[reaperducer]

I'm very interested in these machines. Hopefully someone will post a review of them on HN once available. I'm especially interested in hearing how the trackpad is, considering people on HN are always complaining about Linux and trackpads.

I wish the site had better photographs. The keyboard pictures are awful, and the Javascript they use to show the pictures prevents me from zooming in to see any detail.

[mbreese]

On the Pinebook Pro, the trackpad and keyboard aren’t great. I’m hesitant to say horrible, but it is a very cheap machine so you get what you pay for. I have one of the ISO keyboard “batch 2” machines. I got it last week and the keyboard issues have made it largely unusable for me.

Ignoring the trackpad, the keyboard will sometimes refuse to register keypresses or will repeat keys. This is particularly problematic when you type fast (like a password). On mine, the tab key also gets stuck rather often. The trackpad doesn’t have much control for fine movements, which makes resizing windows... interesting. And the trackpad frequently activates spontaneously which causes cursors to move around.

Aside from a small issue I had with a loose bezel, the rest of the machine is very nice. It is a good sized (14”), very sturdy design. The screen is pretty good too. Maybe if the keyboard and trackpad firmware gets fixed, then it could be a usable machine.

[jammygit]

Is the keyboard better than the XP’s 13? I hate typing in that thing. I miss my 2015 MacBook w Ubuntu, the hardware was so incredible

[arglebargle123]

I haven't used the XPS 13 so I can't compare them but while the keyboard the PBP is cheap it isn't bad. The touchpad on the other hand makes me want to stab someone every time it misses a two finger right click.

I've been eyeing the 2018 Matebook X Pro as a replacement work laptop, everything I've heard about it has been overwhelmingly positive.

[mbreese]

I’m glad your keyboard is working out better for you. Mine is just so inconsistent, but part of that is the touchpad too. Maybe I would have a different opinion if I just disabled the touchpad completely (and if my tab-key would stop sticking).

But I do think it highlights one of the issues you’ll have with any low-cost machine — quality control. There just isn’t enough of a margin to assure a standard level of quality. Now, this is admittedly a pre-production batch, so perhaps some of these issues with quality will be worked out, but given the cost, I’m not too confident.

[MechaJDI]

I was excited to get one of these myself. I joined the waiting list towards the end of last year and finally got mine around July-ish. As others have mentioned, the keyboard is only serviceable and the trackpad is very cheap only having like corner left/right clicking. I enjoyed mine all of about a week or so before I encountered issues where it won't boot up when I turned it on. Tried looking for a solution for a while but eventually just gave up...It's not really worth the extra effort.

[a3n]

> people on HN are always complaining about Linux and trackpads.

On my machines, regardless of OS, I turn the trackpad off. I prefer a mouse set to max sensitivity, so that my hand doesn't move, just my fingers, and barely at that. And then I try to use keystrokes as much as practical.

People who sit at my laptop get dizzy and fall off the edge.

[op00to]

I have one. Trackpad sucks. Keyboard is ok but not great.