Seems like no stylus? If so it makes the starlite not very surface-like in my mind. Ain’t a stylus the reason for something like this?
Ah damn yeah, I was just thinking that this device might be something I’d consider blowing my budget for, if it can replace multiple devices. But the lack of stylus on a device like this is huge let down.
I have a surface and I love it. At the same time, I hardly use the stylus.
I’m sure it’s the reason many get it, but I also think there’s a large audience for a tablet without one.
I genuinely dont see the reason for a windows tablet without a stylus. Note-taking is nice with a stylus but for just holding it and watching videos or browsing a surface is honestly too unwieldly and the windows touch interface is also not great.
Agreed. Although I do use the stylus that came with my Galaxy Tab S7 for note-taking, that’s the only time I use it. 95% of the time I just use the tablet for browsing the web or watching videos.
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They do have a generic MPP active pen as a configuration option though
I’m not sure on Starlab’s background or people’s stance on them, but I think this looks pretty nice.
Coreboot, 3:2 aspect ratio, magnetic keyboard, aluminium finish, I’d say makes this a pretty compelling alternative to a surface. Specs aren’t super beefy, but I don’t think they need to be in this form factor. Introductory price on this seems nice, too.
I’d say makes this a pretty compelling alternative to a surface.
And like a Surface, it puts a desktop OS onto a tablet, basically repeating Microsoft’s mistake.
Specs aren’t super beefy, but I don’t think they need to be in this form factor.
There’s a difference between “not beefy” and a super crappy 1.00GHz Intel N200. A hardware OEM just needs to go to AMD and pick off the shelf whatever is the closest thing to Steam Deck’s CPU.
Desktop OS on a tablet is fine and even preferred depending on what you want it for.
I have a surface and don’t mind using full windows that way.
Desktop OS on a tablet is fine and even preferred depending on what you want it for.
If the use case is to use a tablet as a tablet, then a desktop OS is not fine. Source: Me and my Surface Pro 7 which is unusable without the type cover.
Gnome shell works well on my vivo as either a tablet or with the keyboard.
I am of the opinion that if we keep waiting for the “perfect” Linux tablet, it will never exist. The specs of this unit are head and shoulders above any other Linux-dedicated tablet thus far.
I plan on buying one once I see a product review, and if it’s as good as I hope it will be, I hope that Linux users will support it with their wallets so we get more and better devices like this.
It seems like Star Labs is pivoting away from making superheroes and finally decided to use their technology more responsibly!
Always wanted to try a star labs product. What always stops me are the specs. Not enough ram or storage or CPU to justify the price. Even though I know the premium is there because they aren’t just white labeled clevos like every other Linux focused PC company
I see soo many people complain about the CPU but if your CPU use too much power, your battery is going to take a big hit on battery life, unless the tablet now start at much higher prices. So the 6W form factor makes a lot of sense.
People complaining about it not being AMD. AMD just doesn’t make good 6W CPU (other then custom one but that would cost a fortune for such a little company). Intel has been really experienced in this market.
To the people scared about video decoding, Intel has really good HW decoding so 4K isn’t an issue. It’s better then AMD’s one on Linux from my own experience.
Finally this is a $600 tablet, so don’t expect a workstation to run Blender. Linux runs well on weaker CPU. My school computer runs KDE Plasma with a few apps open without much trouble and it has a Intel Celeron N5100 and 4GB of RAM.
The problem is that tablets like this generally can’t take advantage of the turbo boost on the CPU due to thermal throttling. I’ll wait and see, but I expect it to perform worse than an N5100 laptop.
Wait and see
Great RAM and SSD, but at the cost of a quad core processor at 1Ghz. Still, I’d consider it a bargain, especially at 500 with the keyboard, as it is right now.
I mean what high processing thing could you do on a tablet?
Would absolutely get if it had a pen for drawing and notetaking, but otherwise I feel it’s just a somewhat underpowered laptop in a neat form factor.
Oh damn, I may actually get it then
I wish I would have known about this before buying the Pinetab2. I didn’t realize (completely my fault) that the Pinetab2 was a development unit without working wifi, bluetooth, camera and other issues. Once again, my fault, not Pine64’s.
The point of a tablet is to be secure to use it with a touch interface. If you install just some vanilla Linux distro, that won’t work. Is there any touch based interface for Linux that’s worth using?
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If only there was another group of touch first devices, preferably with even smaller screens, oh wait…
Yeah, I know I could just use Android or ChromeOS. But there’s a reason why I prefer Linux.
You haven’t read the list to the end, have you?
That’s an incredible price for 16gb of memory and a 512 ssd. Would be an upgrade from my 14" laptop. I just hope I don’t have to wait multiple years to get it.
Yeah, but at the cost of a quad core processor at 1Ghz
It boosts faster tho, so for average usage it might be fine. It just will have trouble with anything that requires sustained use, which for me would probably just be compiling code or games, things I wouldn’t try to do on a tablet.
I like compiling Gentoo on tablets
Are you Immolo? If not, I’ll write a comment about this on his latest video.
I’m not. But I installed Gentoo on a x86 tablet, it was fun.
I didn’t see anything in the article, but will it have stylus support?
This is honestly quite interesting. I might get one, if only to play around with and see what cool stuff I can think of to do with it.
Also, their laptops look pretty sweet - I think it strikes a much better long-term balance between framework’s “plug-and-play” approach (which necessarily leads to a slightly clunkier and less sleek design) and Apple’s “inscrutable slab of electronics” approach.
Star’s approach requires more (dis)assembly time and care, but I think that’s fine. You can open up a Framework way more trivially, but well… how often do you honestly plan on disassembling your laptop? For me, it’s:
- when I get it, to upgrade the RAM and SSD
- if I want to upgrade later, but that typically happens years down the road, and sometimes not ever if it can do what I need it to do without issues
- if something breaks and needs replacement… but that also typically happens years down the road
So, while I appreciate Framework’s approach… I’m honestly not going to crack the thing open more than 3 or 4 times, and hopefully only once or twice, so I am absolutely fine sacrificing super easy maintenance for an overall sleeker and more robust-feeling design.
I agree, I would say a reasonable limit for me would be:
- An hour for any maintenance (replace any component, start to finish)
- About 5-10eur for single use materials.
I think anymore would be enough to deter me from doing it the 1 or 2 times a year I really need it.
The important bit not mentioned here is that FW machines are both user serviceable and user upgradable. No need to eat the cost or create the waste of replacing a perfectly good chassis and display, and then sell off the replaced mainboard on the market.
I feel like no desktop OS maker has nailed transition to touch screen devices, but I have only recently gotten my first x86 tablet and have only used windows on it, so my experience is limited and I’m only judging from screenshots I have seen online.
(I guess steam OS can count as decent enough, but it’s not available yet outside of steam deck and it’s gaming focused)
P.S. I honestly would be happy with an iPad if it were not so limited and more non-mobile games were available for it
I think the issue with devices like this is that apps simply aren’t optimized for use like this.
I have a Surface. Barely used it as a tablet really, there aren’t a ton of uses and Windows in tablet mode is just awful.
With the keyboard it turns into a neat and portable mini laptop, which I love.
The Starlite seems neat, but with the current specs it feels like not quite a tablet yet not quite a laptop either.
Very appealing for a travel device running a Linux kernel. On the product page, they also mention Open Warranty, which makes me believe it will be easily serviceable - this would be a big plus, especially for a travel tablet, being able to switch the disk easily.
Gnome is not so bad. It has a decent on screen keyboard that’s very useable. I occasionally use it on my Dell 2-in-1 laptop.
