this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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Forget Linux for a second. What you need to be aware is that both the variants come with only 4GB soldered-on RAM and eMMC storage. That means, even if you do manage to get Linux going on them, it's going to be super slow for any sort of practical Web/GUI needs. 4GB RAM is barely enough to run a browser these days, and if you tack on a full-fledged DE and multitasking with other apps, you'll be pushing memory pages to the disk (ie, swapping). And when that happens, you'll really feel the slowness. Trust me, you don't want to be swapping to eMMC - that's super old tech, something like 3x slower than UFS, which in turn a LOT slower than m.2 NVMe (the current standard used in "proper" laptops/convertibles).
Also, consider this for perspective - even budget smartphones these days come with at least 6GB RAM and UFS storage. So this laptop/convertible - a device meant for productivity - is a complete ripoff.
If money is an issue, then just buy a used laptop (from eBay, or whatever you guys use there). If you're aiming for good Linux compatibility then ThinkPads are a safe bet. But since you're after a Surface-like device, then you could just get any older Surface device. Why settle for an imitation when you can get the real thing? In any case, most older x86 laptops from mainstream brands should work fine in Linux in general, just do a google for it to see if there are any quirks or issues.
Regardless of your choice, avoid the Duet 3. 4GB RAM is completely unacceptable for a laptop in 2024.
I have a Surface Pro 4 that is riddled with software issues that Microsoft didn't patch and hardware issues that left the device with under three hours of battery after just a few years, so I'm not very trusting of them, as well as the larger hardware incompatibilities, but it looks like it may come to one of those or an ipad :/
Take a look at the Lenovo Yoga models. There are very well built thinkpads out there that fold over and have a stylus + touchscreen
I have had two Lenovo models as my last two laptops, including the one I'm on now which is a Yoga 9i. I have buyers remorse so much for both of these and stupidly got pulled in by low prices and a long list of features. They're slow, unupgradable, both had issues where i needed to send them back for repair as they turned off randomly which was very frustrating with lots of lost work, and then lots of time without the laptop..
I think after thinkpads their overall quality has hit the pan
There's 23 pages of people with these issues and very little support from Lenovo on this thread: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-S-Series-ThinkPad-Yoga-and-Twist-Laptops/Lenovo-Yoga-9i-keeps-freezing/m-p/5087025 And another 3 pages here: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-Yoga-Series-Notebooks/Laptop-randomly-turns-off/m-p/3840927?page=3
Hm well, I caried a Yoga l390 in a Backpack for 3.5 years and opened+closed it many times a day. That thing is now 5 years old. It's not being used daily anymore, but still multiple times a week. And it still works perfectly in every regard. Only the hinges became a bit less stiff and the battery capacity went down a bit. But those are a given with that age and amount of charge cycles.
Since 1.5 years I have the pleasure to work fulltime with a fully specced x1 Yoga, that also has to go into the backpack every day. Of course that's not very old, but it also has zero problems, only the silver paint at the corners started to wear off slowly from carrying it around.
The stylus that stows in the case is annoyingly small (and you need a seperate normal sized one for extended writing), but other than that it has all been very positive for me.
The entry that I found had 8GB, and I'm only going to use it to run xournal+ so I don't need a lot.
Edit: fuck the description says 4GB
I have a Samsung Chromebook that also has ARM SoC, 4 GB of soldered RAM and eMMC storage. I installed postmarketOS on it, with desktop KDE Plasma 6, and with 4 GB of ZRAM, it is definitely usable - I could run Xournal++ without much problem. It's not butter smooth, the scrolling can be stuttery, but it should be enough for light notetaking. Granted, my SoC is older and weaker (RK3399), so your mileage may vary.
Hmm, so I've had a look and it seems like Xournal++ only supports x86_64. Which means that if you get the Snapdragon version, you'll need run it using an x86 emulator like FEXEmu or Box64, and this will affect the performance and may also introduce compatibility issues. So you'll need to do your own research and find out if someone's managed to run it on ARM / Snapdragon 7c, and if there's any issues etc.
You could get the Celeron version instead, but personally I can't recommend a Celeron to anyone in good faith, so you'll have to make your own decision sorry.
Xournal++ supports other architectures. They might not have compiled binaries for other architectures ready to be downloaded on their GitHub release, but it's packaged on at least postmarketOS (i.e. Alpine Linux) edge (I have it on my "Chromebook") and Debian Stable.
8GB is enough but not nice. 12GB is my sweet spot for normal tasks, everything above is for virtual machines etc.
https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/lenovo-chromebook-duet-3-laptop-10-9-ips-60hz-platform-qualcomm-adreno-8gb-128gb/16595271