iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet?

Re:iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet? by primitur on Saturday January 05, 2013 @08:44AM (#5012595)

I'm using a Motorola Lapdock with an MK808 PC-on-a-stick right now to post this message. I'll never buy an Apple machine again; instead I'll just upgrade the PC-on-a-stick to something new, in a few months.

Everything my mega-Linux DAW workstation at home can do, this thing can now do. I don't need Apple; the ultra-light solution I can stash in my pocket, plug into my friends HDMI screen, or hook up to a lapdock, is all I need ..

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Re:iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet? by msh on Saturday January 05, 2013 @09:34AM (#5012712)

Could you expand on this? Googling the mk808 it sounds like its a tv device.

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Re:iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet? by primitur on Saturday January 05, 2013 @11:25AM (#5013028)

Yes, I built a user-upgradable ultra-notebook out of an MK808 and the (strangely) discontinued Lapdock, for ~$150. Had to make a cable, though..

The MK808 is a TV device! But its also an Ubuntu workstation. It runs Android and Ubuntu.

I plug it into the Lapdock: oila, user-upgradable laptop. I plug it into the TV: oila, I can play games and movies and so on. Time to do a backup - plug it into a USB hub and the home server images the disk. Time to get a new one? Put the old one in a drawer as a backup, buy something else that fits in the Lapdock for ~$80.

I write software, and right now I'm working exclusively in MOAI, so building the MOAI host in Ubuntu on the MK808 was a matter of an hour of work, and beyond that - I have a full-blown Ubuntu workstation to work with. When I want to play, switch to Android and off we go ..

It is truly fabulous!

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Re:iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet? by msh on Saturday January 05, 2013 @01:32PM (#5013485)

Sounds interesting. What is the speed of that thing, can it hand JS heavy webapps in a desktop browser properly?

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Re:iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet? by primitur on Saturday January 05, 2013 @03:00PM (#5013819)

1.g5hz Quad-Core, 2gigs of RAM. Its not enough RAM .. if this catches on, I hope that mfr's will allow us to deck these things out with 16Gigs .. that'd be amazing.

http://www.cloudsto.com/new-mk802iiis.html

^^ nice, and cheap!

Also really nice:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/872297630/gamestick-the-...

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Re:iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet? by gbrindisi on Saturday January 05, 2013 @09:41AM (#5012726)

I like the concept! What kind of work are you doing on it?

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Re:iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet? by primitur on Saturday January 05, 2013 @11:26AM (#5013032)

Purely software development work - Lua, C, some Python, a little Ruby, node.js at times.. but most Lua (in MOAI).

This rig functions at least as well as my Linux workstation for my work needs, and is upgradable to boot .. I really love it, I hope it catches on as a trend ..

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