Another laptop that should have been a Chromebook with these specs.
Here is the link to the forum for the most recent prior Woot! offering for this item; including all of the same criticisms and hesitations.
This device is a very basic, entry-level, budget machine suitable for those with very limited requirements and no desire for future upgradability. It generally meets the bare minimum requirements for Windows 11 compatibility and is best suited for basic computing tasks, such as web browsing, email, and streaming.
i had a laptop a long time ago with an eMMC drive… did the technology get better or is it still slow as hell, making it frustrating to use?
I am no expert, but with limited improvements, eMMC technology still possesses all of the same inherent benefits (basically cost) and, more importantly, criticisms (performance/speed limitations, capacity limitations, lack of upgradability) of the past. Remaining best suited for basic computing tasks on budget devices, such as web browsing, email, and streaming.
Noob question - is something like this suitable for ChromeOS Flex? Would the OS swap make it a reasonably performing Chromebook? Is this a good or bad idea?
If you flashed ChromeOS on it, it would probably perform better than windows in S mode. But it’s not well-spec’d for the price, even for a Chromebook.
When this exact notebook went on sale a few weeks ago I commented it is only useful as a “typewriter” for cloud docs, or to RDP into another computer/VM using a low-resource intense Linux distro or a bloat-free W11 install.
Edit:
This Asus Chromebook is a significantly better option for $60 more
Chromeos flex will run fine on it. Even with 4gb ram and Emmc. You just won’t get the Linux subsystem.
i found out you can actually toss an NVME drive this model for the OS, so i grabbed one. wifi/BT card is upgradable too. should be nice for schoolwork portability on a budget.
Wouldn’t that require the installation of a fresh copy of the OS on the new NVMe SSD?
Either that or mirroring the existing drive. Still won’t resolve the limitations with just 4 GB of RAM, however.
Yeah, was going to throw Ubuntu on it anyway
Hi. Could you suggest any specific NVME ( 500 Gb to 1 Tb) and WiFi/BT cards that should work, please? Did you also happen to find any URL links that one could access that might make this process easier? Thank you, in advance.
i ordered one o these and it seems to work just fine with it
you’ll need your own m.2 screws since neither the laptop nor the drive come with one
as far as the wifi/bt card goes, i just had one laying around from another machine that didn’t need it, an Intel wireless AC one. should be able to use any other intel wireless card like the ax210
like most laptops, the bottom opens up pretty easily with a regular electronics phillips screwdriver. plastic hook/loop system keeps the bottom on after that, so you’ll need to kind of gently pry it off. a plastic spudger should help with that.
once you’re in, the m.2 slot for the nvme is fairly obvious and right next to the wifi card. here’s a shot from a video that has a slightly similar model; you won’t have that ribbon blocking the wifi card
also be sure to keep track of exactly where each bottom screw goes. they are different sizes so putting them back in randomly might break something or just not work
Thank you for the guidance, as it’s appreciated!! I will assume that with the NVME, you experienced a noticeable performance boost, yes?
you’re welcome.
i didn’t even bother to try using it with the built-in eMMC lol. i had an eMMC laptop in the past, and it was just frustrating to use because of how slow it was, before i even tried to load apps or anything.
for this laptop ijust put the NVME in from the start and installed Ubuntu on it.
If I couldn’t put an NVME drive in, i wouldn’t touch this thing. I’m using it for school now and it works great. i purposely don’t want a nice laptop for school because then i will get sidetracked trying to play games on it etc, but the NVME actually makes it usable for internet & office apps.
It’s actually not that bad running W11 (taken out of S mode) off the eMMC drive. It’s not quick, but it’s not painfully slow either. Overall a great deal for the money. Good to know that it will accept faster storage and potentially more compatible wifi, too bad about the lack of memory expansion.
The performance is ‘Acceptable’ once one toggles the “Best Performance” option in “Advanced System Settings”. The ‘eye candy’ consumes way too much from this hardware configuration! Also, check Task Manager and disable any and all apps that one does want or need during Start-Up. When I’m comfortable, I’ll open and install the NVME and switch the eMMC drive to a ‘Storage’ drive.