Thanks for introducing Necuno, I hadn't heard about it. Apparently [0] it's been mentioned here a few times, but never got more than one comment. At the moment they don't have a lot of info, other than some of the hardware used and that it's a linux kernel. Looking forward to hearing more.
There are various Chromebooks that you can put standard Linux on.
I've got an Acer R11 which I put GalliumOS on (definitely use 2.1 / 2.2, 3.0 has issues). If you really want ARM, there are options there, though I'm not sure about regular Linux support on those.
The R11 is small and handy, with a decent keyboard. Battery life isn't quite as good as with ChromeOS, but still sufficient.
> an iMX8M laptop
8M is really weak. That would be pretty much a Pinebook with Vivante graphics.
The i.MX 8 QuadMax at least has two A72 cores, similar to Rockchip RK3399.
Have Purism explained their processor choice anywhere? It would have been nice to have used the i.MX 8 QuadMax - it would have given a little more hope for the phone lasting.
I'd guess that power consumption characteristics of those two i.MX8 variants are different enough to explain that choice.
Well, the mainstream phones have much more powerful processors than Cortex-A53, they just power manage them well…
I wouldn't expect a SoC that's not even targeted for mobiles to "power manage them well". Mainstream phones are completely irrelevant there.
I like the project with some minor reservations, but there is not much to discuss at this point. I'm not gonna cheerlead. My biggest regret is price and size. I'm waiting for more information on Necuno Mobile [0] as I believe it will be in my price range, however with worse hardware. But they both can share software and that's great.
As for Purism I will wait for when it's cheaper or I will have more money to spend. I would buy one if it would be in a notebook or netbook form though. That's also what I'm hoping for - an iMX8M laptop.
[0] https://necunos.com/mobile/