This is more for the powers that be, if they read it...
Hardware:
Pros:
The Pinebook Pro hardware impressed me after the first few hours of use. Being a MIPS man, It’s been a long time since I touched an ARM device outside of my BlackBerry Passport. The performance was better than I expected. The build quality kicks the pants off my $400 Lenovo. Although it is 5 years old or so. Everything but the touchpad is liveable. It's almost to the point that I feel like I need to install and use Rat Poison. It might come to that, luckily, I used Rat Poison in my counter productive teenage years...
Software:
To preface this, I am a *BSD user. But I use Linux (Slackware, Mageia) on nearly half my work hardware.
I’m not a fan of Mate. I think needs more themeing done to the application menu if this were to become a consumer product. It defaulted to UK keyboard layout even though I have an ANSI keyboard. Apt-get upgrade didn’t fix Firefox crashing, only after I RTFM did I notice I had to click an icon to upgrade. Tried to switch to XFCE, but Debian/LightDM got in the way. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to change the default DE. Update-alternatives did not work, setting the .dmrc didn’t work. So I just purged LightDM, threw in a .xinitrc file as god intended, and magically it worked.
I would suggest that if Pine64 ever tried to sell this design to the general public, we should be given a true setup system which allows us to pick DE and have them all nicely themed up.
It would also be nice to have a minimal image of any distro.
I have yet to try booting from SD, flashing storage, etc. I plan on doing this when NetBSD’s wifi drivers are operational. Then I’ll put the effort into a nice FVWM2 setup.
Ordering:
This is where Pine64 dropped the ball. This is not the first batch product I have ordered. I believe Pine’s communication could have been better. The store page says shipments are one day, the forums have quotes from IRC that say another day. Then twitter says they’ve all mostly been shipped out, but you don’t have a notification that yours shipped out. You then read that they will push late December orders back in favor of phone orders, but there is no definition of “Late”. Is the 20th late? You finally get your shipment notification from DHL, 5 days after it left the factory, and your mind is put at ease.
I would like to see communications centralized. The store page and the forums should never have conflicting information. There should be a page to enter your order number and email address, and it tells you where you are in the process. I don’t mind the delay, I mind when I get conflicting information and uncertainty. Such a system will save a lot of frustrations and headaches both from the customer and employees.
It’s probably the last time I batch order anything from Pine64 until I hear that it has improved. But I am considering buying some stuff out of inventory even as I type this.
Summation:
The hardware is beyond my expectation for the price point. It’s a very good product, and I expect to get much use out of it. The only major flaw is the touchpad. Not a complete deal breaker, but I groan every time I have to use it. The default software is sane. Although I think Mate could be made to look better. (I didn’t like the application menu style.) Would be nice if we get a pop-up with the manual at start, or if we’re given configuration options at first boot. I am not a fan of LightDM, I consider it bloatware. Typically, I would have ignored it, but I couldn’t find a DE selector in the version shipped. Luckily enough, I know enough about what I am doing that I could jettison that crap and set it up normally.
I look forward to the NetBSD image making progress. Sadly, I have little free time these days (this post is all my evening free time for today), otherwise I’d pop in and try to get wifi going. I hope that the flashing process is easy to do. But from what I read, looks like it might take some effort.
I hope to see a Pinebook Pro 2 in a few years. With a point stick... Or at least a pointy stick upgrade.
Hardware:
Pros:
- Shell is great. Beats the paints off my $400 Lenovo G50.
- Lightweight, yet feels sturdy.
- Screen is awesome for the price point.
- Performance is the same as my A8-6410 Lenovo G50. Which is good for an ARM device.
- Cut off switches are great.
- Rubber feet are good.
- Ease to open is good.
- Touchpad is awful. As a friend of mine says, touchpad are bad, bad touchpad are abysmal. This one is the later.
- No real buttons on track pad.
- Power button is in a terrible spot. Tried to hit backspace twice, only to shut down.
- No lid switch. I would have liked the monitor to turn off with I close the laptop.
- I have done little typing on the device yet. But the keyboard feels cardboard-y. Although beats the pants off most chiclet laptops like my G50. Might even be better than my IBM Thinkpad. I like the stroke. I use IBM Model M’s for work. So I am not normal.
- Weight is back heavy, so a light touch to the front tips it backwards.
- Monitor hinges do not allow for the screen to lay flat (near flat). Not good for being around a toddler with a computer addiction.
- ANSI keyboard, backspace seems too small, function keys seem to be too wide... I would have liked PgUp, PgDown, End, Home keys squeezed in the function row.
- Charging cable is short. I can’t charge it on my desk.
- Charging LED light is by the power plug, PITA to view depending on circumstance.
- Some monitor bleed.
- No quick change battery.
- Speakers are meh.
- I would pay extra to get rid of the touchpad and have only a pointing stick with 3 buttons.
- Turn power button into a physical switch.
The Pinebook Pro hardware impressed me after the first few hours of use. Being a MIPS man, It’s been a long time since I touched an ARM device outside of my BlackBerry Passport. The performance was better than I expected. The build quality kicks the pants off my $400 Lenovo. Although it is 5 years old or so. Everything but the touchpad is liveable. It's almost to the point that I feel like I need to install and use Rat Poison. It might come to that, luckily, I used Rat Poison in my counter productive teenage years...
Software:
To preface this, I am a *BSD user. But I use Linux (Slackware, Mageia) on nearly half my work hardware.
I’m not a fan of Mate. I think needs more themeing done to the application menu if this were to become a consumer product. It defaulted to UK keyboard layout even though I have an ANSI keyboard. Apt-get upgrade didn’t fix Firefox crashing, only after I RTFM did I notice I had to click an icon to upgrade. Tried to switch to XFCE, but Debian/LightDM got in the way. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to change the default DE. Update-alternatives did not work, setting the .dmrc didn’t work. So I just purged LightDM, threw in a .xinitrc file as god intended, and magically it worked.
I would suggest that if Pine64 ever tried to sell this design to the general public, we should be given a true setup system which allows us to pick DE and have them all nicely themed up.
It would also be nice to have a minimal image of any distro.
I have yet to try booting from SD, flashing storage, etc. I plan on doing this when NetBSD’s wifi drivers are operational. Then I’ll put the effort into a nice FVWM2 setup.
Ordering:
This is where Pine64 dropped the ball. This is not the first batch product I have ordered. I believe Pine’s communication could have been better. The store page says shipments are one day, the forums have quotes from IRC that say another day. Then twitter says they’ve all mostly been shipped out, but you don’t have a notification that yours shipped out. You then read that they will push late December orders back in favor of phone orders, but there is no definition of “Late”. Is the 20th late? You finally get your shipment notification from DHL, 5 days after it left the factory, and your mind is put at ease.
I would like to see communications centralized. The store page and the forums should never have conflicting information. There should be a page to enter your order number and email address, and it tells you where you are in the process. I don’t mind the delay, I mind when I get conflicting information and uncertainty. Such a system will save a lot of frustrations and headaches both from the customer and employees.
It’s probably the last time I batch order anything from Pine64 until I hear that it has improved. But I am considering buying some stuff out of inventory even as I type this.
Summation:
The hardware is beyond my expectation for the price point. It’s a very good product, and I expect to get much use out of it. The only major flaw is the touchpad. Not a complete deal breaker, but I groan every time I have to use it. The default software is sane. Although I think Mate could be made to look better. (I didn’t like the application menu style.) Would be nice if we get a pop-up with the manual at start, or if we’re given configuration options at first boot. I am not a fan of LightDM, I consider it bloatware. Typically, I would have ignored it, but I couldn’t find a DE selector in the version shipped. Luckily enough, I know enough about what I am doing that I could jettison that crap and set it up normally.
I look forward to the NetBSD image making progress. Sadly, I have little free time these days (this post is all my evening free time for today), otherwise I’d pop in and try to get wifi going. I hope that the flashing process is easy to do. But from what I read, looks like it might take some effort.
I hope to see a Pinebook Pro 2 in a few years. With a point stick... Or at least a pointy stick upgrade.