Possible future Rockchip based Pinebook?

[Wizzard]

So what is the problem replacing Pine A64 by RockPro in Pinebook?

[Luke]

The board inside the Pinebook is NOT a Pine A64. Its a custom board which is most similar to the LTS / SOPine. It would be possible to create a similar board featuring the RK3399 - as the SOC has all the necessary IO for laptop (as well as the right memory type) - but the question is, what would the right price be and how much more are people willing to pay for the Pinebook. I hope this makes things clearer.

[speculatrix]

Nope, that's not an issue. The issue is the right price for a FOSS laptop with rk3399

take a look at the service manuals, at the EMMC removal guide:
http://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pineboo...tep_Guides

I'm pretty sure the rk3399 board won't fit.
sure, they could redesign the pinebook shell to allow the rock64pro to fit, but that's not going to be cheap.

[Luke]

Nope, that's not an issue. The issue is the right price for a FOSS laptop with rk3399

take a look at the service manuals, at the EMMC removal guide:
http://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pineboo...tep_Guides

I'm pretty sure the rk3399 board won't fit.
sure, they could redesign the pinebook shell to allow the rock64pro to fit, but that's not going to be cheap.

Read my previous comment. The RPro64 will not fit, of course, but a board based on it would fit without an issue. Just as the Pine A64 wouldn't fit ... the current Pinebook has a custom board BASED on the Pine A64 (or more precisely, the SOPine).

[Wizzard]

The board inside the Pinebook is NOT a Pine A64. Its a custom board which is most similar to the LTS / SOPine. It would be possible to create a similar board featuring the RK3399 - as the SOC has all the necessary IO for laptop (as well as the right memory type) - but the question is, what would the right price be and how much more are people willing to pay for the Pinebook. I hope this makes things clearer.

I see. For me, I bought Pinebook because I was very curious how and if it works. I see that it does and found out some progress in the performance is necessary to use it as a normal laptop/chromebook. Everybody must know that it is not possible to make a decent laptop for 100€.

Now I am playing with running native Ubuntu Linux on Google Pixel C, which is much more expensive and much more faster device and it runs decently, almost like on a real laptop. Its second hand price including original keyboard was almost 500€ for me. Its performance in Geekbench is just a little higher than RK3399, so the RockPro64Book would be almost so fast like Pixel C, what would be a very good for everyday use.

Do you think it would not be possible to sell RockProBook for some 200 USD?

[speculatrix]

thanks Luke for the clarification.

how about a much smaller board like the NanoPi M4?
https://www.cnx-software.com/2018/08/24/...399-board/

[hojnikb]

The board inside the Pinebook is NOT a Pine A64. Its a custom board which is most similar to the LTS / SOPine. It would be possible to create a similar board featuring the RK3399 - as the SOC has all the necessary IO for laptop (as well as the right memory type) - but the question is, what would the right price be and how much more are people willing to pay for the Pinebook. I hope this makes things clearer.

I see. For me, I bought Pinebook because I was very curious how and if it works. I see that it does and found out some progress in the performance is necessary to use it as a normal laptop/chromebook. Everybody must know that it is not possible to make a decent laptop for 100€.

Now I am playing with running native Ubuntu Linux on Google Pixel C, which is much more expensive and much more faster device and it runs decently, almost like on a real laptop. Its second hand price including original keyboard was almost 500€ for me. Its performance in Geekbench is just a little higher than RK3399, so the RockPro64Book would be almost so fast like Pixel C, what would be a very good for everyday use.

Do you think it would not be possible to sell RockProBook for some 200 USD?

200€ is already intel atom territory, so wouldn't make much sense unless you absolutely want arm

[Luke]

200€ is already intel atom territory, so wouldn't make much sense unless you absolutely want arm

And this is exactly the problem with a RockPro64 based Pinebook.

[speculatrix]

200€ is already intel atom territory, so wouldn't make much sense unless you absolutely want arm

And this is exactly the problem with a RockPro64 based Pinebook.

I'd hope there would be the possibility of upgrading the compute module every year or two if the pinebook was suitably designed.

Sadly, the Intel Compute card initiative seems to have failed, with no interesting docks like laptop docks etc.

[Luke]

possibility of upgrading the compute module every year or two

Thats the idea.