[winter_blue]

Used laptops are such a good deal that you could something high quality in excellent condition for so little that I almost can't justify buying something like this. Like used Dell XPS laptops are ridiculously cheap and they're amazing for the used price.

Or really buy any laptop rated highly by Dave2D or other reviewers that's 4 to 5 years old.

[djfergus]

This laptop has a 10” screen, weighs 900 grams and runs an efficient N100 cpu.

Different category to a 15” 2kg cheap 5 year old dell.

[winrid]

A used x1 carbon is a better deal, faster, and weighs about the same with a bigger screen.

[derefr]

"Bigger screen" (i.e. being bigger on the length/width dimension) is a bad thing in this discussion. Some people want a programming/writing laptop that fits in a handbag, so that they don't have to decide to bring it, but can just leave it in their bag the way many people do with an iPad.

[Eji1700]

Amen. I have a GPD Pocket 4 as my go to because it, a second screen, a 40% keyboard, and the arc mouse all fit in my surprisingly small bag along with chargers, cords, and a bunch of non laptop related stuff (e reader, pens/notebooks, some small tools, a miyoo, etc).

It is, however, an expensive fucking device. $2300 maxed out these days (which I think is $800ish more than i paid. Hurray ram...) or $1400 min specs (which are still quite nice).

I'm glad to see other options at that size (Pocket 4 is 8.8", but my second screen is 10") but a literal quarter of the cost. 80% of what I do on the pocket could be done something like this Minibook, and I don't give a shit if the keyboard/mouse sucks because I've got my own anyways so long as I can tent it.

There will be those days where I might need to do some local heavy lifting and regret not having the Pocket, but I'm also happy to know if it dies on me tomorrow I've got options that aren't shell out another $1k for a tool mostly used for coding.

[bergie]

Absolutely. The 11" MacBook Air was the best laptop Apple ever made.

[stefanfisk]

I yearn for an updated version of the 12” MacBook with modern specs and keyboard. The 13” Air is way too large to be the smallest MacBook ;_;

[rahoulb]

I really liked the 12" MacBook (although my all time favourite computer was the 12" PowerBook G4 - chunky by today's standards but I just loved it).

I saw a review of the MacBook Neo where the reviewer was yearning after the 12" - but suggested that Apple has made UI elements so big with such ridiculous spacing and border radius that it would be almost unusable at anything less than 13".

Which would not surprise me in the least - I struggle with my 16" MBP and this crappy UI "framework".

[LawnGnome]

My partner (who isn't in tech, and isn't generally interested in tech) would probably literally stand in line for an updated version of the 12" MacBook on day one.

[djfergus]

Yes, same here. I can’t help but think they had an iPhone SOC planned for it (tiny motherboard, only one usb-c) but the hw/os team weren’t ready.

[hyperhello]

It was nice, but the screen bezel was huge. The latest 13 is about the same size and weight.

[petesergeant]

The _feel_ is very different though, even if the dimensions aren’t numerically. It was around half a cm at its thinnest, it was 250g lighter, and 23mm less deep.

I think at those sizes, what reads as small differences give an outsized experiential factor.

[rkomorn]

I loved mine but I'd be lying if I said it gave me three years of acceptable performance.

Sure, I can blame Chrome and JS, but ultimately, the core 2 duo and 8GB RAM did not keep up very long.

[incanus77]

Still using mine for occasional hacking, running Mint. Gets about two hours of battery. Great keyboard.

[petesergeant]

Part of that I think was that it was the first SSD laptop many people had had, so the fast boot up times were mind blowing. I had two, a work and a personal one, and I miss them terribly.

[winrid]

I guess. 14" is about as small as I can use personally, that already hurts my hands

[bee_rider]

With laptop sized screens, I’m always tempted to try to have two windows side by side. 10 inch netbooks effectively dissuade that bit of folly.

[pizza234]

Confirmed. Minibooks are amazing in cramped locations (for example, airplane seats), or just to always keep in the bag for support.

There's nothing in the market like them, which is a shame - I think a slightly better quality Minibook (Chuwis are plain crap) would be a very solid laptop.

[Eji1700]

I just responded above, but you might want to look at the GPD Pocket 4.

It is NOT cheap ($1300 min spec) but it's also quite a bit more powerful and with better ports (full size HDMI and Ethernet). It's not for everyone, but it blows my mind how little competition it has given how useful its been for me over the years.

[pizza234]

8.8" is a bit too small for my use case, but... oh my, their Win Max 2 is a very impressive machine (10.1") - I'm really shocked at the size. I'm confused by the price, though - 6500$??

[Zardoz84]

a Steam deck with a small form factor keyboard?

[ikurei]

I so wanted to love the Steam Deck, but it's a device with a 7 inch screen that occupies a massive volume on your bag. Unless you know you're going to play a fair ammount, it's not worth carrying around.

It's a fantastic console, but a mediocre general purpose computer.

[ndsipa_pomu]

A Steam Deck is a bit more lumpy than the Minibook. I find it a lot easier to put my Minibook into a rucksack as it's thin, so it can just slide between stuff. The Steam Deck is quite a lot bigger, though I often take both on holiday as they fill different needs.

[wishfish]

Legion Go (1st Gen with the removable controllers) would be better. Without the controllers, it's basically a 8.8 inch PC tablet. Would be a great portable machine. With an added bonus of the controllers converting to a desktop mouse.

[LoganDark]

A "programming" laptop should be powerful enough to run code, no?

[kennywinker]

If your code won’t run on this machine, you’re the problem not the machine (outside of niche processor heavy stuff like video editing and ai crap).

[LoganDark]

Compiling Rust is expensive, for instance.

[dspillett]

Depends what code you are programming. Unless you are doing significant number crunching, 3D work, or local GenAI, there is an awful lot that spec can do. If you are working on a multi-user system and it is slow processing your actions as a single tester on this, then you have a heck of a lot of optimising ahead unless you want your production users to hate you!

Maybe you'd save running a large test suite until back at base with the branch checked out on something beefier, but for on-the-go coding I expect this spec would do just fine for many. The reviewer's comments about the keyboard would be my concern, not the limits if what it can run.

[winrid]

This laptop is plenty powerful enough. The N150[0] is similar single threaded to some 8th gen i7s which many still use to code (including myself). Should run many claude sessions at once, too. I am not sure I'd want to compile large Rust projects on it, but Node/C++/Java works fine.

[0] https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?id=6304&cpu=Intel+N150

[1] https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?id=3064&cpu=Intel+Core+...

[LoganDark]

Claude is just an HTTP client, so I would hope it could run many of those at once...

[t-3]

I was running gentoo on a 2011 Macbook Air for years with no problems. These computers are more than fast enough to compile and run code. They aren't going to by my first choice for reencoding video or running a build server, but for local development you really don't need a lot unless you're working on the type of stuff that really actually requires special or very powerful hardware.

[71bw]

Switch to a backpack or just leave the laptop in your car...?

[dolmen]

So I would have to buy a car to carry a laptop?

[dspillett]

Or get what fits your preferred routine if available, instead of changing to match others?

Though my experience with this brand is mixed at best so I'd personally give this one a miss, especially given the reviewer's comments on the keyboard.

[spariev]

Agreed here, with prices for used x1s its a no brainer. Although I get the appeal of super small and lightweight devices and even had eee pc way back, but started having insane headaches after working with small screens, so guess its just not for me.

[soulofmischief]

My x1 carbon gave me nothing but trouble from the beginning. I couldn't even move it too fast lest I risked it locking up. Additionally, my wrist strain got considerably better after ditching it for a comparably priced M2 that blows it out of the water in every conceivable category.

[cout]

Sounds like you got a lemon. I also have an X1 carbon, and it's been a great upgrade for me. My biggest complaint is the eraser isn't as easy to use as my old toshiba. The eraser is important to me -- my hand gets numb using a trackpad.

[teleforce]

Previously my daily driver was a Thinkpad X1 Gen 6, it's a bit of troublesome.

Now it's X1 Gen 10, it has been largely trouble free.

Probably my next laptop will be the next Gen X1 with the new upgradeable LPCAMM2 RAM.

[Forgeties79]

The whole point is people want to pay extra for superior portability. There is no x1 carbon with this weight and form factor.

[stronglikedan]

apples to oranges. people that buy minibooks are looking for smaller screens

[0xEF]

As someone who always favors the smaller laptops that don't require me to gear up an entire backpack just to do a bit of work on the go, I'd argue that the difference between a 10" and 13" screen is not nearly as much as it sounds. I've found the Dell XPS 13's to be an excellent choice for stowing in my service bag so I have a small-but-functional machine on a job site. That and the Dell XPS 13 just has better hardware all around, when stood up against the Chuwi.

15", sure, that's a bit big, but smaller models are available.

[boutell]

The thing about a diagonal measurement is it doesn't tell you if it's going to fit on a shitty airline tray table or not. Some laptops with a larger diagonal measurement are not too deep. Others are way too deep.

[mrheosuper]

Surface laptop go/surface go match perfectly. Same size screen, with decent build quality and no software quirk afaik.

[kopirgan]

Absolutely. Any 2-3 gen old ThinkPad or Elitebook will outlast this and perform lot better.

I bought a tablet from this brand few years back. Screen edges were non responsive to touch within months.

[teravor]

my chuwi tablet had the eMMC suddenly die, it disappeared from the point of view of any software, kernel or uefi.

the brand is trash.

[antonkochubey]

If it was running Windows - no wonder, Windows is horrible at constantly writing … something to disk, and eMMC's are not high endurance devices. The flash itself had nothing to do with Chuwi and was most likely manufactured by either SanDisk or Kingston, it would have failed likewise in ASUS/Lenovo/whoever else made those crap Intel Atom + 4 GB RAM + 64 GB eMMC devices.

[teravor]

it was running linux and it died within the first few months of barely any use. i don't know what vendor the eMMC came from but they chose it.

[makeitdouble]

Battery can be an issue though. In particular, replacement batteries can be a PITA to get if the model gets discontinued or parts are only available through corporate channels.

[swyx]

i like how Dave2D came from a nobody to the top cited reviewer here

[vachina]

What decent secondhand thing can you find at $350.

It is being thrown away in the first place for a reason.

[dangus]

HP EliteBook 840 G10

13th Gen Intel, 14” screen, 16GB/512GB at about $350.

Lenovo and Dell both make similar business laptop models at around the same age and price point.

Businesses sell off perfectly functional laptops in bulk because they are on regular refresh cycles for employees, not because there’s anything wrong with them.

On the Mac side, MacBook Air M1.

[dnlzro]

I'm starting to see 2020 M1 MacBooks CA$350 on Facebook Marketplace. That's the device I'm using to type this out. It still lasts all day, and it's still the only computer I use.

[kauli]

My daily driver is a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad T14 gen2 with R5/16/512 GB. 360e last year from a trusted retailer with a 1y warranty. I expect I'll be happy with it for some years, as my previous T450s is still running as a homelab.

I also just acquired a 2014 MacBook Air for two packs of coffee to use as a distraction free tty writerdeck and toy around with, as it's my first piece of Apple hardware.

[thenthenthen]

I use a 16gb ram 1tb ssd 200USD m1 macbook air. Works great!

[vachina]

The fact that it’s listed is meaningless. You need to ask the seller what’s wrong with it.

[dnlzro]

Why are you assuming there's something wrong with it? I'm not pointing to outliers that are only cheap because they're broken. The average market price for an M1 MacBook in my area is around $350.

[happymellon]

I'm seeing a lot of M1 Macbook Airs around £200-250, and Pros in the £300-350 range.

What's wrong with them? The M1 was popular and now people selling them are competing against a lot of other people selling them which suppresses the price. Like it or not, Macs are mainstream and therefore aren't going hold a "magic" high price.

[dghlsakjg]

I just searched my area. There were plenty listed as having no issues at that price point. eBay has similar deals. No reason to think that $350 isn’t the market price.

[pdhborges]

Could be boot locked to the original owner Apple account.

[rjsw]

Lenovo T495s.