Star Labs reveal their new StarLite, a Surface-like Linux tablet

Seems like no stylus? If so it makes the starlite not very surface-like in my mind. Ain't a stylus the reason for something like this?

I'm not sure on Starlab's background or people's stance on them, but I think this looks pretty nice.

Coreboot, 3:2 aspect ratio, magnetic keyboard, aluminium finish, I'd say makes this a pretty compelling alternative to a surface. Specs aren't super beefy, but I don't think they need to be in this form factor. Introductory price on this seems nice, too.

I am of the opinion that if we keep waiting for the “perfect” Linux tablet, it will never exist. The specs of this unit are head and shoulders above any other Linux-dedicated tablet thus far.

I plan on buying one once I see a product review, and if it’s as good as I hope it will be, I hope that Linux users will support it with their wallets so we get more and better devices like this.

The best thing for me is that you can buy a battery for it on their site with instructions how to do the replacement. Nothing is glued together according to the manual (which probably makes it mory clunky than Surface but oh well). Coreboot is an icing on the cake.

It seems like Star Labs is pivoting away from making superheroes and finally decided to use their technology more responsibly!

I don't need this, I don't need this, I so need this... I mean I don't... fuck!

Always wanted to try a star labs product. What always stops me are the specs. Not enough ram or storage or CPU to justify the price. Even though I know the premium is there because they aren't just white labeled clevos like every other Linux focused PC company

I see soo many people complain about the CPU but if your CPU use too much power, your battery is going to take a big hit on battery life, unless the tablet now start at much higher prices. So the 6W form factor makes a lot of sense.

People complaining about it not being AMD. AMD just doesn't make good 6W CPU (other then custom one but that would cost a fortune for such a little company). Intel has been really experienced in this market.

To the people scared about video decoding, Intel has really good HW decoding so 4K isn't an issue. It's better then AMD's one on Linux from my own experience.

Finally this is a $600 tablet, so don't expect a workstation to run Blender. Linux runs well on weaker CPU. My school computer runs KDE Plasma with a few apps open without much trouble and it has a Intel Celeron N5100 and 4GB of RAM.

I wish I would have known about this before buying the Pinetab2. I didn't realize (completely my fault) that the Pinetab2 was a development unit without working wifi, bluetooth, camera and other issues. Once again, my fault, not Pine64's.

Would absolutely get if it had a pen for drawing and notetaking, but otherwise I feel it's just a somewhat underpowered laptop in a neat form factor.

The point of a tablet is to be secure to use it with a touch interface. If you install just some vanilla Linux distro, that won't work. Is there any touch based interface for Linux that's worth using?

Great RAM and SSD, but at the cost of a quad core processor at 1Ghz. Still, I'd consider it a bargain, especially at 500 with the keyboard, as it is right now.

Very appealing for a travel device running a Linux kernel. On the product page, they also mention Open Warranty, which makes me believe it will be easily serviceable - this would be a big plus, especially for a travel tablet, being able to switch the disk easily.

I didn't see anything in the article, but will it have stylus support?

Does anyone have on-screen keyboard experience with Linux tablets?

GNOME Mobile should have a good one after purism started pushing it, right?

Any more info on this?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

In the market for a new laptop or perhaps a Microsoft Surface-like tablet style system?

Well, Star Labs have turned their StarLite laptop into a tablet.

I have to admit, I love the form factor on this giving you the best of both worlds.

You get a sweet fully Linux supported tablet, and you can hook it up to a magnetic keyboard to get a full laptop experience too.

This is a proper Linux system too with open-source firmware powered by coreboot and edk II with updates via LVFS.

They support and test many different configurations, and you get a decent warranty with it too allowing you to to take your computer apart, replace parts, install an upgrade, and use any operating system and even your firmware, all without voiding the warranty.

I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Damn this might be an easy buy for $600

This is honestly quite interesting. I might get one, if only to play around with and see what cool stuff I can think of to do with it.

Also, their laptops look pretty sweet - I think it strikes a much better long-term balance between framework’s “plug-and-play” approach (which necessarily leads to a slightly clunkier and less sleek design) and Apple’s “inscrutable slab of electronics” approach.

Star’s approach requires more (dis)assembly time and care, but I think that’s fine. You can open up a Framework way more trivially, but well… how often do you honestly plan on disassembling your laptop? For me, it’s:

• when I get it, to upgrade the RAM and SSD
• if I want to upgrade later, but that typically happens years down the road, and sometimes not ever if it can do what I need it to do without issues
• if something breaks and needs replacement… but that also typically happens years down the road

So, while I appreciate Framework’s approach… I’m honestly not going to crack the thing open more than 3 or 4 times, and hopefully only once or twice, so I am absolutely fine sacrificing super easy maintenance for an overall sleeker and more robust-feeling design.

I feel like no desktop OS maker has nailed transition to touch screen devices, but I have only recently gotten my first x86 tablet and have only used windows on it, so my experience is limited and I'm only judging from screenshots I have seen online.

(I guess steam OS can count as decent enough, but it's not available yet outside of steam deck and it's gaming focused)

P.S. I honestly would be happy with an iPad if it were not so limited and more non-mobile games were available for it

Once again GoL blog spam. Original source: https://starlabs.systems/pages/starlite

Looks like a dope little device but at that price I think I might be more interested in a Steam Deck.

Wow, the price and openness of both the firmware and warranty make this a very enticing product. I've been casually looking for a new laptop, something to just watch youtube, browsing and manage my home lab with.

I checked out the actual product page, and it's a bit confusing in the configurator. Seems like the default power adaptor is non-us by default. Easy enough to change, no cost variance. But the keyboard section is confusing. Additional layout options for +~$110. Does that mean a secondary keyboard? What's the default?

EDIT: Any keyboard is not included, after finally finding the "what's in the box" in the specifications section. So, factor in an extra $100 in the price if ya need it.

hmm interesting I might get this

Okay but the real question is does the keyboard use QMK? Mnt Reform has set the standard for open source laptops imo, if I can't program my keyboard then that is a massive downside.

I'm running endeavour os on a Lenovo duet 3. It's fully functional including the gyroscope, which is super damn amazing. Windows basically wouldn't run, but I feel like a super user when in using endeavor on it. It's so good.

oooo this thing looks awesome, I want one.
I've always been fascinated by this type of form factor.

Would be great for a plane!

Y'know what? I may just sell my iPad for this.

This looks great and seems very reasonably priced. Pretty sure it won't replace my Android tablet but it might tempt me into trying.

Coreboot too

Oh cool. Glad it's not ARM. Way more distro options.

Hm, I'm interested, although I've gotten by just fine running Linux on my old Surface Pro 3

Nice

I'm genuinely intrigued by the potential use cases for this Linux tablet.

In my opinion:

• It's too large to fit comfortably in a pocket, necessitating some form of bag for transport;
• It's too large to hold comfortably on the sofa, such as when reading an ebook;
• It seems underpowered for its size;
• The keyboard quality appears subpar for a device of this size (I haven't tried it, but we all know how these keyboards typically feel);
• It won't replace a smartphone and therefore won't take over its casual entertainment tasks;

For casual tech activities, I have a Pinephone with a keyboard. Despite the phone's lack of power and the keyboard's quality, its portability and form factor are hard to beat.

I was thinking to get a beelink with the n100, but this couls be a more interesting choice... Hmm..

I am surprised I am not seeing, "BuT LiNUx is FoSs hOw DaRE ThEY ChARGe FoR IT?!"