MintBox Mini 2 With Linux Mint 19 Ready To Ship

[phoronix]

Phoronix: MintBox Mini 2 With Linux Mint 19 Ready To Ship

Announced back in March was the MintBox Mini 2 as a collaboration project by CompuLab and Linux Mint. That tiny Linux PC is now available for order given the imminent release of Linux Mint 19 "Tara"...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=CompuLab-MBM2

[Cerberus]

All these supposedly Linux computers are usually rather overpriced and pointless as Linux today will support "non Linux" computers just fine, I dont know how much will this one cost, but on another website I configured fanless computer with quad core i3 processor which is more powerful than what MintBox Mini 2 offers, 8 GB RAM and 250 GB Samsung SSD for around 600 euros with shipping included. I doubt their MintBox Mini 2 will be cheaper than this, same goes for various supposedly Linux laptops who are actually Clevo rebrands, quite often with cheap plastic body or poor quality aluminum, also screens of often doubtful quality compared to brand names, since Linux will work out of the box with 90% of brand name laptops who offer superior build quality and better screens for the same, if not lower, price then I dont know why anyone would buy Clevo rebrands. Just a waste of money on an inferior product. And those Clevo rebrands require shipping the laptop back to the country of origin for potential repair, not convenient nor cheap, brand names have service centers in the country where you bought the laptop so that is another advantage of brand name laptops.

[Redfoxmoon]

The MintBox Mini 2 is baced by an Intel Celeron J3455 Apollo Lake SoC....

Are you sure about that Michael?

[tildearrow]

Maybe he meant backed by

[microcode]

I hope these products do well, the FitLet 2 is attractive to me for embedding, and the enclosure styling is attractive.

[cybertraveler]

Cerberus: the value of them is partly in time saved. I bought a so-called "Linux PC" in the past due to the fact I knew that all aspects of it would be supported by GNU/Linux out of the box. It was an awesome experience. Everything worked absolutely perfectly. I've installed GNU/Linux on many "Windows PCs" over time and although it almost always works, there are almost always parts of it that have issues or features of the hardware that don't work at all.

[Cerberus]

Cerberus: the value of them is partly in time saved. I bought a so-called "Linux PC" in the past due to the fact I knew that all aspects of it would be supported by GNU/Linux out of the box. It was an awesome experience. Everything worked absolutely perfectly. I've installed GNU/Linux on many "Windows PCs" over time and although it almost always works, there are almost always parts of it that have issues or features of the hardware that don't work at all.

That is why most, if not all, stores have a return policy, if by chance something does not work on Linux you can always return it and take some other item, in EU if you ordered it online you have 14 days to return an item and get a refund, if bought in the physical store most stores have a return policy of at least a few days and I need 30 minutes to install Linux and check if everything is working. More often than not you can already find reports of other people online whether a particular computer is Linux compatible. This is especially true for laptops. Since brand names offer better build quality, better screens and local repairs all for the same, if not lower, price than Clevo rebrands, I don't see a point in buying "Linux" laptops, but to each their own, everyone has the right to buy what they want. I might consider paying more for a Linux laptop if it would actually rival brand name laptops in build quality and screen quality, so far I have not seen one that can do that.

[BaronHK]

"Israeli-based"

Thanks for the warning. I never buy products from Israeli companies if I know about it.

[cybertraveler]

"Israeli-based"

Thanks for the warning. I never buy products from Israeli companies if I know about it.

Is that because of the actions of the Israel government against people in neighbouring countries?

[cybertraveler]

That is why most, if not all, stores have a return policy, if by chance something does not work on Linux you can always return it and take some other item, in EU if you ordered it online you have 14 days to return an item and get a refund, if bought in the physical store most stores have a return policy of at least a few days and I need 30 minutes to install Linux and check if everything is working. More often than not you can already find reports of other people online whether a particular computer is Linux compatible. This is especially true for laptops. Since brand names offer better build quality, better screens and local repairs all for the same, if not lower, price than Clevo rebrands, I don't see a point in buying "Linux" laptops, but to each their own, everyone has the right to buy what they want. I might consider paying more for a Linux laptop if it would actually rival brand name laptops in build quality and screen quality, so far I have not seen one that can do that.

I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. Opening a laptop and using it is going to devalue it. The company that sold it will likely only break even when you factor in the cost of them having to check the laptop over and then sell it at a reduced priced. They may even take a loss.

Absent of the violent coercion of the EU states which implement the law you referred to, I expect many companies wouldn't offer this 14 day return policy on expensive electronics. I don't want to play a part in exploiting it just because those companies are being threatened. It's a bit like a mafia which requires all businesses in the area it controls to offer free goods to 'mafia family members' if they ask for them. If I was born into one of those mafia families, I would not exploit the offer for free goods. I know that there's a good chance they'd only be giving me the free goods/service because of the violent coercion.

Obviously if I was given a defective item or if the item did not match the published description I'd return it. It would be a form of theft on the part of the business if they did not accept my return in that case.

Theft and violent aggression are both wrong.