icebags
Technomancer
purchased mintbook :
*i.imgur.com/UJ5mM9Y.jpg
few days ago @15.5k/- , & then reduced the price to 13.5k with some coupon.
( ACER es1-132 / celeron D N3350 processor / 2GB ram expandable by another 4GB DDR-L / 500GB HDD / 11.6" TN panel/ linux )
mini review :
features and pros:
# does not feel chep , but looks quite sturdy and well made.
# probably the cheapest laptop with HDD with is better than having 32GV on board flash. cpu is powerful enough for reading, coding browsing and all sorts of non heavy office works, and occasional youtube viewing.
# very light @ ~1.25kgs and small size 11.6" is very easy to carry around
# cheapest lappy to have an expandable ram feature, if 2GB feels lower.
# came with some weird command prompt linux installed, which, first thing i did was to get rid of it.
# nice multitouch big touch pad, which can be programmed for 1/2/3 finger detection and corner soft buttons.
# good battery life - with wifi and hdd on, and normal reading and stuff, it gives ~8hrs backup. the battery is ~36Wh, so on average it consumes ~5watts of energy. very green and good to carry around.
# good to use lightweight linux versions (xfce / lxde) which normally use 500-600Mb of ram.
# also has a ethernet port.
# fanless passive cooling design - there is no fan for cooling in it !!!!! the celeron processor consumes ~a little more power than atom processors, but has higher clock speed. so, unless you make it busy, it really consumes very little power. idles at @40-55 degrees. movie watch with local files (720p) ~55-60degrees, but youtube really pushes it a bit high @~64-68 degrees with cpu usage ~40-50% with 720p videos.
cons:
# even though it was a linux laptop, and i purchased it to use with Mint XFCE (light version), installing any linux on it was tad difficult. it just refused to boot into int installed linux. at one point i thought of returning it, but after searching a lot, got an workaround to copy mint boot files from installer pendrive to hdd boot drive. guess they did made this to work only with windows 10, or whatever.
# TN panel was a bit letdown, when cheaper atombooks come with ips panels.
# SD card slot only accepts the card halfway, remaining half of the card just sticks out. so much to my idea of leaving the bootable sd card into the slot and keeping the hdd on sleep most of the time. that would have gave another hour of more battery backup.
# home & end keys are usable by only Fn key, they are normally page up/down keys. i always use home and End keys, so reconfigured they keymap to reverse the role of Fn key.
# because of fanless design, it's better not to let the cpu temps too high, so just need to watch out there. i just put it's rear side on top of a a book / paper, to have air / ventilation below.
lastly, loving this atm, hopefully it will last long.
*i.imgur.com/UJ5mM9Y.jpg
few days ago @15.5k/- , & then reduced the price to 13.5k with some coupon.
( ACER es1-132 / celeron D N3350 processor / 2GB ram expandable by another 4GB DDR-L / 500GB HDD / 11.6" TN panel/ linux )
mini review :
features and pros:
# does not feel chep , but looks quite sturdy and well made.
# probably the cheapest laptop with HDD with is better than having 32GV on board flash. cpu is powerful enough for reading, coding browsing and all sorts of non heavy office works, and occasional youtube viewing.
# very light @ ~1.25kgs and small size 11.6" is very easy to carry around
# cheapest lappy to have an expandable ram feature, if 2GB feels lower.
# came with some weird command prompt linux installed, which, first thing i did was to get rid of it.
# nice multitouch big touch pad, which can be programmed for 1/2/3 finger detection and corner soft buttons.
# good battery life - with wifi and hdd on, and normal reading and stuff, it gives ~8hrs backup. the battery is ~36Wh, so on average it consumes ~5watts of energy. very green and good to carry around.
# good to use lightweight linux versions (xfce / lxde) which normally use 500-600Mb of ram.
# also has a ethernet port.
# fanless passive cooling design - there is no fan for cooling in it !!!!! the celeron processor consumes ~a little more power than atom processors, but has higher clock speed. so, unless you make it busy, it really consumes very little power. idles at @40-55 degrees. movie watch with local files (720p) ~55-60degrees, but youtube really pushes it a bit high @~64-68 degrees with cpu usage ~40-50% with 720p videos.
cons:
# even though it was a linux laptop, and i purchased it to use with Mint XFCE (light version), installing any linux on it was tad difficult. it just refused to boot into int installed linux. at one point i thought of returning it, but after searching a lot, got an workaround to copy mint boot files from installer pendrive to hdd boot drive. guess they did made this to work only with windows 10, or whatever.
# TN panel was a bit letdown, when cheaper atombooks come with ips panels.
# SD card slot only accepts the card halfway, remaining half of the card just sticks out. so much to my idea of leaving the bootable sd card into the slot and keeping the hdd on sleep most of the time. that would have gave another hour of more battery backup.
# home & end keys are usable by only Fn key, they are normally page up/down keys. i always use home and End keys, so reconfigured they keymap to reverse the role of Fn key.
# because of fanless design, it's better not to let the cpu temps too high, so just need to watch out there. i just put it's rear side on top of a a book / paper, to have air / ventilation below.
lastly, loving this atm, hopefully it will last long.
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