In the market for a new laptop or perhaps a Microsoft Surface-like tablet style system? Well, Star Labs have turned their StarLite laptop into a tablet.
  • twolate@discuss.tchncs.de
    4·
    11 months ago

    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?

    • darq@kbin.social
      1·
      11 months ago

      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.

    • penguin@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      11 months ago

      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.

      • monotrox@discuss.tchncs.de
        1·
        11 months ago

        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.

  • Treedav@lemmy.one
    1·
    11 months ago

    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.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    In the market for a new laptop or perhaps a Microsoft Surface-like tablet style system?

    Well, Star Labs have turned their StarLite laptop into a tablet.

    I have to admit, I love the form factor on this giving you the best of both worlds.

    You get a sweet fully Linux supported tablet, and you can hook it up to a magnetic keyboard to get a full laptop experience too.

    This is a proper Linux system too with open-source firmware powered by coreboot and edk II with updates via LVFS.

    They support and test many different configurations, and you get a decent warranty with it too allowing you to to take your computer apart, replace parts, install an upgrade, and use any operating system and even your firmware, all without voiding the warranty.

    I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • peotr26@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    11 months ago

    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.

  • DumbAceDragon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    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.

  • RockyC@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    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.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • loopgru@slrpnk.net
      1·
      8 months ago

      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.