Post #1216665

@fossdd i’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of my Dell Latitude 5290 2-in-1 (i7-8650u variant, there’s i7 7th gen variants but honestly it’s worth paying the extra for 2x the cores). it’s a tablet with a detachable keyboard. the size (12” 3:2 screen) means that it’s rather uncomfortable for holding-tablet-in-hand usage (it’s also just a bit too heavy for that imo), but being able to detach the keyboard is actually quite convenient e.g. if you want to place it flat on a small desk and don’t need to write.the keyboard is connected with very strong magnets and pogo pins on the bottom. it’s stable enough that it can dangle off the side of a desk as well, which is pretty convenient for a “mostly draws things but writes ocasionally” workflow (i tend to do this on maths lectures a lot). maybe when i’m not in the middle of a lecture i’ll take some pictures to demonstrate itthe way it stands up is with a kickstand on the back; it can bend further back allowing you to place it almost flat. pushing it back like this felt a bit like “forcing” it at first, but even after 3 or so years of usage it hasn’t worn out/become loose yet, and this was already an used laptop when i got it, so i guess that’s an intended feature :)edit: nvm, there is a point when it’s like 85%-90% pushed back where i assume the weight of the laptop itself will cause it to push itself all the way back)if you’re used to normal laptops, you might have a hard time switching to it; for me it came naturally. the kickstand makes it a tiny bit less comfortable to hold on your lap (but eventually your thighs get used to the metal cutting into them :D), but it does make it really nice to attach the laptop to the top of your legs if you’re in a laying-down-with-legs-up position (hard to describe in words, i’d have to draw a picture or something. unfortunately akkoma does not have a drawing tool to my knowledge)other than that, it’s a mostly standard x86_64 laptop. it runs linux perfectly fine, save for the fingerprint reader and cameras not working. (i have some issues with it not waking up from suspend sometimes though. not sure why, it used to work fine a few months back. could be an alpine thing?)(you could probably get the cameras working if you poked the linux surface guys, since those laptops use a very similar setup; i gave up since it requires reading i2c data under windows which is a pain in the ass and the process/what to do with those values is barely documented. but i digress)it packs plenty enough punch for compiling packages and doing software dev, i use it as my main machine (plugged into an external monitor when i’m at my flat)the battery lasts about 2-2.5 hours under heavy usage and up to 3.5 or so hours under regular usage (just using gnome+rnote+my usual background apps (thunderbird and newsflash)+maybe a web browser).i have an usb-c powerbank which lets me charge the thing almost twice over so i basically never run out of battery on the goit is very easy to take apart; there are 6 screws under the kick stand and the screen snaps out, no glue or anything else. the ram is unfortunately not upgradable. the drive, however, is, and there’s a second slot for a modem or 2230 ssd (both are nvme)unfortunately parts are starting to become a bit rarer to come by. when my first keyboard broke i only managed to find one listing on allegro for a replacement, and it was clearly used and fixed; unlike the laptop, the keyboard is covered in a felt material and glued shut. they had to cut it open and replace the bottom with some other fabric; unfortunately they didn’t do a very good job at gluing it back, so there’s funny holes left over. it’s whatever though, adds some visual flare :p i just checked allegro out of curiosity, and it seems like it’s not that easy to come by these days. i’m not sure if dell made many other laptops of this kind (12” with detachable keyboard); the 7200 2in1 seems pretty similar. i guess the microsoft surface line has similar devices? there’s plenty of 2-in-1s with a non-detachable keyboard for a more traditional laptop experience. pen the pens i’ve tried with it are the PN556W and the PN579X; as far as i can tell, both accept wacom bamboo ink pen replacement nibs. they’re more of a direct replacement for the former, i think the latter has a slightly thicker/generally different nib bundled but it does seem compatible with the old ones at least). the experience is quite nice, especially with the pn579x which is the more “premium” option, though the pen’s body has a bit of a weird finish (i had two, this new one i just got is kind of grainy, the old one was more smooth; ymmv).both pens use AAAA batteries which are impossible to come by irl. the former has extra tiny coincells which are equally impossible, the latter only has the AAAA. i think there’s an even more premium pen that is rechargable? either way, one battery lasts you a couple of months (i swap them out every 4 months or so), but it’s good to stock up and keep some on you just in casethere’s a magnet on the side of the laptop that the pen attaches to; it’s somewhat sturdy if you’re just lifting it up but it does fall off if poked hard enough, i nearly lost it multiple times while just pulling my laptop out of the bag. i recommend attaching the little strap that comes with the pen to the pen and laptop (there’s a hidden loop in the top right corner, i will share pictures later). note taking for note taking i use rnote.the general performance - scrolling with the touchscreen and writing with the pen - feels very snappy.the writing itself feels great, the other drawing tools are quite nice too, but a lot of the other UI could use some worktext writing is okay but has a lot of ux papercuts: changing size switches writing focus to the size field so you have to click on the text field again, changing the color resets formatting, selecting another text field copies the size/color which is cool but it doesn’t re-select the color from the color picker so you end up in an inconsistent state where you have to pick the color again, sometimes the formatting drifts apart when editing from the start, whether you can ctrl+a to select all text is basically a 50/50 chance, … but i got used to it. it’s hard to design a good text fieldthe notebook feature is, imo, rather useless since you can’t save the current note to a notebook or create a new one in it; you have to navigate through the usual file chooser dialog. it’s only really good for opening old notes but even then it’s kind of difficult to open a note with just the pen since it requires a double-click, something that is really difficult to do, so i usually just select with the pen and press enter on my keyboard …despite how much of the text is taken up by my gripes with it, i think rnote is an excellent utility. sorry for being complain-y lol okii enough procrastinating on my probabilistyka lecture this post is long enough lol