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I ran across this Linux notebook and was wondering if anyone has any experience with this or the company that sells it?
https://alpha.store/product/litebook-laptop/
It's basically a Chromebook with a normal keyboard and using Linux instead of ChromeOS. With the 120GB SSD option it comes out to $300.

I've never heard of the company. Seems like an OK price if you're really looking for something in a slim form factor with good Linux compatibility. The 4GB of non-upgradeable RAM would be a dealbreaker for me though.

Is it just me, or do the images of this product on their site all appear to be 3D renderings? If they aren't, they've done a pretty good job of making actual photographs look sterile and artificial.

Edit: And if you don't particularly care about the slim form factor, just get a refurb off-lease HP ProBook or somesuch. Should cost about the same and run a standard Linux distro with minimal hassle.

just brew it! wrote:

I've never heard of the company. Seems like an OK price if you're really looking for something in a slim form factor with good Linux compatibility. The 4GB of non-upgradeable RAM would be a dealbreaker for me though.

Is it just me, or do the images of this product on their site all appear to be 3D renderings? If they aren't, they've done a pretty good job of making actual photographs look sterile and artificial.

Edit: And if you don't particularly care about the slim form factor, just get a refurb off-lease HP ProBook or somesuch. Should cost about the same and run a standard Linux distro with minimal hassle.

Yeah I can see your point about the non-upgradeable memory. On the other hand, it does come with 1080p 14.1" display and I can have a 120GB SSD option as well. However with the Celeron N3150, I'm wondering how much performance I should expect?

Never heard of them, and my first thought on visiting the product page is that the hinges look like dog poop. Also, crappy Atom CPU and soldered-down bits are crappy. I love netbooks but a 14 inch laptop is not a netbook.

Like JBI said, for $400 you can get a very nice off-lease corporate book that will last longer and vastly outperform this thing. This looks like the sort of thing that exists to be advertised in Linux magazines to folks who've had so much of the kool-aid they don't actually know how the PC hardware industry works anymore.

NovusBogus wrote:

Never heard of them, and my first thought on visiting the product page is that the hinges look like dog poop. Also, crappy Atom CPU and soldered-down bits are crappy. I love netbooks but a 14 inch laptop is not a netbook.

Like JBI said, for $400 you can get a very nice off-lease corporate book that will last longer and vastly outperform this thing. This looks like the sort of thing that exists to be advertised in Linux magazines to folks who've had so much of the kool-aid they don't actually know how the PC hardware industry works anymore.

You and JBI are right, I just check Newegg and I can get a better deal.

NovusBogus wrote:

my first thought on visiting the product page is that the hinges look like dog poop.

3D rendered dog poop? I'm still leaning towards those product images being CGI instead of actual product photos.

TBH I hadn't even thought about that. With a hinge that small/flimsy, it probably isn't going to take kindly to being dropped... "Houston, we have separation!"

Looking at Newegg I found some notebooks with [i]real CPUs[i] and SSDs for not much more then this thing cost. But thanks for the advice guys, anywhere else I can look?

Well guys I picked out a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad T430 for half what the Alpha Litebook cost. I'll order it later today.

dude, how many of the systems in these "whatabout" posts of yours do you normally end up buying?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that number is pretty close to zero.

Well guys I just placed an order for this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6834332556
$165.00 with S/H. It was too good a deal to pass up.