Advice from you tech savvy / computer gurus

[TomTom]

Morning all,

I am considering buying Andromium's superbook and wanted to know what you all thought about it as I'm sure there's some technology gods in here.

You've probably never heard of it (and no this isn't an advertisement - merely someone not wanting to regret a decision).

The Superbook is currently on kickstarter and it seems perfect for what I'd want. It's essentially a laptop, without most internals. You plug your phone in and use their operating system (based on your phone in an app) and it turns your phone into a laptop... you may need to click the link and watch the video to understand.

My laptop is shit and I don't want a new one particularly, but I feel this might be a good compromise as I already use my phone for most things. But I wanted to know what your opinions are.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-f/description

[Superfly Guy]

Its not a new idea, it has been tried before with little success, Palm’s 2007 Foleo, Motorola’s Lapdock for the Atrix 4G etc.
Unfortunately there is no single piece of hardware that will fill all the gaps. Tablets are great for mobility but can be frustrating to use and are underpowered for non-phone stuff.
Laptops are leaps ahead of tablets and phones but 90% of people buy the wrong laptop for what they actually want and pay over the odds for them.
Desktops kick any other hardware into touch but again people buy what a salesman says they need (what he wants to sell) rather than what they actually require.

Sometimes, this kind of project is produced for the sake of technology rather than it having any actual use. However for the money its probably worth a punt as long as people realise that it wont be a laptop replacement du to its low specs.

[JEZDS3]

Sounds a bit like the conversation we had about T.V. tech,streaming and amps....P.C. World will sell you one thing,Sevenoaks Sound and Vision for example will sell you another,just about hunting down what you really need from your system.

[Superfly Guy]

Sounds a bit like the conversation we had about T.V. tech,streaming and amps....P.C. World will sell you one thing,Sevenoaks Sound and Vision for example will sell you another,just about hunting down what you really need from your system.

Exactly, or if you have no idea and loads of cash you buy Sonos.

The number of times i've tried to convince people that there is no such thing as a like for like desktop replacement, even if the individual component model numbers are the same.
A lad at work spent a fortune on a gaming laptop saying it was as powerfull as my gaming desktop as they had the same CPU and Graphics card, oh no they arnt. Due to the power limits of a laptop (the PSU) and the constraints of heat, the components in a laptop have to be 'detuned' considerably.

[TomTom]

I know it's not going to be as good as a traditional laptop. But I don't really have a need for a traditional laptop... I don't do anything difficult or computer heavy.

The main thing that stumps me is when I need to use Microsoft Word and I can't.. this would allow me to use it in a laptop setting (and utilise things such as online storage)

For everything else that I use my phone for, such as right now being on Tapatalk or playing Clash of Clans from at home I could be doing it on a bigger screen.

I'm probably going to have a stab at it, I'm sure it'll have flaws, but I think it may work for my personal circumstances.

I shall read your replies

[TomTom]

Any more feedback folks?

[Superfly Guy]

Any more feedback folks?

Id be interested to see how well it can upscale from a phone screen to that of the display, certainly if they are differing resolutions.

As with all new tech id wait and see how well it is implemented.

[RichardL]

Have you looked at Chromebooks? It sounds like one could fit your needs and they're pretty cheap. Only thing is you'll need to use either Google Doc (which is brilliant) or Microsoft Office through your browser.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[Superfly Guy]

Have you looked at Chromebooks? It sounds like one could fit your needs and they're pretty cheap. Only thing is you'll need to use either Google Doc (which is brilliant) or Microsoft Office through your browser.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

I think the main point of the superbook is its low price.

[TomTom]

The low price is one appeal, but also the fact I don't need a laptop or pc to use on a daily basis. It's irritating when I need to use word though and have to borrow someone's PC. If i never needed to use word every now and then I don't think I'd ever buy a laptop or pc for the foreseeable future... if i bought a "proper" laptop I don't think I'd use it more than a couple of times a month... however, using my phone as a "laptop".. is something I probably would use. It also addresses the issue of needing a computer every now and then.

[Superfly Guy]

If i never needed to use word every now and then I don't think I'd ever buy a laptop or pc for the foreseeable future....

I like my gaming to much, plus i do a fair bit of office type work as well as video end picture manipulation. The productivity and workflow efficiency is so much improved with two massive screens so for me i doubt it would be worth it.
When im on the go i always have my gaming laptop with me, 16GB Ram and a fast Quad core CPU in a 13.3" case is ideal for my work plus dropbox does all i need.

I would imagine students may find the Superbook useful for in class note taking and document handling.

[TomTom]

I think I'm going to give it a go and risk it. I've posted this on another forum and the response is pretty much the same... for most people it's useless, nothing against the Superbook as such, it just can't do gaming etc (apart from mobile games)... but for my situation it should work. Delivery isn't until February anyway as they still need to be built.

[Superfly Guy]

Delivery isn't until February anyway as they still need to be built.

Will be interesting to see the final spec, seven months is a long time in tech. Im actually now envisaging scenarios when this may be a useful bit of hardware.

[TomTom]

Will be interesting to see the final spec, seven months is a long time in tech. Im actually now envisaging scenarios when this may be a useful bit of hardware.

Thing with this is you need to remember a most of the "spec" will be coming from whatever phone you plug into it.

Did you watch the video on the link btw?

[Superfly Guy]

Thing with this is you need to remember a most of the "spec" will be coming from whatever phone you plug into it.

I get that but there will still be components that could change, for instance the screen, battery and additional connectivity. They maye be able to shrink those dimensions whilst keeping the same screen size, drop a little weight maybe or even lower the required phone specs to open up a greater share of the market.