At the price, Pinebook Pro is a deal, (or steal :-).
It's early days, over time we will get more answers and a better understanding of what optional components are available.
I do have to agree with others, build to order is more expensive. For this project, I firmly agree that a fixed configuration is the way to go. (As long as the expansion options like 128GB eMMC & NVME card slot can be installed after reception.
--
Arwen Evenstar
Princess of Rivendale
(08-19-2019, 05:58 AM)Arwen Wrote: At the price, Pinebook Pro is a deal, (or steal :-).
It's early days, over time we will get more answers and a better understanding of what optional components are available.
I do have to agree with others, build to order is more expensive. For this project, I firmly agree that a fixed configuration is the way to go. (As long as the expansion options like 128GB eMMC & NVME card slot can be installed after reception.
Whoa, asking for the 128 gb capacity as default AND a back up battery available for sale is hardly customization. You have an offer for some people to get the 128 gb capacity while others who came in late to the game are SOL. The motive here is to have a machine that will last beyond a few months. And the whole point of Pine64 selling laptops is to NOT BE DELL (or whomever) and shove things down your throat you don't want. So Arwen, what will you do with your 64 gig capacity after you upgrade? Display it on your mantle? I think not. It's waste. We have enough of it.
08-19-2019, 02:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-19-2019, 02:06 PM by Der Geist der Maschine.)
(08-19-2019, 01:37 PM)ikhider Wrote: (08-19-2019, 05:58 AM)Arwen Wrote: At the price, Pinebook Pro is a deal, (or steal :-).
It's early days, over time we will get more answers and a better understanding of what optional components are available.
I do have to agree with others, build to order is more expensive. For this project, I firmly agree that a fixed configuration is the way to go. (As long as the expansion options like 128GB eMMC & NVME card slot can be installed after reception.
Whoa, asking for the 128 gb capacity as default AND a back up battery available for sale is hardly customization.
With a 128GB SSD, the price would be beyond $199. I strongly suspect Pine64 loves that price point more than anything.
Spare batteries have been discussed in other threads. It's *more* than customization.
What I would have preferred is having the Pinebook Pro shipped without an ssd card (here we still have zero customization).
Shoppers are supposed to order an ssd card on the side and install it at home.
(08-19-2019, 01:37 PM)ikhider Wrote: what will you do with your 64 gig capacity after you upgrade? Display it on your mantle? I think not. It's waste. We have enough of it.
Most people will probably not upgrade the eMMC at all. If they want more, they'll go for the NVMe alternative.
I agree we waste too much, and sustainability is one of the factors that has me hyped about the Pinebook Pro, i.e. the future prospect of being able to switch out the board instead of the whole laptop. Regardless, Pine64 offering different eMMC options is unlikely to make any difference and wouldn't make sense for logistical reasons. Remember that they're running on tight margins.
(08-19-2019, 12:07 AM)CampGareth Wrote: (08-18-2019, 10:08 PM)ikhider Wrote: (08-18-2019, 05:04 PM)neilman Wrote: Absolutely - research research research 
PineBook has never been touted as a "power user" machine so if you do need some serious grunt, bags of RAM and HDD space then you will probably need to look at the bigger players.
As the PineBook Pro reaches users, real soon now, then you'll get some useful feedback from them and you can decide if you'll find it a useful addition to your collection.
I understand that Pine has limited resources and I do want to support the project, however, Pine also has to have the customers' back. That means have batteries for sale when the customer wants it and to ship with whatever size OS/storage drive the client wants. If the client sees others get larger drives and s/he wants one too, why not give her one? Why do they have to buy something to get rid of so they can get what they really want. Other manufacturers make this mistake; install drives and operating systems that Linux (or whatever OS) users do not want. Pine64 can be the company that listens. 'Hey, you want a larger drive and don't want to waste money on a smaller one? No problem! You want back up batteries so your machine can last longer? No problem! You will pay extra for a longer term hardware warranty? No problem! You broke your laptop and want to buy parts? No problem!" I can make the ProBook work for me and can handle the dead pixels and limitations, but look after me, the client. I want to keep and use the probook and that means have the storage capacity I want and the battery life I need. I love looking at my back-up batteries while I hug my new laptop.
Every bit of customisation means a human has to sit down and make the alteration, costing time and money. Pine64 operates on very slim margins so doing that customisation themselves would be bad for the company. It's far better for them and us to let us do the modifications we want.
If you want to extend the storage, get the nvme adapter with your pine book pro and fit an nvme SSD. They come in up to 2TB these days so should be plenty.
Replacement batteries I haven't heard anything about but looking at the battery there's nothing fancy going on. Looks like 3 positive pins, 3 negative pins and a temperature sensor (?) so cobbling something together ourselves should be possible. I'd still like to see an official battery sold through the store.
Please see this thread for limits of NVMe due to power consumption.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=7767
-Happy Testing
(Posted from my Pinebook PRO Mate)
Getting Paid to break your product (and make it better) since 2005
People are expecting a bit too much for a product not even released. Further,
this is not a user laptop, it's a hobbiest or tinkerer type laptop. It's somewhat
expected that a person can perform a flash drive swap out themselves.
I was re-assured on parts availability because of the parts for current products.
Other than the battery, (which may take time since it's harder to ship), we should
see the Pine Store populate with Pinebook Pro parts as they become available.
In fact, the 128GB eMMC and NVME adapter are already listed.
For me, if the Pinebook Pro works out for available software, reliability, and reasonable
speed, I will likely buy a second as a spare. (Even if I have to upgrade the eMMC.)
--
Arwen Evenstar
Princess of Rivendale
(08-21-2019, 08:12 AM)Arwen Wrote: People are expecting a bit too much for a product not even released. Further,
this is not a user laptop, it's a hobbiest or tinkerer type laptop. It's somewhat
expected that a person can perform a flash drive swap out themselves.
Hear Hear! This is most certainly not a laptop for Joe Shmoe off the street. Comparing the PBP to a chromebook or similar hardware just isn't fair. It's not SUPPOSED to be a chomebook etc. competitor. Heck, I'd argue it's not really designed to compete with ANYTHING, at least not yet. Right now, I'd say the PBP exists to fulfill 2 needs. First, it's a Cool Thing that people can play with and explore to their heart's content, because second, it's an open source project. For me, the PBP is an at-least-99% open source laptop (allowing for binary blobs for very low level firmware, etc.) that will provide a competent user experience for people who are willing to meet it halfway, more or less.
Considering it's being sold at-cost, asking to have free factory customization is excessive.
(08-21-2019, 10:02 AM)binarian Wrote: (08-21-2019, 08:12 AM)Arwen Wrote: People are expecting a bit too much for a product not even released. Further,
this is not a user laptop, it's a hobbiest or tinkerer type laptop. It's somewhat
expected that a person can perform a flash drive swap out themselves.
Hear Hear! This is most certainly not a laptop for Joe Shmoe off the street. Comparing the PBP to a chromebook or similar hardware just isn't fair. It's not SUPPOSED to be a chomebook etc. competitor. Heck, I'd argue it's not really designed to compete with ANYTHING, at least not yet. Right now, I'd say the PBP exists to fulfill 2 needs. First, it's a Cool Thing that people can play with and explore to their heart's content, because second, it's an open source project. For me, the PBP is an at-least-99% open source laptop (allowing for binary blobs for very low level firmware, etc.) that will provide a competent user experience for people who are willing to meet it halfway, more or less.
Considering it's being sold at-cost, asking to have free factory customization is excessive.
Yeah, this is meant for developers, IT/computer nerds, DIYers, hobbyists, and the like. These early batches are definitely not meant for people looking for a highly polished shrink wrapped consumer computing experience.
I think this is important to emphasize now. The PBP specs as described(and given what the stated goals are for it) are actually pretty awesome at this price point. Even if you "only" get the 64GB version. That's enough space to hold multiple full linux/BSD/Chrome installations, have a huge dedicated swap partition, and still have tons of space left over for adding new software and your own coding projects.
I really want to encourage people to buy into the PBP and take part in the growth and development of ARM on the desktop, but only if they understand the developmental nature of the experience at this point. It's better not to buy one if you're going to judge the experience using it compared to laptops made for general consumers running on OS/hardware combos that have been tested and polished for decades. That's just not the point of it at all right now. Down the road it might well be different.
(08-21-2019, 08:12 AM)Arwen Wrote: People are expecting a bit too much for a product not even released. Further,
this is not a user laptop, it's a hobbiest or tinkerer type laptop. It's somewhat
expected that a person can perform a flash drive swap out themselves.
I was re-assured on parts availability because of the parts for current products.
Other than the battery, (which may take time since it's harder to ship), we should
see the Pine Store populate with Pinebook Pro parts as they become available.
In fact, the 128GB eMMC and NVME adapter are already listed.
For me, if the Pinebook Pro works out for available software, reliability, and reasonable
speed, I will likely buy a second as a spare. (Even if I have to upgrade the eMMC.)
One does not simply walk into a $199 MacBook Pro...
-Happy Testing
(Posted from my Pinebook PRO Mate)
Getting Paid to break your product (and make it better) since 2005
(08-21-2019, 08:12 AM)Arwen Wrote: People are expecting a bit too much for a product not even released. Further,
this is not a user laptop, it's a hobbiest or tinkerer type laptop. It's somewhat
expected that a person can perform a flash drive swap out themselves.
I was re-assured on parts availability because of the parts for current products.
Other than the battery, (which may take time since it's harder to ship), we should
see the Pine Store populate with Pinebook Pro parts as they become available.
In fact, the 128GB eMMC and NVME adapter are already listed.
For me, if the Pinebook Pro works out for available software, reliability, and reasonable
speed, I will likely buy a second as a spare. (Even if I have to upgrade the eMMC.)
"this is not a user laptop, it's a hobbiest or tinkerer type laptop" The point is the waste, to replace a part the second you get it. Also, according the marketing, it is a user laptop, meant to be used for day-to-day tasks. The Pinebook regular is supposed to be of the hobby/tinker variety, the 'pro' is the departure. It is sad that waste is so ingrained in our culture of production that it is not challenged.
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