Pining for a Pinebook

Do you know what this is? Just a regular old laptop right? I was shocked to discover this beauty a few days ago.

This is a Pinebook.

A Pinebook you say? What makes it so special? I am super excited about it since it is essentially a Pi-Top except cheaper with better specs. It is an incredibly affordable Open Source Notebook. What isn't to love?


What is in the box?

This 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook looks like a typical laptop but for only $89 USD or $99 USD one of these beautiful boxes can be yours.

The specs for this box are mind-blowing. The cost is so little for such high performance. You probably can barely buy components for the full cost of the device. Keep in mind that the Pinebook is pretty much just a mid-range smartphone put into a laptop case but even then a smartphone with similar specs would start at around $150-200. I am baffled at how this is happening but I am ok with it.

Here is what it has for specs and features:

CPU: 64-Bit Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53
RAM: 2 GB RAM
Flash: 16 GB
Wifi Built-In
2 USB 2.0 Ports
1 MicroSD Slot
1 Mini HDMI
1 Headphone Jack (so already better than Apple...)
Front Facing Webcam
Touch-Pad
Fullsize Keyboard
LiPo Battery (10000mAH)
Either 11.6" or 14" LCD display


What OS?

I decided to do a little digging on what this box is running. The website for the Pinebox says that they are going to be running a PINE A64 supported OS. They seem to have a large variety of things running so far. You are able to run Android 5, 6 and 7. They also have Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, OpenSuse, Fedora, Gentoo, DietPi, Armbian and several others.

The beauty of this Notebook is choice. You have complete control over what OS you want on it as long as it is supported. I don't know how the company is going to ship them out but I am guessing probably with the Ubuntu variant they have.

Release Date:

From what I have seen and heard from PINE64, the release date will be in February at some point. They haven't released an official date yet. At this point to get in line for one you need to give them your email address and their sales team will reach out when they are ready to ship. You can do that here.


If there is enough interest I may try and get one and review it. 





Comments

  1. UnknownJune 4, 2017 at 8:25 PM

    Has anyone tried installing TrueOs Pico on the Pine Book. This seems like a natural fit, but does it work?

    ReplyDelete

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