Even better in an environment that bans computers. Understablable for safety but sometimes?
I came across this YouTube clip:
Not mine I have to say, but, I looked at it and I thought “Hold my Pepsi one minute, there’s smaller still!”
I don’t own a GPD Pocket PC sadly, I’ve always wanted one but never had the cash to buy one new or used. The Pocket 3 or 4 is on my wish list, but still.
I owned a OQO Model 01 (which is 5.5″, that was tiny and slow!), I still own a OQO model 2 but not the much more rarer 02+ and the GPD Micro PC which is a 6″ screen. This is what it looks like with my Apple iPad 8″ 2021.
Dinky isn’t it? Even my trackball is bigger than the laptop!
Better, it has an upgradable SSD! I’ve done it, it takes a SATA 2242 SSD and it has a few interesting tricks. Did I tell you I brought 2 of them? One as a spare. You may wonder “but is it usable?” Actually, yes it is, 3 hour battery life, its silent, you can downclock the CPU to 6W or upto 10″, charges off a phone charger or even a computer USB port, the keyboard is teeny tiny, but it works and I’ve used this one a lot! You can also toss it anywhere you like. The big question is, why buy it? Pull up a chair, its going to be interesting.
I brought this in November 2020 or so. My previous job, I had a big problem as I had to work during COVID and I was running out of tasks, so I stayed out the place and kept having issues with others, I can’t talk about it too much on here, but one was a bigger issue. So a manager asked “why don’t you take your laptop with you?”, “Ok then!” So opened the floodgates in between duties. No more spoken about it until the world started opening up after COVID and I was doing a lot on the computer, using my home one remotely, building models, interacting, setting them up. Hundreds of things, until one day, they tried to withdraw it. Yep, stop me taking the computer with me.
Thats when the fun started. They wouldn’t let me, so I started having more fun, tried phones to begin with with a keyboard and mouse, wasn’t any fun over a remote connection, so I went one better, get a local computer, scoured the internet and then came across the GPD Miini PC for about £230 on eBay. PERFECT! Brought it, took it with me to work the day after I got it and was like:
“They can’t stop me taking my laptop now! :)” with my GPD poking out of my jacket pocket. The best bit is, they didn’t even notice it!
My colleague I was talking to was laughing his head off. Management didn’t find the funny side of it, but I persevered and kept going and occasionally, I still use it. (Oh, then they cut the Wi-Fi to the station by ending “the cloud” contract and I had to rethink things, so an 8″ tablet made a return with a SIM card).
Interesting problem, so I go to work on my first day, don’t have my work laptop and I walk in with my Chromebook. Ask my new boss to send me the copy of the workbook and he didn’t mind me using my personal laptop. Think about that for a minute. Plus I’ve admitted using my personal laptop in the past at work and no one minded as long as it was work related, which at the time, was, to keep up to date as I didn’t have a work phone or IT login.
Whats it like to use? Well, light, fits anywhere, if you lose it, you won’t notice, if you carry it, you won’t notice, it turns heads and it is pretty capable. Oh, and has more I/O than your equivalent MacBook. It is really capable and I mean capable. You can game on it, GTAV works on it at 800×600 resolution and the fan on and that gives you an idea.
I/O wise, it has 3xUSB 3.0 ports, a serial port (who needs one of those these days? Oh I do), HDMI out, USB-C for charging and supports everything bar thunderbolt I think, my Dell WD-19 dock worked as shown below, TF card, a headphone jack, an Ethernet port, some screw holes to mount it on and I think thats it.
It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Somehow, GPD also installed a blacklit keyboard. I mention the good bits, the bad bits, the keyboard? Think of a calculator keyboard, its not rubber, but its as small, with squished keys, so typos? Yep, you’ll make a lot. The trackpad is in an awkward position, but when you hold it up, you can use your thumbs quite easily, so its a trade off in one area and a usable item in another. The sceen is very good for a device this size and its VERY light. Also has a wrist strap to stop you from dropping it. At least you get plenty of feedback.
It can be slow too, I mentioned I’ve run GTAV at 800×600, but sometimes, it gets slow as hell, I guess it is just my device, bit the fact it works at all is a miracle. Oh and unlike other devices, it runs a full copy of Windows 10 or 11, or even Linux. Thats worth the trade off. The number keys are also badly positioned, but then I understand why.
Then the final problem, some have hinge issues and that has worried me when I saw the reports of that. My 2 haven’t cracked yet, but there are reports online where they have. I’ve dropped it though and it is rugged.
Who is it for? Well, if you like quirky things that you can hide, perfect. If you got an unnecessarily strict work place? Perfect. Otherwise, if you don’t have a need for it, don’t bother. It’s fun to carry, don’t get me wrong, the novelty does wear off after some time.
Especially when you can shove it places its not suppose to go, like your shirt pocket.
