Pinebook Pro 'xtreme'

[cartoonworld]

I would like to see a memory complement of 8gb (or more, of course)

I'd imagine most of the next gen of boards will be more powerful and have at least 8 usable cpu cores of some type. My thoughts are that increasing the computational power of the PBP type devices will be a bit of a waste without also including greater memory capacities.

Expansion ports (like the NVMe, pcie, m2 slots) would be appreciated.

Aesthetically, the only want i have for is perhaps a laser-cut glowing Pinecone logo on the lid a'la that fruit company. Would pre-order.

Also i really like the current feel of the Pinebook Pro keyboard, so please keep doing that.

Thanks for all of your hard work. It's certainly paid off in this product, nice job.

[brent.thierens]

I would also love to have a logo on the lid of the device. Now it seems a bit anonymous
Glowing is maybe a bit outdated?

[Der Geist der Maschine]

@Luke can you give us some tech details ? Like which Cortex'es ? How many cores and RAM ?
Without any names of course.

I'd rather not.

What I will say is that one option will be very much akin to the RK3588 while the other will be something completely different.
Read between the lines, and ask no more

Reading between the lines, my bet for the "something completely different" future Pinebook Pro CPU is a RISC-V CPU. Why? A) it's really something completely different and B) I recently learned about Pine64's interest in RISC-V:

Here is a Chinese language presentation with slides in English by TL Lim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7vRhm7dyQ0 . The slide at t=10:11 reads "PINE64 primary focus on 64 bit ARM and RISC-V based Single Board Computer platform for makers".

[undo]

Reading between the lines, my bet for the "something completely different" future Pinebook Pro CPU is a RISC-V CPU.

Now that would be interesting. I myself don't see myself buying the PBP as it is, but if it was RISC-V, that would be a different case. For myself, buying another laptop feels too wasteful as I can get my hands on any number of discarded laptops and put a linux on them. But a RISC-V is like the next generation of open source, so that I would buy and would not feel too bad about the environmental costs, since I see open source being a way out of the planned obsolescence cycles that we are now trapped in, globally.

[Arwen]

I would suspect that any RISC-V computer released by PINE64, would be a board level product first. Not a laptop. With a board level product, it's more straight forward to get all the details right for that set of I/O. Then, any integrated product released later, like a laptop or tablet, would be easier.

Looking around for the last year or so, I've not seen a single RISC-V64G board with desktop type I/O being sold. The one from Hi-Five is not just a $1,000, it's also low volume and requires additional support for normal desktop I/O. Ideally something akin to the current ARM boards would be produced, with a RISC-V64G CPU. Perhaps even an open source RISC-V GPU. But certainly something less than $200, (including power supply, simple case & dual storage).

[CrystalGamma]

Since a lot of people have expressed their wishes and dreams for a future Pinebook, I'll throw my hat in the ring too:

"Obviously", the next PB will be based on a new SoC with new possibilities in terms of system performance and memory capacity.
I was satisfied with the capabilities of the PBP in that regard, and I'm confident you will satisfy my needs in that category with the next PB.

Details that annoy me about the PBP that I'd like to see fixed:

The power button is part of the keyboard, and as such only accessible with an open lid. This is less than ideal for both development, where you need the laptop with open case and generally flipped on the back, and normal use when only using an external screen. I would love a power button on the side of the case.

There are no dedicated buttons for the editing commands Del, Home, End, PgUp and PgDn. This is not just frustrating for someone who edits a lot of text like me and uses these keys to the hill, but also if you overload these with the multimedia keys (as combinations with the Logo key) which have no keys whatsoever on the PBP, either dedicated or as Fn-combinations. Please find a place for these on the keyboard(s) for the next Pinebook generation. (Maybe also Ins, to finish up that block of six keys)

Things I'm happy with I'd like to see kept:

The screen is just about as good as I could have expected of a laptop of this price. The resolution is just about perfect (both in terms of size and pixel density) and brightness and viewing angles don't need to be any better than they are with the PBP. The only thing that is not perfect is the color reproduction, but even that is acceptable in my book.

The form factor: 13"–14" is the perfect size for a laptop in my book. Everything below that is the realm of tablets and phones from where I stand, everything larger is too unwieldy (and probably also heavy) to comfortably carry around.

Things I generally dream could be improved compared to the PBP (but would probably drive up the cost noticeably, so I would easily give up on them given they are not that critical for me):

More connectors: The RK3399 has two Type-C PHYs but the PBP only has one USB-C connector. Would have been nice to be able to connect a USB-C dock on one and drive DisplayPort on the other. Obviously the next SoC will have different connectivity options, but more options exposed always makes me happy.

Anyway, thanks for the PBP and my best wishes for the new decade!

[Arwen]

I found something missing that probably should be in later versions of the PBP, a laptop locking slot. Now I do understand that the current left and right sides are plastic, so less than ideal for a locking slot. But, something could be done. Even if the laptop lock could be broken out, some thieves might not think of that. When they see the lock attached to the laptop, they might just move on.

[karr0n]

Okay, to get back to the topic:

I'll split it up in 2 sections, because I think of the reuse of hardware as a good feature, that, while limiting what we can ask for, drives the platform forward.

Case wishlist:
Fullbody Aluminium/Magnesium (not just bottom and top)
Illuminated Keys
Top facing speakers (maybe moddable, with the down facing ones as woofers and 2 very small ones firing upwards)
For productivity, I really prefer 8:5 screen ratios.

Board and accessory wishlist:
We've got a pcie breakout, it would be great to see it utilized not just for NVMe's. Possible applications are:
- Cellular adapters, with SIM slot and m.2 B Key
- mini-PCIe card slot
- ...

[bcnaz]

Hmm . . .   I have seen those locking slots on laptops for years,  and occasionally I have seen the locks advertised a few places.
But I have not ever seen one 'in use'
I do not go to coffee /cafe type places,  so.?   What do you lock the other end on to ?  The locks I have seen look to be a fairly short length,
you would need to set your laptop at the corner of the table so the cable could reach the table leg,  but if you set at the counter where would you lock onto ?

**   I DO think it is a great idea,    just I have not seen it in use.   (The few times I took a laptop into a restaurant, I did not leave it alone.)

****
Looking inside of a few laptops, many have the plastic palmrest, but some of them use a metal insert where the 'lock slot' is located

[Arwen]

Hmm . . .   I have seen those locking slots on laptops for years,  and occasionally I have seen the locks advertised a few places.
But I have not ever seen one 'in use'
I do not go to coffee /cafe type places,  so.?   What do you lock the other end on to ?  The locks I have seen look to be a fairly short length,
you would need to set your laptop at the corner of the table so the cable could reach the table leg,  but if you set at the counter where would you lock onto ?

**   I DO think it is a great idea,    just I have not seen it in use.   (The few times I took a laptop into a restaurant, I did not leave it alone.)

****
Looking inside of a few laptops,  many have the plastic palmrest, but some of them use a metal insert where the 'lock slot' is located

Some of the places I have worked assigned me a laptop. Some required it be locked, even in the office. And yes, we have had thefts from the office, (rare but it happens).

When I travel, I use a laptop lock if I leave my laptop out and I was leaving my room. (Even though I leave a do not disturb sign on the door.) Generally there is a way to secure the cable end.

These won't deter serious thieves, but casual "Look, free laptop, it's mine now" type people.