Re: EDC, gadgets and gear stuff
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 12:25 pm
^ you can have it serviced and regulated, though I'm not sure how well. I have a soft spot for Longines, mainly because of it appearing on Formula 1 timing screens during the great Senna-Prost-Mansell era. They have a rich history.
Anyhooz, serious question now...
Need some help. Looking for some hardware advice. Didn't want to waste space by starting a new thread, so I'll just ask here. Laptops are considered "EDC" after all, right?
Been looking for a slim laptop. Tech journos like to call them ultrabooks* or something. Won't be for serious work. Doesn't have to be too big - anything from 11" to 13" should be enough. 1080p because HiDPI on Linux is still a mess, and also for battery life. IPS only, because TN panels for laptops are evil. Backlit keyboard is mandatory (because I'm disco). Preferably fanless. Also would prefer not to have to futz about with Broadcom or Realtek wireless nonsense. USB-C charging would be nice for travel, but I could live without it, as long as the powerbrick isn't sized like it's being marketed as a dildo for mammoths.
After narrowing shit down, I reckon I have two options at either end of the spectrum. Both will be Intel, because AMD doesn't seem to like laptops and ARM is still a bit unproven on the desktop space. This post might end up a tad long, so bear with me please.
Found a couple of candidates (from the same maker, ironically). Will post link at the end of this post. First one is a 11.6" fanless model with one of those low power Intel Pentiums. The other would be a 13.3" model with a Core i7 with fast storage and a full size** keyboard, but has a fan. I'll dedicate the next paragraph to the first one, and the following paragraph to the second option.
Assuming I install a SupersizeMe distro with a MarshmallowMan DE (which I probably won't, but let's pretend I would) as a host OS to run a kvm/qemu virtual machine via virt-manager or gnome-boxes with something light installed (like minimal Debian or Arch + xfce or lxde) for FF web browsing and scripting work***, how adequate would an Intel N4200 - 1.1GHz quad-core (4 cores, 4 threads), 2.5GHz Burst speed - be? Memory would probably be 8GB (1600MHz DDR3) and storage will be solid state (not NVme though). I know I can easily make a bare-metal installs of even full-blown KDE fly on this (I've achieved more with less in the past), but never attempted virtualization tasks. My experience with these low-power CPUs says that they're decent enough when short bursts of processing power are needed, and only lose out when we require sustained loads (encoding, gaming, compiling, etc), but those experiences were with the bourgeois CoreM line, not every-man Pentiums.
With the second model, I don't really have questions. I know the hardware is more than capable; 1.8GHz quad-core (4 cores, 8 threads) i7-8550u, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz. I'm just not thrilled about it having a fan inside. That and it costs more than double the first option, though it still seems competitively priced compared to the other similar powered stuff (like Dells, Thinkpads and Zenbooks) I've found.
Both models are here; https://earth.starlabs.systems/pages/laptops
Company is new to me (found them featured on the Distrowatch sidebar, funnily enough). Obviously not an established player, but what limited info I've found on them from the web has been positive. They reply promptly to my queries as well, with actual relevant info compared to copy-paste replies you get from big companies. They seem to have slashed their prices starting this month - don't know if it's because of Intel announcing new mobile chips at Computex, the falling British pound (they're based in England) or them being in danger of going out of business - though the smaller fanless model now has a "get notified when available" tab. I like that the hardware is LVFS-supported (for updating the BIOS/EFI and SSD controllers). Having the choice to disable Wireless and webcam is nice too. They also claim to be very conservative with their battery life estimates, since they test without tlp or powertop tuning. Even including delivery and tax, the more expensive Core i7 model will be cheaper than an equivalent spec Dell XPS or Thinkpad available locally here. Also a way better deal (and better aesthetically to my eyes) compared to any of the re-badged Clevo variants they offer at System76, StationX or the various EU vendors. Only downside would be lack of ethernet jack (because I muck about with router firmware often), but I know of Linux-compatible USB-to-Ethernet dongles, so it's doable. I'd prefer to spend less, so if I can get confirmation that I can get enough horsepower from the smaller fanless model, I'll go with that. There's also a matter of the Pentium being a non hyperthreaded chip, which (in theory) would mean a smaller performance dent (relative to the Core processors) after all the Spectre, Meltdown, ZombieLoad, Fallout, etc mitigations are eventually applied down the line. Having a laptop with no moving parts is seriously liberating, but pointless if it ends up running like a dog.
Goes without saying that, aside from the processor power question, I'm open to alternatives if you chaps have any recommendations. Thanks
* Ultrabook is such a stupid term. Anything that can't grow to skyscraper height and battle a kaiju doesn't deserve an 'ultra' in its name. Btw, that new Godzilla flick looks dumb as fuck, but I still kinda wanna see it.
** I have no idea why they say full size keyboard when it doesn't have a numpad on the right.
*** Basically, the heaviest thing I'll probably be doing on this is heavy browsing whithin a VM or possibly a Docker container if I can figure out how to jail it properly, or maybe Flatpak which I still need to read up on. Most of the other stuff I'll be doing will be scripting/automation stuff related to my VPS droplets and the various routers and single board computers I muck about with.
Anyhooz, serious question now...
Need some help. Looking for some hardware advice. Didn't want to waste space by starting a new thread, so I'll just ask here. Laptops are considered "EDC" after all, right?
Been looking for a slim laptop. Tech journos like to call them ultrabooks* or something. Won't be for serious work. Doesn't have to be too big - anything from 11" to 13" should be enough. 1080p because HiDPI on Linux is still a mess, and also for battery life. IPS only, because TN panels for laptops are evil. Backlit keyboard is mandatory (because I'm disco). Preferably fanless. Also would prefer not to have to futz about with Broadcom or Realtek wireless nonsense. USB-C charging would be nice for travel, but I could live without it, as long as the powerbrick isn't sized like it's being marketed as a dildo for mammoths.
After narrowing shit down, I reckon I have two options at either end of the spectrum. Both will be Intel, because AMD doesn't seem to like laptops and ARM is still a bit unproven on the desktop space. This post might end up a tad long, so bear with me please.
Found a couple of candidates (from the same maker, ironically). Will post link at the end of this post. First one is a 11.6" fanless model with one of those low power Intel Pentiums. The other would be a 13.3" model with a Core i7 with fast storage and a full size** keyboard, but has a fan. I'll dedicate the next paragraph to the first one, and the following paragraph to the second option.
Assuming I install a SupersizeMe distro with a MarshmallowMan DE (which I probably won't, but let's pretend I would) as a host OS to run a kvm/qemu virtual machine via virt-manager or gnome-boxes with something light installed (like minimal Debian or Arch + xfce or lxde) for FF web browsing and scripting work***, how adequate would an Intel N4200 - 1.1GHz quad-core (4 cores, 4 threads), 2.5GHz Burst speed - be? Memory would probably be 8GB (1600MHz DDR3) and storage will be solid state (not NVme though). I know I can easily make a bare-metal installs of even full-blown KDE fly on this (I've achieved more with less in the past), but never attempted virtualization tasks. My experience with these low-power CPUs says that they're decent enough when short bursts of processing power are needed, and only lose out when we require sustained loads (encoding, gaming, compiling, etc), but those experiences were with the bourgeois CoreM line, not every-man Pentiums.
With the second model, I don't really have questions. I know the hardware is more than capable; 1.8GHz quad-core (4 cores, 8 threads) i7-8550u, Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz. I'm just not thrilled about it having a fan inside. That and it costs more than double the first option, though it still seems competitively priced compared to the other similar powered stuff (like Dells, Thinkpads and Zenbooks) I've found.
Both models are here; https://earth.starlabs.systems/pages/laptops
Company is new to me (found them featured on the Distrowatch sidebar, funnily enough). Obviously not an established player, but what limited info I've found on them from the web has been positive. They reply promptly to my queries as well, with actual relevant info compared to copy-paste replies you get from big companies. They seem to have slashed their prices starting this month - don't know if it's because of Intel announcing new mobile chips at Computex, the falling British pound (they're based in England) or them being in danger of going out of business - though the smaller fanless model now has a "get notified when available" tab. I like that the hardware is LVFS-supported (for updating the BIOS/EFI and SSD controllers). Having the choice to disable Wireless and webcam is nice too. They also claim to be very conservative with their battery life estimates, since they test without tlp or powertop tuning. Even including delivery and tax, the more expensive Core i7 model will be cheaper than an equivalent spec Dell XPS or Thinkpad available locally here. Also a way better deal (and better aesthetically to my eyes) compared to any of the re-badged Clevo variants they offer at System76, StationX or the various EU vendors. Only downside would be lack of ethernet jack (because I muck about with router firmware often), but I know of Linux-compatible USB-to-Ethernet dongles, so it's doable. I'd prefer to spend less, so if I can get confirmation that I can get enough horsepower from the smaller fanless model, I'll go with that. There's also a matter of the Pentium being a non hyperthreaded chip, which (in theory) would mean a smaller performance dent (relative to the Core processors) after all the Spectre, Meltdown, ZombieLoad, Fallout, etc mitigations are eventually applied down the line. Having a laptop with no moving parts is seriously liberating, but pointless if it ends up running like a dog.
Goes without saying that, aside from the processor power question, I'm open to alternatives if you chaps have any recommendations. Thanks
* Ultrabook is such a stupid term. Anything that can't grow to skyscraper height and battle a kaiju doesn't deserve an 'ultra' in its name. Btw, that new Godzilla flick looks dumb as fuck, but I still kinda wanna see it.
** I have no idea why they say full size keyboard when it doesn't have a numpad on the right.
*** Basically, the heaviest thing I'll probably be doing on this is heavy browsing whithin a VM or possibly a Docker container if I can figure out how to jail it properly, or maybe Flatpak which I still need to read up on. Most of the other stuff I'll be doing will be scripting/automation stuff related to my VPS droplets and the various routers and single board computers I muck about with.