Mr Chimp1d ago
mjdxp
why did we ever abandon netbooks as a form factor

instead we should have made them less terrible by not putting CPUs that can barely calculate what 1+1 is, giving them more RAM, and by not putting windows 7 starter on them
Mar 22 at 12:29pmWeb
Show threadSigma2d ago
@[email protected] I mean, I guess there are modern-ish "netbooks". Stuff like the Piccolo N150, MNT Pocket Next, ...
Show threadMoses Izumi2d ago
@mjdxp
I heard that the Windows 7 Starter thing was some Microsoft licensing bollocks. (arbitrarily raising the OEM license prices on anything with "proper" Windows and a core2/i7 or something like that)

On a related note, I wonder if the Macbook Neo will prompt the Dells and ASUSes into making cheap Windows laptops around literal telephone CPUs.
(ideally we'd all be packing smartphones with integrated physical keyboards, but I guess the vendors decided that such a device would make the plebs too powerful or something)
Show threadMoses Izumi2d ago
@mjdxp
all I know is that "Windows 8.1 with Bing" was a real thing that could absolutely hurt you.
(MS giving Windows away for free, if it defaulted to their unwanted search engine)
(probably trivial to work around, but still heralded their move towards a "users are the real product" business model)
Show threadmjdxp1d ago
@moses_izumi geez, they really wanted people to use bing lmao
Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@mjdxp
I only know about it because of Cathode Ray Dude.

Convincing people to use Bing was one of the main reasons they inked a deal with the slopmachine architects.
(Sataya Nadella trying GPT once and immediately deciding that "this needs to be part of our search engine")
Show threadmjdxp1d ago
@moses_izumi do you have the link to that video? i love cash register dude's videos but i've never seen this one
Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@mjdxp
I think he mentioned Win 8.1 + Bing in one of the Little Guys episodes or the Asus Transformer Trio video
he also mentioned it in a cohost post (rip), or at least forwarded someone else's post

found out about the GPT incident through one of Ed Zitron's articles about Microsoft
Show threadluna sugar๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ1d ago
@moses_izumi @mjdxp windows 8.1 with bing essentially was microsoft providing windows for free to manufacturers, as long the manufacturer didn't install another web browser, and kept internet explorer's default search engine as bing

as far users are concerned, there is nothing to bypass, they could still install another web browser, or if for some reason they want to use internet explorer, they could change search engine in it themselves
Show threadmjdxp1d ago
@sugar @moses_izumi lmao, they were SO desperate
Show threadmjdxp1d ago
@moses_izumi i mean, the macbook neo is targeted towards education, and everyone already has their own line of chromebooks which basically use phone CPUs (since most of them are ARM)
Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@mjdxp
I only care the Neo from the perspective that last year's phone SOCs are good enough to rival the previous decade's workstations, at a fraction of the TDP.

All of those chips seem to be going into handheld games machines, even though you could probably make a killer ITX/laptop/Raspberry Pi board around them.
Show threadARGVMI~1.PIF1d ago

@mjdxp @moses_izumi

Key difference: netbooks didn't have locked boot loaders, did have ACPI, and could run any operating system. They were real computers, just small slow ones.

There are very small laptops today, but as far as I know, installing an operating system on them requires you to load an image of that operating system using a separate computer and proprietary software. A real computer can natively boot a storage device (USB stick etc) and install any unsigned OS from there.

Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@argv_minus_one @mjdxp
Chromebooks run on coreboot, so it's fairly trivial to overwrite the stock firmware/bootloader with something that isn't bent to Google's whims.

(you *can* launch arbitrary OSes without reflashing, but you have to enable a cumbersome "developer mode" first and enable USB boot from ChromeOS)
Show threadARGVMI~1.PIF1d ago

@moses_izumi

A real computer also doesn't require you to ever boot the stock OS before installing a different one. That kind of setting belongs in BIOS setup, not the OS.

@mjdxp

Show threadAmber 1d ago
@argv_minus_one @[email protected] @[email protected] yeah im not gonna lie as someone who did go through this effort, disassembling my entire computer to remove the R/W screw which would lock the firmware into RO when present, then booting into developer mode, running several weird scripts from the internet and then having an unlocked chromebook which at the time most distros couldn't support (touchpad drivers mainly)... it wasn't an experience i'd want for people.
Show threadAmber 1d ago
@argv_minus_one @[email protected] @[email protected] also even when you do all of that you still don't really have a proper bios menu for settings. it just kinda shows the coreboot splash and then you boot in.
Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@puppygirlhornypost2 @mjdxp @argv_minus_one
yea google gives you the option to replace the stock software suite, but doesn't care about the user experience

in some sense it's a precursor to the asinine "wait 24 hours before you can install 3rd party apps that expire"-policy they wanna bring to Android
(basically every security measure they create demonstrates their desire to Control Fucking Everything)
Show threadJason123santa21h ago
@puppygirlhornypost2 @mjdxp @argv_minus_one @moses_izumi it does have a bios menu but its the basic coreboot efi menu
Show threadirina ๐Ÿ‡๐ŸŒท2d ago
@mjdxp i think they just got replaced by 8"-10" android tablets with keyboard cases
Show threadmjdxp1d ago
@irina yeah, technically more functional since they don't take forever to do anything, but also a lot less interesting to us nerds
Show threadjiub   1d ago
@[email protected] china is bringing them back! i've had a chuwi minibook x for about a year now and it fills the same niche as the original netbooks did

only difference is, the n150 cpu is way more capable than the atom-based cpus, and it has a decent amount of ram and storage

it took a bit of tweaking to get everything working on linux (there's a guide to getting it working) but it's been awesome since then

https://boingboing.net/2025/03/10/chuwis-minibook-x-n150-is-a-great-and-inexpensive-little-laptop.html
Chuwi's Minibook X N150 is a great (and inexpensive) little laptop

While it uses the same processors as cheap plastic netbooks, the 12GB of RAM makes a difference and I haven't felt pinched when multitasking.

Boing Boing
Show threadmjdxp1d ago
@jiub this actually looks pretty cool, and it's not too expensive for what it is, i doubt it's possible to repair it though
Show threadDanielle Crawford1d ago
@mjdxp they were hell to type on
Show threadะจัƒั€ะพ23h ago
@mjdxp then they can be called "ultrabooks" and sold for triple the price.