• Treedav@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    I’m not sure on Starlab’s background or people’s stance on them, but I think this looks pretty nice.

    Coreboot, 3:2 aspect ratio, magnetic keyboard, aluminium finish, I’d say makes this a pretty compelling alternative to a surface. Specs aren’t super beefy, but I don’t think they need to be in this form factor. Introductory price on this seems nice, too.

    • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’d say makes this a pretty compelling alternative to a surface.

      And like a Surface, it puts a desktop OS onto a tablet, basically repeating Microsoft’s mistake.

      Specs aren’t super beefy, but I don’t think they need to be in this form factor.

      There’s a difference between “not beefy” and a super crappy 1.00GHz Intel N200. A hardware OEM just needs to go to AMD and pick off the shelf whatever is the closest thing to Steam Deck’s CPU.

      • LeFantome@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        Well, presumably the Linux apps are a feature for the target audience. In terms of the OS UX itself, if you had never seen GNOME before, would you call it a desktop or a tablet UI?

      • Treedav@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I’d definitely prefer to have gone the AMD route for these, but N200 isn’t that awful, no? At least comparable to some Skylake gens? Not that that’s amazing in the modern day, but I’d say still capable enough with the included specs to not be too bogged down by some of the lighter distros.

        Better off with a Chromebook 10/10 times if you need something low powered, but I think it’s an interesting entry to the hardware space.

        • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’d definitely prefer to have gone the AMD route for these, but N200 isn’t that awful, no?

          I doubt it’s powerful enough to play back 4k videos smoothly and 1080p stretched to the native resolution doesn’t look super great. If AMD didn’t offer a vastly better alternative at similar cost, fine, but Ryzen Z1 and such are available.

          • SoManyChoices@lemmy.sdf.org
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            1 year ago

            I have an N100 box running as my Plex server. It has no problem transcoding multiple 4k videos at once. This processor is no M2 but it isn’t really a slouch either.

            • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It has no problem transcoding multiple 4k videos at once.

              At 1 GHz? Sure about that? Even if my performance assumptions are off: something like the Steam Deck CPU surely still beats it, especially in low power.

                • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  It can clock up to 3.7 GHz and has a decent GPU for an Intel one. All I can say for sure is that it keeps up just fine.

                  I see no cooling vents, so apparently passive cooling only and massive downclocking. Still think an AMD chip would have been better.

      • penguin@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Desktop OS on a tablet is fine and even preferred depending on what you want it for.

        I have a surface and don’t mind using full windows that way.

        • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Desktop OS on a tablet is fine and even preferred depending on what you want it for.

          If the use case is to use a tablet as a tablet, then a desktop OS is not fine. Source: Me and my Surface Pro 7 which is unusable without the type cover.