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Comment by iagovar | Hacker News Reader

OT: Is Pinebook worth it to RDP with remmina? I'm currently using a fanless 13.5" Acer B115m but It's getting old and deteriorated (the screen plastic is peeling off...).

I've been trying to find a replacement, but with better screen, which my main complaint about the B115m (I use it mainly outdoors with 4g, I need brightness), but most laptops use fans, which I'm trying to avoid. Had no luck in the <500€ range.

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I've got the pinebook pro. If you want something that "just works", it's not quite there. The community is constantly working on it though. I think with full driver support it can be a great little machine.

Agreed, and will add that the trackpad on the PBP is terrible. The keyboard is barely acceptable. For real work I’d pick something else.

I'd definitely consider the trackpad terrible on my Pinebook Pro, but I'm surprised to hear you find the keyboard barely accepable, I thoroughly enjoy it.

Pinebook Pro user here, trackpad is indeed terrible, I thought the keyboard was great though.

I had to update my keyboard firmware to get functions to work right. Maybe that's your issue?

Try to find a used Dell Latitude 7370. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Latitude-13-7370-Ultraboo...

I've been using the Pinebook pro for that since June and it works flawless

The obvious thing that comes to mind for fanless laptops given recent news is the Macbook Air with the M1 chip, but clearly that isn't offering a similar thing in terms of freedom and user control of the hardware/software.

It's way out off my budget.

I wish I could have something like MacBook Air (a durable stylish laptop to carry around for coding, writing and browsing the web wherever I go, full HD screen to fit more text, as much RAM as possible - to load complex editor/IDE configs) but 100% Linux-compatible and at a fraction of the price.

Here is what I'm ready to sacrifice:

I don't need fanless, I don't need crazy battery time (half a day is more than enough), I don't play games nor do I need videos to play in resolutions exceeding 720p (360p is more than enough for me unless I try to watch a video on coding where I need to read the code), I don't need any OS but Linux. I don't need it to be new (can be refurbished) as long as it still is easy to find in the EU (US would add import taxes).

I thought PineBook Pro can kind of fit this because it seems being a RaspberryPi-like in a MacBookAir-like shell and RaspberryPi4 actually feels Ok.

Can you suggest something that fits better than PineBook Pro and MacBook Air do?

I hear some/old macbooks does support linux quite well. I think even linus was using an Air at one point in time (still?).

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