(05-16-2017, 01:21 PM)mspohr Wrote: Just a note that I was able to burn a DVD using an external Samsung DVD writer on the right side USB port (but not the left side port). Mouse works on either side.
Ubuntu Mate
I'm still getting to know the pinebook, so...
... the left side port is the OTG port. The left side port is on the main board, the right side port is on the daughter card; as I understand it, as yet have not completed a teardown.
marcushh777 
please join us for a chat @ irc.pine64.xyz:6667 or ssl irc.pine64.xyz:6697
( I regret that I am not able to respond to personal messages; let's meet on irc! )
05-16-2017, 01:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-16-2017, 01:58 PM by Luke.)
(05-16-2017, 01:11 PM)Wizzard Wrote: (05-16-2017, 12:48 PM)teckel Wrote: I got a coupon code for the 14" model and was about to order, till I got the shipping price, $31! So really, it's a $131 laptop. At that price, there's better hardware and more stable OS out there (like Chromebook). Looking at Amazon today, with free 2 day shipping, there's $145 Samsung and Asus Chromebooks.
I'm no Pinebook hater, I was planning on getting one and excited when I got the email with coupon. But $31 shipping on a $100 item is silly. They should arrange for a US distributor and send them in batch from China and then individually from the US. Or, offer a slower shipping option for less. I get shipments from China all the time and never was the price close to $31.
Maybe the $90 & $100 price point wasn't possible, so they padded the shipping price? In an case, the Pinebook is really a $131 laptop. Super disappointed.
Anyway, I've got two 14" Pinebook coupons if anyone wants to use them. Private message me if you do.
Tim
you are right, it is in fact 130 dollars notebook, but what kind of chromebook you can get for that price? can you link some? I am just curious. I still prefer ARM based notebook to same chromebook that only supports that strange and useless Chrome OS.
The real question is why would you compare the Pinebook to a chromebook or a cheap x86 laptop in the first place? in my first post about the Pinebook I wrote that this isnt a replacement laptop for your work or school. This is basically a community-ran project with some really interesting developments and exciting prospects, and because its in our hand AND (much of it) is open-source some very cool things may come of it down the road. Of course its not as stable as Chrome OS! but look how far we (ayufan, longsleep and Xalius) got us in just under 3 weeks!. And many more things are in the pipeline - some of which may or may not work. Thats the nature of this unit and project surrounding it. But I understand that this isnt for everyone, and if all you want to do is word/ google docs and watch youtube then there are better devices for that (some of which may even be cheaper). l have a feeling a lot of people don't quite grasp the nature of this device.
[edit] ... there is no denying however that shipping is a bit on the pricy side ...
05-16-2017, 07:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-16-2017, 07:07 PM by pfeerick.)
(05-16-2017, 01:53 PM)Luke Wrote: [edit] ... there is no denying however that shipping is a bit on the pricy side ...
Indeed... it may come back to bite pine in the end... but it also needs to be considered what happens when a parcel is lost? Flux (a taiwanese 3d printer firm) also ship all their stuff exclusively through DHL, which drives some of us users up the wall as a $10 part becomes $40+, but at least it ships fast and doesn't get lost... though they have lost more than a few sales because of having DHL as their only shipping option. Then again, we're not talking about a giant firm like Amazon with cutthroat agreements with the domestic postal services! :-O But still I (like most people) want my ARM laptop cheaper! lol :-D
05-18-2017, 09:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-18-2017, 09:05 PM by pagesix1536.
Edit Reason: saw a spelling mistake
)
(05-16-2017, 01:11 PM)Wizzard Wrote: you are right, it is in fact 130 dollars notebook, but what kind of chromebook you can get for that price? can you link some? I am just curious. I still prefer ARM based notebook to same chromebook that only supports that strange and useless Chrome OS.
Most Chromebooks can be wiped and loaded with Linux. My Acer c720 w/ a Haswell-based Intel that I've had for about 3 years now is running Fedora 25. It's only a dual-core 1.4 Ghz, but it severely kicks the tail out of my Pinebook in performance. I think I picked it up off Amazon for $180 new. Probably worth less than $90 now if bought used.
That being said, it's sitting on the counter doing nothing while I write this on my Pinebook..haha!
(05-16-2017, 01:53 PM)Luke Wrote: The real question is why would you compare the Pinebook to a chromebook or a cheap x86 laptop in the first place? in my first post about the Pinebook I wrote that this isnt a replacement laptop for your work or school. This is basically a community-ran project with some really interesting developments and exciting prospects, and because its in our hand AND (much of it) is open-source some very cool things may come of it down the road. Of course its not as stable as Chrome OS! but look how far we (ayufan, longsleep and Xalius) got us in just under 3 weeks!. And many more things are in the pipeline - some of which may or may not work. Thats the nature of this unit and project surrounding it. But I understand that this isnt for everyone, and if all you want to do is word/ google docs and watch youtube then there are better devices for that (some of which may even be cheaper). l have a feeling a lot of people don't quite grasp the nature of this device.
[edit] ... there is no denying however that shipping is a bit on the pricy side ...
I've honestly been using my 11" Pinebook daily for quite a lot. Its weird how once you become used to the level of performance that you become ok with it. Your level of expectation is set, and I don't mind that it isn't blazingly fast. Its very functional and the updates provided by the community have made this thing quite a usable daily driver IMHO.
05-19-2017, 07:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-19-2017, 07:32 AM by teckel.)
(05-16-2017, 01:53 PM)Luke Wrote: (05-16-2017, 01:11 PM)Wizzard Wrote: (05-16-2017, 12:48 PM)teckel Wrote: I got a coupon code for the 14" model and was about to order, till I got the shipping price, $31! So really, it's a $131 laptop. At that price, there's better hardware and more stable OS out there (like Chromebook). Looking at Amazon today, with free 2 day shipping, there's $145 Samsung and Asus Chromebooks.
I'm no Pinebook hater, I was planning on getting one and excited when I got the email with coupon. But $31 shipping on a $100 item is silly. They should arrange for a US distributor and send them in batch from China and then individually from the US. Or, offer a slower shipping option for less. I get shipments from China all the time and never was the price close to $31.
Maybe the $90 & $100 price point wasn't possible, so they padded the shipping price? In an case, the Pinebook is really a $131 laptop. Super disappointed.
Anyway, I've got two 14" Pinebook coupons if anyone wants to use them. Private message me if you do.
Tim
you are right, it is in fact 130 dollars notebook, but what kind of chromebook you can get for that price? can you link some? I am just curious. I still prefer ARM based notebook to same chromebook that only supports that strange and useless Chrome OS.
The real question is why would you compare the Pinebook to a chromebook or a cheap x86 laptop in the first place? in my first post about the Pinebook I wrote that this isnt a replacement laptop for your work or school. This is basically a community-ran project with some really interesting developments and exciting prospects, and because its in our hand AND (much of it) is open-source some very cool things may come of it down the road. Of course its not as stable as Chrome OS! but look how far we (ayufan, longsleep and Xalius) got us in just under 3 weeks!. And many more things are in the pipeline - some of which may or may not work. Thats the nature of this unit and project surrounding it. But I understand that this isnt for everyone, and if all you want to do is word/ google docs and watch youtube then there are better devices for that (some of which may even be cheaper). l have a feeling a lot of people don't quite grasp the nature of this device.
[edit] ... there is no denying however that shipping is a bit on the pricy side ... I compare it to a Chromebook because once you consider shipping, the price is VERY similar. Also, you can run other OS on a Chromebook laptop. Many people run flavors of Linux or Android on Chromebook laptops. Then, once you realize the price and capabilities are similar, you then look at the quality and the hardware. That's when Chromebook's built by companies like Asus or Samsung that have been making hardware for a LONG time make the Pinebook look like a cheap, easily broken toy.
Anyway, for $100 I was going to get the Pinebook. But now that I see it's actually $131, Chromebooks stand out as the clear way to go. That's why I suggest a cheap shipping option. I've purchased maybe 100 things from China and none were ever lost. And you can get shipping insurance without using DHL.
Tim
05-19-2017, 08:25 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-19-2017, 08:27 AM by Luke.)
teckel, I understood your point the first time around - that the price of a Chromebook is the same as PB if you account for shipping, and hence the the Pinebook is not competitively priced against mainstream Chromebook brands (which can also be hacked to run Linux) - but I think you may not understand the point I made. Perhaps the fault is mine for not conveying the point well enough, but I will let it rest.
edit: pagesix1536, yes, I too have gotten accustomed to the performance on the Pinebook, and use it a fair bit on a daily basis. It actually does most daily-routine things really well at this stage already.
06-17-2017, 09:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-17-2017, 12:32 PM by lodger.)
I just received my pinebook yesterday afternoon and from the little hands-on experience I've had so far I think it's quite a fair product for the price. I bought the 14" model and have already re-installed the latest Ubuntu MATE Version as well as running Android 7.1 from sd card. From the user experience side, I must agree that the overall feel of the system is a bit laggy when running Ubuntu from eMMC. But then the device is rather new and I'm looking forward to optimized releases of Ubuntu MATE or maybe even DietPi (my favourite distro).
Regarding the cost for shipping, my pinebook was sent via DHL-Express and arrived only four days after I got the delivery notice. If it weren't sent via express, I'd probably have to wait another 3 weeks for the thing to arrive (in germany, europe). So personally, I can live with the pricing (€ 87 for the device, plus € 37 for shipping, plus € 44 import tax).
I was pleased to receive my Pinebook on June 19th. When I got the notification on Friday 16th, DHL were predicting dlivery today 20th, but it came a day earlier.
I tried it out immediately and after a bit of a charge it powered up first time without a problem.
The screen is quite decent (for the price) although it reminded me of my first 'black' macbook where the image looks negative if you get the viewing angle wrong. I have two dead (always lit) pixels on mine on the left edge of the screen.
Keyboard is taking some getting used to - you have to type more assertively than I am used to to get good accuracy. The left shift key is very sticky and needs some extra assertion! I am hoping it improves with a bit of use.
Trackpad is usable but i think needs some refinement/adjustment. If this were windows/mac I am sure you could adjust senstivity more easily but I haven't discovered how to do this in Ubuntu yet. For now I'm using my trusty Logitech cordless mouse. Particularly tricky is the scroll bars in Mate. Two finger scrolling does work but is not very precise.
Battery seems to last very well from a full charge - needs more time to see how it works in practice.
WiFi has been hit and miss. Works fine at home to an Apple Airport Express and to a TP-Link 9980. At work it tried to connect to the guest network but failed each time. 2.4G only, no 5G
I swapped out the power adapter with the 2-pin euro plug for one of the same spec but with a UK plug. I tried charging using the USB to Jack cable I bought as an extra and that worked fine from an iPad charger drawing about 1.4A
I also bought the 64G eMMC which was an easy job to swap when you figure out it lived under a black sticky pad.
Mosty my experience so far is Ubuntu Mate 0.5.5-65 although I did try Android 7.1 from SD Card. Seemed okay running from a fast (Samsung 32G Pro+) card.
I am very pleased so far. Some minor issues here and there, but at this price point I'm not expecting a Linux macbook air!
Plans for the future? Well, I'm hoping to use this when travelling and I dont want to take my Macbook Pro with me. In the meantime it's nice to get back into Linux again and see what's new.
Thanks, Pine!
Received my Pinebook today. Ordered 11 May, shipped from HK June 21 at 17:55 HKT, arrived at my home near Toronto June 22 at 16:46 EDT, CAD$35 duty paid on delivery.
That's less than 34 hours end to end, including Customs clearance - pretty impressive.
So far I have loaded the eMMC with the latest Ubuntu Mate, and tried the Android 7.1 on SSD. I'm not so much a fan of Android on a laptop, so I'll be sticking mostly with Linux on the eMMC and the odd SD reboot for experimentation.
I had some screen flicker right after updating, but a second boot solved that and I haven't seen it again. With certain backgrounds there is a sort of shimmer like a fine mist of rain if you look at the right angle but I'm not seeing it with the current bgd.
As others have noted, can't yet get the HDMI working with Ubuntu, will keep an eye on developments and test as well with Android.
I am very impressed with the build quality. No lit pixels, I'm happy enough with the touchpad (will try Mark's scripts if I find it getting in the way of typing, but I usually control kb/mouse from another computer via synergy unless on the move).
Sound is quite quiet. I can get it a bit louder by pushing output volume beyond 100% in System..Prefs..Hardware..Sound) but it tends to overdrive if I do that. Also, plugging in the headphones give me the same amount of output, on both at the same time (i.e. connecting headphones does not cut speaker). Again, will test with other OS.
Works fine with my Apple USB-Ethernet dongle.
Performance-wise, compares well with my Chromebooks - it's faster than the old Samsung 300 series and slower than the Asus C100 Flip.
Aesthetically, it's very much like my 13" Macbook Air. I will have to see how well the keyboard does, but it's better than I expected.
Top marks to the entire Pine64 team, all things considered this is a fantastic machine and I should think a great predictor of good things to come.
- Brent -
Regarding sound volume, take a look at Xalius' response here if you haven't already.
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