About the SoPine A64 and the Pinebook

[Terra854]

Just noticed that there are two new products stated in the Pine64 website, the SoPine A64 and the Pinebook.

Is there any information on when will these products be available for purchase?

[dkryder]

that pinebook seems way over priced to me for what they offer. plus they do not offer too many details about what exactly is "open sourced" about the thing. if they use the same a64 do they also use mali gpu? if so, is that "open sourced"? also, what is the process of flashing the emmc? can it be done by any tool that creates sd card? or is it phoenixcard only? if it is build from an order then they certainly gotta pony up a lot more info i would think.

[Luke]

that pinebook seems way over priced to me for what they offer. plus they do not offer too many details about what exactly is "open sourced" about the thing. if they use the same a64 do they also use mali gpu? if so, is that "open sourced"?  also, what is the process of flashing the emmc? can it be done by any tool that creates sd card? or is it phoenixcard only? if it is build from an order then they certainly gotta pony up a lot more info i would think.

Overpriced ? ... $89/99 ... ? ... think about the cost of the sceen, keyboard, battery, emmc memory, and the actual A64board (not to mention assembly of it all into the chassis). Anyways, I believe we will be getting more info in the coming week(s).

[pfeerick]

that pinebook seems way over priced to me for what they offer. plus they do not offer too many details about what exactly is "open sourced" about the thing. if they use the same a64 do they also use mali gpu? if so, is that "open sourced"?  also, what is the process of flashing the emmc? can it be done by any tool that creates sd card? or is it phoenixcard only? if it is build from an order then they certainly gotta pony up a lot more info i would think.

Overpriced? Not to be a fanboy (I have a love/hate relationship with the pine64 :-P)... but lets add this up...

$29 for a pine64+ 2GB (same amount of memory (although pine64+ also has ethernet, but no eMMC onboard) 
$10 for wifi/BT module
$20 for a 8000mah battery (not the 10000mah in the pinebook)
$30 for a 7" touch screen lcd (ok, pinebook doesn't have touch, but this isn't the 11" or 14" display on the pinebook either)
no mouse/touchpad
no keyboard
no case
not pre-assembled
-------
$89

Hm... $89-99 doesn't sound particularly overpriced now, does it?(!) Ok... I'll calm down and go find myself a relaxing beverage...

I understand that the page for that is still under construction - it wasn't intended to be released yet - not there are no links to the SoPine or the Pinebook from the main site - unlike the PADI which is a released product. Hence the lack of any further information or documentation on how to load the eMMC, etc. Also why there is no price for the SoPine (or it's carrier board) as yet.

However, I can say that it was intended to be a modular (kit) design - so doing things like swapping the battery (which will have more capacity options), and swapping the main board out (I believe two variants are planned) will be a mater of a few minutes work. As Luke commented... more information (and photos of the internals) is intended to be added shortly... so this is very much a *watch this space* situation.

[dkryder]

the similarities between the pine64 board & this laptop, based on what is shown so far are the cpu, 2 serial ports, wi-fi and a hdmi port. the gpu is most likely the same. what the laptop does not have is ethernet, 40pin bus connector, euler bus connector, exp bus connector, touch panel connector. that's off top of my head, so maybe laptop lacks more. anyway in your list you seem to list the laptop as equal to the board in that it offers the $29 value of the board. fact is, the laptop does not offer that same $29 value as the board. perhaps 1/3 of the value of the board.

[Luke]

the similarities between the pine64 board & this laptop, based on what is shown so far are the cpu, 2 serial ports, wi-fi and a hdmi port. the gpu is most likely the same. what the laptop does not have is ethernet,  40pin bus connector,  euler bus connector, exp bus connector, touch panel connector. that's off top of my head, so maybe laptop lacks more. anyway in your list you seem to list the laptop as equal to the board in that it offers the $29 value  of the board. fact is, the laptop does not offer that same $29 value as the board. perhaps 1/3 of the value of the board.

You've got a point. Then again, the NextDock - which doesn't include a SOC, RAM, IO, etc - goes for $119. I looked around and the Motorola dock also costs upwards of £100. Now, granted these units probably have a higher resolution I believe, but for the 11in model 720p is a good res I think.  If the quality of the plastic is decent on the pinebook then I'd say its price very competitively compared to other similar units on the market.

[KiloByte]

There's a very similar laptop: Azpen Hybrx which is no vapourware as you can buy it right now (through some Chinese page, Azpen doesn't ship them yet(?!?)).  Was $89 during Kickstarter (which I sadly missed), is $159 for a 2GB model, plus $25 shipping from China.

Thus I'm very interested what's the ETA on PINEBOOK.  As it's cheaper and slightly better, I'd wait if it comes soon enough.

[pfeerick]

the similarities between the pine64 board & this laptop, based on what is shown so far are the cpu, 2 serial ports, wi-fi and a hdmi port. the gpu is most likely the same. what the laptop does not have is ethernet,  40pin bus connector,  euler bus connector, exp bus connector, touch panel connector. that's off top of my head, so maybe laptop lacks more. anyway in your list you seem to list the laptop as equal to the board in that it offers the $29 value  of the board. fact is, the laptop does not offer that same $29 value as the board. perhaps 1/3 of the value of the board.

Until more information is made available I can't properly respond to this - for all we know the GPIOs may be exposed - but just not externally. Although if you were determined, there would be nothing to stop you tacking wires on the the CPU since we know that won't be changing... and the GPIO pins are simply (!!) convenient connections to the CPU :-O

I do feel that saying it's 1/3 of the value is a bit harsh - if you were saying the main board could be pulled out of the laptop as used instead of a pine64, then yes, that would be fair comparison - but it is not intended for that now is it (hm... but that would be nice, wouldn't it!!)? And yes, it wouldn't be $29 value - probably nearer $20, but still you should get the point I was making... if you were to buy the parts you can buy for this, you can't get it for $89, and even after spending $89, you don't have all the bits, so it's not really overpriced, especially considering the prices of what it is competing with. I think it will have it's limitations, but will still be a very affordable cheap and hackable laptop for light-duty stuff. 

However, this is all rather pointless until more information is released. Hopefully we'll see some pictures of the internals and more information released in the coming weeks and then be able to have some more informed discussion on it.

[Nick]

I signed up here as soon as I heard about the Pinebook. It reminds me of the original ASUS Eee PC. That broke ground as a Linux netbook, and was a hell of a lot of fun to tinker with. The Pinebook could fill the void the Eee left behind as a cheap, reliable, Linux laptop. I'm interested.

[Luke]

I signed up here as soon as I heard about the Pinebook. It reminds me of the original ASUS Eee PC. That broke ground as a Linux netbook, and was a hell of a lot of fun to tinker with. The Pinebook could fill the void the Eee left behind as a cheap, reliable, Linux laptop. I'm interested.

Nice to see that so many people from outside the Pine64 community have shown interest in the Pinebook ... even before a formal announcement ; haha