Battery and hard drive upgrades et al.

[neilman]

Hello,

A couple of things are important about a laptop to me. First, the battery. Is the battery removable and can I buy a new one? Batteries do wear down so a replacement is important. If the batteries are replaceable, how much would they be?

Next, I missed the free hard drive upgrade and 64 gigs is nothing. How much for the hard drive upgrade?

Finally important, but not always a deal breaker, is screen flex. Some manufacturers add extra plastic around the screen so it is not as flimsy and won't break easily. Is the screen for the laptop stable or does it flex?


Please advise and thanks!

For info the "hard drive" in the PineBook is just a very small (smaller than SD or postage-stamp sized) eMMC memory module.
Current max size is 128GB though (expensive) 256GB is on the horizon.
eMMC is common type of flash-memory format in tablet PCs (and mobile phones?).
There is no provision for a "conventional" (2.5-inch) hard disk or SSD in the PineBook chassis.

Nothing stopping you fitting an external drive to the USB socket though.

@neilman Can you answer any of my questions?

I have the "original" (plastic) 11-inch PineBook and its screen does flex if mishandled and can possibly flex enough to break the screen.
Doesn't look like any way to really brace and rigidise the lid to prevent flexing.
PineBook Pro is a magnesium case so may be a lot stronger - I'll find out when I get one.


An older topic discussed replacing the (standard PineBook) battery - there was a replacement battery available from a Chinese vendor on Ebay wanting something like US$50 for it but I didn't not know how the battery is fitted.
Not sure whether Pine Shop has batteries - Lithium batteries are a contentious issue with postal authorities (Chinese Ebay vendors seem to ignore and post anyway)

Pine have advised that the 64GB eMMC supplied with the new PineBook Pro will not be exchanged for a 128GB eMMC at the factory - you will have to purchase it seperately at $55 from the Pine store then fit it yourself.

Does that help any?