It’s a long long time I’m looking for an inexpensive small laptop with long battery life and keyboard. So I can carry it everywhere to write notes, do ssh, or fix small bugs.

The experience I have with me 7" ebook reader says that under 10" is too small to work comfortably with text. Above 12" will be too big to carry. I think even 12" is too big.

I want it to run an open source OS like BSD or Linux. Unfortunately, age of netbooks are over. So I wonder what options I’ve got. As far as I have researched:

  • Pinebook. The advantage is that it is open source and I can repair it easily meself. The disadvantage is that I think 11.6" is a lil big. Not sure as I never had a laptop at this size to tell for sure. But it seems these devices are not available in Pine64 store anymore. Only Pinebook pro which is 14".
  • A chromebook. I am not very much sure about these. It seems I can install Linux at least on some of them. The advantages are that I can easily find one for cheap. The disadvantage seems to be that I won’t be able to repair them easily. I guess the important part is the eMMC and its failure means bye bye? If I could put them from uSD, this shouldn’t be a problem. The chromebooks with SSD seem too expensive.
  • Reboot an old netbook. Advantage is that I can easily find one. Probably I could make changes to the laptop to make it more modern and usable. Mainly, replace the original lithium battery with a new custom one, possibly lighter and longer lasting. I could also replace the charging circuit and port with a modern type C. However, I’m not sure if one of these will last long enough given that they are second hand.
  • A Windows tablet. I could get one of these with keyboard and install Linux on them. Haven’t researched much about them.

I also have found Chuwi minibooks. But their support said they are discontinued.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

  • DUMB LUCK@sub.community
    1·
    12 hours ago

    Japanese brands had made so many compact laptops before, try eBay for one you like and flash the BSD you want

  • nothanks@lemmy.4d2.org
    1·
    21 hours ago

    I quite like the pinebook pro from a weight and form factor (it is a hair big), speakers are ineffective, charging can be finicky, boot process needed a concerted effort on the wiki to document (if you’re going to alter the bootloader (recommended), do it when you first get it because things can very well go terribly.) I think only used and refurbished units are available, so buy your parts now. The body is fantastic and light, sturdy enough, feels lovely to the hand. The track pad is merely adequate. Performance is like an atom netbook.

    This may be a faux pas but i quite like the dell latitude 7350 k14a (yes that one is old, tough as fuck (if the tablet part comes apart after being dropped on a hard floor it’s like an old cell phone and just snaps back in place (i’m clumsy)), barely ok speakers, came with adequate memory and processor options, and a perfect shape, size, and weight plus if you’re really freaky you can pop off the tablet part.)

  • yuman@programming.dev
    6·
    1 day ago

    macbook air 11 2015 8gb version. just this one and no other, no 13, no 2013, no 4 gb versions, etc.

    very linux friendly (once you sort out broadcom wifi drivers), sips power, tolerates undervolt. it’s useless to the apple crowd as it don’t got support for latest OS so it can be had for cheap, even more so if you wanna buy busted units and frankenstein together a new one. also, wide cross-gen parts compatibility. aliexpress got $5 USB-C to Magsafe2 adapter so you don’t gotta haul the charger around.

    don’t get the 12" ones, unless they’re close to free. spectacular screen, but the keyboard is atrocious and prone to die, with no option of replacing it, SSD is integrated so can’t get the data off it if something dies, fragile display connection, it’s a shit-show.

    • Farooq@realbitcoin.cashOP
      2·
      1 day ago

      Thank you so much for this! Why 2015? Why not 2013? Also, isn’t it possible to boot them from microSD? I’m looking for a sub 12" device.

      • yuman@programming.dev
        2·
        1 day ago

        way more modern CPU and chipset resulting in better power management; also faster and better graphics, but that’s not important for the use case. an undervolted i5 5250u can run with wifi and lit screen in the sub-5W range, netting you 10ish hours of continuous light use out of a decent battery and days of standby (that you can turn into weeks if you implement suspend-then-hibernate). you could make an earilier model work but the price difference should be in the $20 range, so why bother?

        edit: microSD, yeah, I guess you can boot off them but why would you want the flaky and slow mess when you got a perfectly fine PCI-E SSD?

        • Farooq@realbitcoin.cashOP
          2·
          1 day ago

          As I researched online, I’m not sure if I can boot from microSD. But most likely I will be able to put from USB. It could be /boot on USB and the rest on uSD. But I will have to buy an expensive uSD to get at least like 150MB/s

          If I go this way, the advantage is that I can get an old macbook air with broken SSD working. And since the SSD is not normally replaceable, this means excellent bargaining chance for me :)))

  • whatiswrongwithyou@lemmy.ml
    15·
    2 days ago

    You will not like this answer:

    An old 11” macbook air or the 12” macbook circa ‘17.

    They’re everywhere, last forever, parts are cheap, they’re durable, there is good Linux support, the screens are good and they don’t stick out when you’re using them in public.

    I used to have 11” as my hard upper limit of diagonal size years ago but since then I realized it’s no big deal to carry a 13” diagonal computer now that they’re all incredibly thin and light.

  • EugeneNine@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 days ago

    I’ve stuck to 12" and under. using a Dell Latitude 7290 currently.

    Raspberry Pi with a small screen could be an option. I have their 7" display.

  • NobodyElse@sh.itjust.works
    5·
    2 days ago

    Regarding the tablet, doing terminal-based stuff on a virtual keyboard turns out to be a real pain if it’s anything more than a quick task. And I haven’t found a tablet keyboard cover that isn’t clunky and disappointing in real use. Admittedly, I haven’t used a Surface tablet.

    Also, the user experience on Linux tablets has left something to be desired. The best support I’ve found so far has been with Gnome and it’s not consistent at all.

    My experience would steer you towards a real laptop with a keyboard.

    • Farooq@realbitcoin.cashOP
      1·
      2 days ago

      These cheap Windows tablets with Atom come de facto with a physical keyboard. Or… are these also something gone along netbooks?

  • msdrak@lemmy.ml
    2·
    2 days ago

    I recommend you get an old high-spec netbook and upgrade it yourself, or buy one that supports desktop OSes (like Win10 & Linux) and use an original keyboard cover for it – Xiaomi makes these.

  • INeedMana@piefed.zipEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Wild idea: how about using a small usb C keyboard (or maybe BT one?) and your phone?
    (on f-droid): ConnectBot, termux, Logseq, Editor/Emacs should be able to cover your needs for ssh and writing notes

  • Staden_ スタデン@pawb.social
    2·
    2 days ago

    The only option I’ve seen that is actually portable is the GPD Pocket, but it is expensive. If you find something more accessible let me know

        • bestmiaou@lemmygrad.ml
          1·
          2 days ago

          i have a thinkpad x270 which has a 12.5" screen. i admit it’s on the low end for power, but for around $300 an X260/270/280 is still a pretty good value.

          • Farooq@realbitcoin.cashOP
            1·
            1 day ago

            Lenovo x200 series could be a good option. But it is not as small and light as I want. But maybe in the end I go for x200 or x100 series. Then replace the battery and the charging circuit etc

  • brisk@aussie.zone
    1·
    2 days ago

    It’s smaller than you’re looking for but I’d be remiss not to bring up the MNT Pocket Reform

    • 7" mini laptop
    • 1.1kg
    • Open hardware
    • Mechanical keyboard
    • Trackball!
    • Modular and hackable
    • bert@lemmy.monster
      3·
      2 days ago

      I kept seeing the MNT Pocket Reform suggested so i ended up picking one up (down votes to Crowdsupply for taking three weeks to even acknowledge my order).

      This thing is not even worth half the sticker price. It crawls just trying to boot the OS and the trackball is not smooth (both hardware and software) at all.

      I don’t use it for anything at this point, so I overpaid for a pretty looking paperweight. 🤷‍♂️

      edit: spelling errors

      • Unusable 3151 ⁂@lemmy.ml
        3·
        2 days ago

        I have one with the RK3588 (32GB RAM version), and while it is CERTAINLY not competitive on price/performance, it’s been entirely serviceable for the last year, and I really enjoy it. The trackball is a bit annoying, but not game breaking. I think I found where the issue lies in their firmware, but haven’t had the time or energy to try to fix it. For some reason the polling rate on the trackball movement during scrolling is low enough that it doesn’t register if you move really slowly or only move a little bit, which ends up feeling a bit clunky, but it’s still better than most mice. The boot process takes ~10 seconds for me, but I’m loading NixOS with /boot on an SD card and I have LUKS encryption on my SSD.

        • bert@lemmy.monster
          1·
          2 days ago

          I agree! I had really high hopes for it. I certainly dont regret supporting a small Kickstarter but it sure is a bummer that the device isn’t very usable

          Pretty sure it has the NXP i.MX8M Plus module.

  • MajesticTechie@feddit.uk
    1·
    2 days ago

    A surface tablet can be booted with Linux.

    However I really don’t think a laptop is a bad decision. I myself run a 14" Lenovo ThinkPad: https://amzn.eu/d/09sY8lt1

    It’s honestly small and I use it as a “on call” machine when I leave the house. Thing is light so I barely notice it in my bag

    • tasankovasara@sopuli.xyz
      1·
      7 hours ago

      My vote on this too. Had a Surface Go 1, small battery but elsewise superb. Got a 3rd gen, absolutely perfect until one day it wouldn’t charge off USB-C anymore. Sold that and returned to the 1st gen I stii had (all accessories are compatible), and it’s still serving just fine as a ‘quick errands’ machine. Both work out of the box with Arch. Battery life is good enough with TLP and extreme powersaving.

    • noodles@slrpnk.net
      1·
      19 hours ago

      The surface tablets work just ok with Linux, depending on which one you use. I used a surface go for a few years and it was mostly ok but definitely had some pretty major glitches, and as far as I understand they’re pretty unfriendly for repairs or upgrades. The go (gen 1) I had was a touch small screen wise but I think the bezels got smaller so it might be better now.

    • Farooq@realbitcoin.cashOP
      1·
      2 days ago

      I already have a 14". It’s too big for a portable device I would carry exactly everywhere. I use it as me home PC, till I get a real new one, as well as portable computer during travels.

      The thing is, a 14" laptop cannot be used in bus, train, waiting room, etc. Sometimes a thought or idea comes and I have to write it. Sometimes I have to write down the stuff other people talk about.