Pricey for non x86_64 laptop.
The cheapest option is € 1,200.00.
You can choose between A311D and RK3588 SoC modules.
I'm not able to watch the video at the moment: is it ARM instead?
I think arm architecture are only going to become more prevalent with the success of the M line macs
https://shop.mntre.com/products/mnt-reform
The CPU features 8 cores: 4x fast Cortex-A76 and 4x efficient Cortex-A55.
Yes.
I think arm architecture are only going to become more prevalent with the success of the M line macs
I dunno. They have a long battery life (though somebody that is just having a large battery in the laptop). But...
This comes running Debian. If you're just running open-source software, like stuff out of a Linux distro, then you can use Debian's ARM build of everything. But if you're gonna run Steam on it, then you're gonna be running x86 code, and that emulation is gonna cut into battery lifetime.
EDIT: Cool, the trackpad is modular, and they even have a trackball option with mechanical buttons. Haven't seen those in ages.
EDIT2: Oh, that's also hot -- they just use standard 18650 batteries. You can just pick up more off Amazon or whatever and replace 'em.
8x owner-serviceable 18650 cells totalling 12 Ah/3.2 V. 5 h approximate battery life
Not huge battery capacity in total, but they say that the hardware is open-source. I wonder if there's some mod to stick more cells in somehow and clue the battery controller into the fact?
EDIT3: Oh, that's cool as hell. The firmware has its own little tiny display right above the keyboard independent of the main display. I'm kind of surprised that no other laptop manufacturer I've seen has thought of doing that.
EDIT4: Hah, awesome. It defaults to having swapcaps (caps lock and control swapped). I have to go through and do this on every computer that I buy.
EDIT5: The reviewer says that he likes their keyboard more than anything else he's used on a laptop -- they made the thing thick, so they've got space for it. goes looking Apparently they not only tell you the mechanical keyswitch type on the store page (Kailh Choc) but give you a choice of either of keyswitches (Brown or White). I'm not familiar with Kailh. Looking at Kailh's store, it looks like the whites are clicky, and the browns quieter -- looks like they have color conventions that follow Cherry's conventions.
EDIT6: Yeah, the reviewer liked mechanical buttons, but not the trackball. I wish they could put a Synaptics trackpad on there, but it sounds like they're only using open hardware, which might constrain them.
EDIT6: Hah, the reviewer swapped in his own Pi compute module, so I guess it's compatible with the Pis. listens further Yeah, the reviewer says that it should be possible to stick in a future Raspberry Pi 5 compute module.
Messing with 18650s is rather risky, I'm not sure if exposing them as individual cells is a good idea. I hope the company is smart enough to put a "if you burn your house down replacing the batteries, we're only liable if we sent you the replacement" clause in their sales contract or they'll be sued into the ground if this thing ever takes off.
As for ARM+games: with tools like Box64 you can get some impressive performance out of 3D games assuming your GPU is supported. The native code of the game will be running translated, but the expensive calls to 3D engines and such will all be caught and replaced by native ARM libraries. I doubt you'll be running Cyberpunk on this thing, but don't count it out just because of the translation step.
Messing with 18650s is rather risky, I’m not sure if exposing them as individual cells is a good idea.
I mean, there are plenty of devices with them out there. !flashlight@lemmy.world seems to only really be interested in lithium-battery-driven flashlights. I don't think that an 18650 is intrinsically unsafe.
My understanding is that you can get (slightly cheaper) unregulated cells, but that normally, for end users, one uses regulated cells. The electronics on each cell aren't smart enough to do things like measure and report charged capacity, but they should be adequate to avoid fires if the battery is shorted.
And there's no standard for a "smarter" battery pack that would do things like report more information.
The native code of the game will be running translated, but the expensive calls to 3D engines and such will all be caught and replaced by native ARM libraries.
Yeah, that's true -- some games are going to be GPU-constrained, and the instruction set isn't gonna be a factor there.
A significant chunk of what I'm getting at, though, is battery life. Like, my understanding is that Apple's got somewhat-better compute-per-watt-hour ratings on their ARM laptops than x86 laptops do. But having that is contingent on one running native ARM software, not running emulated x86 software. Apple can say "we're just gonna break compatibility", and put down enormous pressure on app vendors to do so because they own the whole ecosystem. They have done multiple instruction set switches across architectures (680x0 to PowerPC to x86 to ARM) and that ability to force switches is something that they clearly feel is important to leverage.
For people who are only gonna run open-source Linux software -- and this thing is shipping with Debian, which has a native ARM distribution -- then it is possible that you can do this, because for open-source software, you can recompile against a new target architecture.
But Windows can't do this, because there's a huge amount of binary software that will never be retargeted for ARM. You're going to be burning up your battery life in translation overhead. And you can't do it with Linux if you want to run binary-only software -- often Windows software -- which is what Steam distributes. That library of software is just never gonna be translated; some of it probably doesn't even have the source around anywhere. I don't even know if Steam in 2024 has a native way to distribute ARM binaries (though I assume that one could have the game handle the target and running appropriate code).
Please remove your suggestion for buying 18650s on Amazon. They are full of counterfeit cells, or rewrapped cells with dangerously inflated specs.
Get lithium cells from a reputable vendor that tests the batches they receive. Illumn and IMR Batteries are two such vendors.
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