need to be very small to get a bug workspace.
• dangus 4y ago
  Meh, if it's not truly pocketable, you might as well just have a MacBook Air-sized device in your bag. The downsides here like the tiny awkward keyboard and small screen real estate must be pretty noticeable, and you still need a backpack or a carry bag for it, like the one shown at the AliExpress page: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832839616359.html?gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832839616359.html?gatewa... If I'm going to carry that thing around I might as well have a slim backpack. It isn't that cheap at 300 Euros (Currently selling at over $400). How well does this compare to a regular computer? IMO, not that well: HP Laptop - 14-fq200 ($429): AMD Ryzen™ 5 5625U (up to 4.3 GHz, 16 MB L3 cache, 6 cores, 12 threads) + AMD Radeon™ Graphics 8 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM (2 X 4 GB) 14" diagonal, HD, micro-edge, BrightView, 250 nits (1366 x 768) 128 GB PCIe® NVMe™ TLC M.2 SSD > Granted, I’ve only had it for a month, so it may be a novelty effect that’ll wane over time sounds about right...
• alexpotato 4y ago
  > Having a hacking environment at all times feels very empowering This reminds me of a quote from, I believe, the founder of Aikido: "When asked why he carried no weapons, he replied 'The Earth is my weapon and it is always with me' "
• rchaud 4y ago
  > Finally, this little thing has a soul. Like the Eee; like the 8-bit micros of yore. I don’t know how better to put it. The Macbook Pro is a very capable workhorse, but I think of it as just a tool. Yes, a thousand times, yes! Our personal devices used to have soul and personality, because they weren't capable of doing everything. The personality shone through the fact that they had unique interfaces, sometimes limited use cases and hard tradeoffs. There was a culture of enthusiasts and hackers that gravitated to the Palm Pilot, the Blackberry and the iPod. Modern devices stick everything into a generic black slab of glass running a locked-down OS, so these cultures have long since splintered. These Micro PCs are expensive, but they're the closest we have to the Cyberdecks promised in '80s sci fi novels and are customizable to an extent that the average Android/iOS device can't be.
• nine_k 4y ago
  Maybe it was available for 300€ back in the day. Now a quick search on Amazon and EBay in the US yields prices 1.5x to 2x as much.
• major505 4y ago
  I amost got the latest GPD Micro. They offer a Core i7 with 16gb RAM. It would need to be attached to a keybord and external monitor to be a daily driver, but unfortunally it would take it almost 2 months to get to Brazil, and I needed a machine right away since my last notebook fried the motherboard. Still think they are a neat concept and will problably consider it as a second notebook.
• Runways 4y ago
  I am surprised only one person mentioned the Steam Deck. Its a stock Linux machine. If someone makes a good Steam-focused distro and a laptop-esque keyboard dock, it'd be pretty tempting at $400. If they made a sim card slot version, I would buy another.