DeepComputing ROMA RISC-V Laptop | Hacker News Reader

DeepComputing ROMA RISC-V Laptop

store.deepcomputing.io

36 pointsswatson74115 comments

There is bordering on no useful data here. What CPU does this have? What version of vector crypto? Is there upstream kernel support?

It's a JH7110 SoC, same as VisionFive 2, Pine64 Star64 and PineTab-V, Milk-V Mars.

No vectors, so no vector crypto. No scalar crypto for that matter. RV64GC_Zba_Zbb.

Quad core RISC-V at up to 1.5GHz? Sounds like it'll be borderline unusable. :(

Also, no mention of battery capacity at all:

    Battery: Type-C power adapter

Wonder how this would compare to the 14" Pinebook Pro? That one's a super cheap ARM laptop, but has only 4GB ram.

https://pine64.com/product/14%e2%80%b3-pinebook-pro-linux-la...

Raspberry Pi levels of computing power. I wonder how badly a web browser will run on it, once you can actually compile it.

Why compile it? RISC-V distros come with web browser packages such as Firefox and Chromium as standard.

You can see how they perform on the currently available hardware here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na6PT4npsMg

The VisionFive 2 is the same chip as the Roma and they will perform the same. Better than a Pi3. Not quite as good as a Pi 4.

Hardware two or three times faster is coming this year, something similar to recent generation x86 and Apple in around 2026.

$765.00 USD is a reasonable price, even if it's only 8GB max memory. Would really like to know how hot it runs though, I've been searching for a laptop that stays cool, even when pushed

Their marketing page (with a little more detail) for the same laptop is:

https://deepcomputing.io/product/dc-roma-risc-v-laptop/

yea.. but how much you get? 0 to to 8GB, random?

but the wi-fi is "compatibile with wi-fi", which is a pro on my book.

JH7110 uses 5W maxed out, so yes, will run pretty cool. SBCs using the chip don't need active cooling, or even a heatsink.

> I've been searching for a laptop that stays cool, even when pushed

That would be an intentionally throttled laptop, which is not what most people would want. Because if the laptop "stays cool even when pushed", it means it could have been pushed more.

However, if low thermal output is what you want to optimise for, then an M1 macbook air always running on low power mode is a very good candidate, and abundant in second hand market for very good prices. Or any M1/M2/M3 laptop as long as you run it on low power mode.

The new Macs stay really cool

I'm definitely getting one after the war. Have been looking for something RISC-V to play with just recently. Not sure if it's really the first RISC-V Laptop ever since there is also Lichee Console 4a, and it's technically a laptop too. But this one is much better.

It's been out much longer than the Lichee Console 4A. They started taking orders for the Roma in around October 2022, and delivered them in October 2023 I think.

If a tablet with a keyboard/touchpad dock counts (i.e. CPU in the screen, not in the keyboard part) then the Pine64 PineTab-V has been shipping since July 2023, several months before the Roma. It has exactly the same CPU as the Roma, but is $210 with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB eMMC (or $160 with half the storage).

https://pine64.com/product-category/pinetab/

Nice! Didn't know of that. Thanks!

Less be picky: where is the AV1 codec hardware block?

Have been programming rv64 assembly, the more I code, the more I realize this is the new C.

(and I use a userland VM to run rv64 on x86_64)

Does anyone actually have one of these? Anything to report?

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