SoylentNews

Pinebook Pro Update: The $199 Linux Laptop is Almost Ready to Go

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:28AM   
from the does-it-come-in-a-pine-box? dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

After unveiling plans to launch a $199 Linux laptop with a Rockchip RK3399 processor earlier this year, the folks at Pine64 have been hard at work designing the hardware and software for the upcoming Pinebook Pro.

Now the team has posted a YouTube video showing off the latest prototype, and demonstrating that it has improved hardware, and support for 4K video playback (something the company's original Pinebook couldn't handle).

Pine64 still has some kinks to work out — audio isn't working on the current motherboard, and there are problems with charging, suspend and resume. But it looks like the Pinebook Pro could be ready to ship within months.

Source: https://liliputing.com/2019/05/pinebook-pro-update-the-199-linux-laptop-is-almost-ready-to-go.html

---

Original Submission

• Re:pine-look (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:18AM

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:18AM (#840671) Journal

  See other comment.

  Here's a reviewer who tried the original Pinebook with a 1080p screen:

  https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/11/21/pinebook-my-first-few-surprising-hours-with-a-99-linux-laptop/ [forbes.com]

  Second, streaming 1080p video -- at least right out of the box without tuning and tweaking -- is impossible. On Firefox (the default KDE Neon browser), the little ARM quad-core CPU is consistently pegged. But if you're willing to compromise and watch 720p you're good to go. That said, the Pinebook plays local 1080p video brilliantly, although you may want to wear headphones as the included speaker isn't very loud.

  In other words, 1080p video kinda worked on the original Pinebook, and that was with an OS booted on the reviewer's microSD card. The Pinebook Pro has about doubled performance over that model, including a more modern GPU (does 4K and H.265 acceleration), and 4 GB instead of 2 GB RAM (I am typing this comment on a $100 system that handles 720p just fine and has only 2 GB RAM).

  You do get what you pay for, but $100-$200 gets you a lot more bang for your buck these days. These systems destroy the aggravating netbooks of a decade ago, and the Rockchip SoC here is better than what a lot of SBCs are packing (particularly RasPi).

  --
  [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

  Parent

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Informative=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Informative' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3