this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
426 points (95.9% liked)
Technology
69867 readers
3307 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The use case seems pretty limited:
"when I'm on the go and I don't have room in my bag for a full-sized laptop"
First, if you're on the go, do you need a computer with you? Second, if you do, that's what a dedicated laptop bag is for.
Sometimes all I need a small compact SSH machine when I'm at a client's site. This is a perfect use case for it.
That's kinda the point of laptops
Why should I have to carry a whole bag in order to have more compute power available than a phone? This is the same argument as "you already have a bag for your mobile phone battery if you want to carry it everywhere, but why would you do that?"
The answer to that is "because they can". You don't have to like it, but others do, so if you can't understand the potential applications, then it's clearly not for you.
What I'm saying is, the use case is limited.
You can carry a bag for your laptop and have other things in it vs. fitting an 8" device into the bag you're carrying.
Is that a real question? LOL
Well, I'm technically "on the go" right now and my phones work fine.
Phones come with a 6" screen and no keyboard. You do realize there's an entire market of "on the go" computers?
I do, but if you need an actual computer, say for work or something, they don't cut it. They're cute, but as you see above, the limitations drag them down.
By the time you put in the gear to make them workable, you might as well just pack a proper laptop.
I work in a cleanroom. Can't take a laptop bag in there. Sometimes it would be nice to have a smaller device to connect to a tool vias RS-485/232 and gather logs/teach robots/change controller settings - you know, simple tasks you don't really need a "proper laptop" to perform. My work-issued T15 G2 is fine, but it runs W11 and is cumbersome when trying to work inside a cramped space or while on a ladder. A smaller device would be preferable. And my work-issued iPhone obviously has absolutely none of that capability, it's only good for communication and taking pictures.
Brother you do realize not everyone is using SOLIDWORKS at work? The vast majority of workers can do everything they need on the Netbook in the OP.
I have a 10" Chuwi Minibook X. It's basically my go to when I go to my kids activities. For me, it's a better alternative than a phone or my tablet. It's small when folded up and weighs very little. The luggability is surprisingly better than my Framework 13. Plus, I have a real keyboard instead of a touchscreen that is surprisingly much better than I expected . That's handy for when I do want to do something more productive. And since it only cost me about $300 or so, I'm much less worried about it getting damaged.
I wouldn't just carry it around with me randomly in public. But, I could if I wanted to. It's a shame there are so few options like it. One of my biggest factors I was looking for was weight and overall footprint.