[lexicality]

I have one of these. It's an awful piece of shit and I love it.

I bought it because I was going on holiday and didn't want to take a real laptop both in case it got stolen and to dissuade me from using it. I ended up using it more than I would have a normal laptop because it's so small and easily carried.

My current use case is for my commute into the office, it easily fits on the microscopic train tables and doesn't add much weight to my bag. Highly recommended.

[bartread]

> It's an awful piece of shit and I love it.

I think, realistically, the issues the author describes - particularly with the keyboard and trackpad - would drive me up the wall for any kind of serious use.

But then, if you're travelling on holiday, do you really want serious use? I like your rationale of taking something that's bad enough that you won't want to use it but you have something if you really need it even if it didn't quite work out that way for you.

And, apart from theft, and depending on where I'm travelling, maybe a cheap device that I don't mind the authorities rifling through the storage of wouldn't be such a bad thing. Like I don't necessarily want $RANDOM_CUSTOMS_PERSON_IN_SOME_COUNTRY to have access to my bank statements, account details, or to get into my social media accounts, or whatever.

And it would be nice not to have to worry about any of that stuff if the machine did get stolen (sure, the drive on my main laptop is encrypted, but physical access is always a massive force multiplier when trying to gain access to a system or its contents).

[0xEF]

I've been to a lot of countries (and thus through a lot of customs agents), the most they ever ask me to do, if anything at all, is turn the laptop on. I think the point is they want to make sure it's an actual laptop and not just a shell hiding something else. I've never had an agent touch my machine or show any interest in doing so, and I say that as someone who gets the extra searches often because I carry a lot of odd looking parts and small tools for work. Just pointing that out because I think the paranoia about what customs agents are allowed to do is a bit overblown unless you're suspected of smuggling or transporting something nefarious. They're not interested in what's on your laptop until you give them a reason to be.

[tauntz]

I almost got denied boarding for a EU -> US flight ~13 years ago because the TSA agent at the gate noticed my 2011 MBP had 2 screws missing on the bottom panel (I've opened it up a bunch of times and lost some screws in the process). It didn't convince them that I turned it on and logged in etc. They still had doubts because, apparently, missing screws on a macbook was unheard of.. in the end, they held up the plane for ~10 mins due to waiting for a go/no-go decision via phone from some decision maker at the airline (as the final call was apparently theirs to make for some reason). Luckily, they were OK with missing screws and I was let on board.

[bartread]

I think it probably depends where you're going. We have relatives in a country where it might be a bit more of a concern, and we did briefly research taking a trip there to visit them, which is when all of this came up. In the end, for a variety of reasons, we decided it was going to be too risky to take that trip unless and until conditions change.

There are many countries where I wouldn't be at all worried about that, but I'd still be concerned about the possibility of theft (which, let's be real, can happen anywhere: I went on a trip to Switzerland once - generally considered very safe and low crime - where somebody had their laptop stolen from their room).

[lexicality]

> the issues the author describes - particularly with the keyboard and trackpad

I don't have the same problems with my model, possibly theirs is bad. I don't like that the keyboard is teeny and in the ANSI layout but I got used to it.

The trackpad isn't great but that's just yet another reason to avoid using the mouse and do everything with the keyboard.

That being said, I would never use it for fulltime use. I'm not even using it to type this message even though it's right next to me. I use it while travelling and it remains off at all other times.

[spankibalt]

> "I think, realistically, the issues the author describes - particularly with the keyboard and trackpad - would drive me up the wall for any kind of serious use."

Me too. But the tray table compatibility resonates. I had hoped someone would build a modern netbook as a detachable focused on productivity and light gaming (say, Steamdeck class), maintainability and (modular) expandability; a modern road warrior that's also a nice hobbyist machine that stands some abuse. Framework was/is positioned to put something out, but they decided to release the F-12 instead.

[ThatMedicIsASpy]

I mean for the price I can get used thinkpads (and replace the battery if needed) and not have to deal with the crappy parts - I only have to deal with older parts.

[boutell]

Oh man. I have a ThinkPad L14 as my personal, beater, okay to take on the plane to Japan or whatever machine. And I hate it because it's too big. But I'm also hooked on it because it has pretty decent performance, excellent battery life with the third party battery I put in it, acceptable keyboard, acceptable trackpad.

I read this review with mounting excitement until I got to the part about the things he doesn't like. And yeah, those things would drive me up the wall too.

Although it might be fine if that touchy keyboard works well for touch typists. For me, that's everything.

[lexicality]

I just tested and yes - if I press the exact corner of the key with a pencil then it doesn't register correctly. Everywhere else seems absolutely fine and given how small the keys are I genuinely wasn't able to recreate this with my finger. In order to actually press the key I have to push down on enough of the key for it to register.

[boutell]

Thanks!

[ryukoposting]

My solution for this use case is a used Thinkpad X270. Unreal battery life and adequate performance. Got mine in like-new condition a couple years ago for $90. It's a fine substitute for factory-spec e-waste. Mine has the cheapo screen, but it was a cheap laptop so whatever. I don't get the author's complaint about the "2K" (whatever that is) display. Cheap laptop has a cheap screen, oh the humanity!

[wink]

I bought an old Intel 12" Macbook off of my employer for that reason. 10 bucks, 9y old, still good enough for anything where an Android phone sucks (people who like using phones may disagree, it's ok).

This looks cool but I care a lot more for even 100 bucks than 10 :P

[asimovDev]

I feel spoiled because the train table on my train of choice fits my 16in Macbook , almost like it was made with the sole purpose of carrying this laptop on it

[dheera]

How doeos it compare to the GPD Win mini laptops?

[lexicality]

I don't know, I've never touched one