5 ms·
Lichee Console 4A: Mini Laptop with a RISC-V Processor and 7 inch display
- tromp 3y agoThat thing looks so adorable... except for that Windows key which sticks out like a sore thumb. 16GB RAM feels quite generous, while the 1280x800 resolution is barely enough.
- purpleflame1257 3y agoI haven't torn the machine down, obviously, but it seems like RAM replacement would be harder than using that HDMI port on the side when higher resolution is needed.
- wilsonnb3 3y agoIt’s only a 7 inch screen, it works out to 216 PPI which is the same as my M1 iMac
- folmar 3y agoYes, but if you go to the Wild Wild Web you'd soon find out that designers don't test their websites anymore with low resolutions and many many of them are unusable as important features are obscured by other elements flowing into them.
- sam_lowry_ 3y agoSpecs look pretty similar to the Pinebook Pro, except that it's RISC-V. Pinebook Pro would have been useful if not for the abysmal keyboard quality. I wonder about this one.
- rjsw 3y agoThe Pinebook Pro has a GPU with software support.
- jasaldivara 3y agoWhat's wrong with Pinebook Pro's keyboard? I have one of those, and the keyboard works just fine.
- camel-cdr 3y ago> Pinebook Pro would have been useful if not for the abysmal keyboard quality. Really? I'm not exaggerating, when I say it's my second favorite laptop keyboard, only beat by the old thinkpad ones.
- gizajob 3y agoThe netbook returns
- gglitch 3y agoI had a Dell netbook that I bought for $400 that got me through grad school. I loved that machine. Emacs and LaTeX all day.
- yabones 3y ago7" is a little small for typing, but it's so adorable. What I really want is a slightly larger 11-12" mini laptop that would be the spiritual successor to the ThinkPad X220 which is to me the gold standard for portable and useful machines.
- regularfry 3y agoSame screen size as the original EEE 701, only in a smaller case. That was only just touch-typable, in my experience. What I'd worry about with this is the weight of the thing. Not too heavy, too light - you kinda want something with a little bit of inertia so it doesn't scoot across the desk while you're typing on it.
- ralonso 3y agoThere's the GPD Win Max 2[1] which is 10.1" or the Pocket 3[2] at 8". I have the Pocket 3 and the keyboard, while serviceable, is not good enough for day-to-day use. I also briefly had a Max 2 and the keyboard was much better, but still nowhere near as good as the X220. [1] https://gpd.hk/gpdwinmax2 https://gpd.hk/gpdwinmax2 [2] https://gpd.hk/gpdpocket3 https://gpd.hk/gpdpocket3
- tootie 3y agoI had an 11" Chromebook for many years and loved it. Light as a feather, battery lasted a day and was perfectly functional for gmail, g docs, reading wikipedia or whatever other basic stuff. A perfect kids computer for <$200.
- RetroTechie 3y ago> 7" is a little small for typing, but it's so adorable. Too small for a netbook / mini laptop, period. If this came with ~10..12" (max) display, I'd be very tempted. 7".. will have some uses but not for me.
- dragontamer 3y ago1.5" -- watch 2.7" -- Gameboy 4" -- Smaller old phone 6" -- Larger phone 7" -- Tablet 11" -- Netbook 13" -- Today's typical laptops 15" -- Traditional laptop 17" -- Desktop replacement laptop 22" -- Small Desktop screens. --------- 7" is really small for a laptop form factor. Could be interesting though.
- fidotron 3y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_NanoNote https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_NanoNote Less ridiculously https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5 The Psions were reasonably successful too. My hunch is we are going to experience a slow rediscovery of the benefits of non touch interfaces.
- dragontamer 3y agoThe amount it costs to build a mechanical interface, compared with the absurdly cheap costs of capacitive sensors (which can be found in $0.50 microcontrollers run across a PCB for basically free), means that mechanical interfaces are pretty much dead IMO. Mechanical interfaces are superior, yes. But touch-capacitive is so cheap that I don't think we'd ever go back. ---------- Honestly, the Blackberry, Palm Centro, LG Optimus Enlighten were all good items I've used personally. The speed at which I could type / move around on those systems is absurdly faster than the slow, inaccurate, capacitive screens of today. But I know a thing or two about manufacturing costs. Capacitive is just too cheap to compete against. -------- Resistive screens (Gameboy DS bottom touchscreen) have benefits for relatively simplicity and better accuracy in my experience. But you lose on pinch-to-zoom or other multi-digit tracking. There's just been more work on capacitive touch that its the cheapest way to implement things today in practice.
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoNah, we're just in an weird valley right now where users still see capacitive touch screens as "ooh fancy new better" and so wouldn't consider paying more for mechanical. But I expect that will eventually wear off and some consumers (not the majority, but some) will be willing to pay the premium for mechanical things. Especially in things like cars, where "giant ipad centre console" for a long time was some sort of luxury-differentiator, when in fact it's a terrible, distracting, cost cutting measure. At some point the return of mechanical knobs and switches -- done stylishly and ergonomically -- will become the luxury signifier instead. It's the #1 thing turning me off buying any Tesla, and I know I'm not the only one. Slapping a touch screen in something to replace physical interfaces tells me a company not only cheaped out on components, but on design & UX research. It's hard work to design and lay out quality mechanical components.
- broken-kebab 3y agoAlmost every time I see some of those minidevices I feel an urge to buy it. And I have no idea for what use. I guess maybe it feels like a tech toy, and it somehow appeals to my inner child.
- ginko 3y agoI used an original GPD Pocket as a travel laptop for a while. The tiny size and weight is really handy since you can just drop it in your bag and practically forget it's there. The small screen size and cramped/weird layout KB made it too cumbersome to keep using it though. I wish there'd be laptops in the 9-11" range since that'd be a lot more workable I think.
- blumomo 3y agoMacBook Air 11“ from 2015 (last model) is still strong enough for me to do multi service docker compose local dev with various languages and databases. Big enough and powerful enough to also join video calls with multiple participants. Running Ubuntu/PopOS.
- bxparks 3y agoTwo thumbs up for the MBA11. I use mine every day for everything non-programming. I liked it so much that I bought another one on eBay. I keep one plugged in, then swap out the other one when the battery goes low. I use Syncthing to synchronize useful files between the two. The full-size keyboard on them is wonderful. And the 2x USB-A ports, the mini-DP port, and the 3.5mm headphone jack. Awesome. I tried running Linux/Ubutunu on them, but I gave up. The fan did not work out of the box, requiring a patch. Sleep on lid-closing was broken, requiring a hack. But the critical thing that made me give up on Linux was the broken trackpad. Palm rejection is terrible on Linux, and Linux has no support for pinch-zooming. I cannot live without pinch-zooming on a Mac, especially on an 11" screen. When Apple stops supporting Big Sur (my MBA11 2013) and Catalina (my MBA11 2015), I'll try OpenCore Legacy Patcher. If that doesn't work, I'll probably just keep using the old MacOS versions.
- unwind 3y agoIt's weird to publish an image that is horizontally mirrored (look at where the cursor keys are) without comment or just fixing it. Cute machine though.
- MenhirMike 3y agoNote that it's "on track to begin shipping soon" and "prices are expected to start at $299", so it's not like you can just already buy one. I hope someone remembers to post to HN when they are _actually_ available for purchase and reviews are up for it :)
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoWhat would make it for me is if this had a SIM slot (or at least a way to use a USB port to host the SIM?) and basic speaker / microphone for replacing some smartphone usages.
- macros 3y agoAs a long time thinkpad user the first thing that stood out to me from looking at this is wondering if there is a bios option to correct the flipped Fn and Ctrl buttons.