Suggestion: MNT Pocket reform next, questions and expectations

1

Hi everyone,

I have made a post at the start of the last year regarding the MNT Reform Next, to allow us to gather ideas and suggestions about the reform Next, which I think it was a good starting point for the campaign that happened at the end of the last year.

It only makes sense to have a similar post for the Pocket. However, given that the MNT Pocket reform Next is not proposed / announced yet, it would be even better to start suggesting the general purpose, BOM and the components in a collective way to gather ideas from everyone, especially those who has the first generation.

In my opinion, there is a room for improvement for the next version of this device. I think, it would be wise now after the success with the current generation, to start thinking about a notebook, which is in the middle between the Reform and the Pocket Reform, it could be called as NoteReform.

Why a Notebook?

This device can target the remaining part of the users that were not targeted with the previous devices. The MNT Reform is for someone who likes to tweak and modify, the Reform Next is for users looking for an open source device while looks more appealing in business meeting. The pocket is for users that are traveling frequently, and they need an easy transportable device.

However, none of the above addresses the users who are looking for a multitask laptop, something that is not too powerful yet enough for their needs, such a user would be interested surfing the web while sitting on a couch, replying to emails, and enjoying the evening. It should be also enough to ssh to a remote device, or programming directly on it.

Also users that work from home and have a very powerful desktop, would not be interested in a having a powerful classy laptop, simply because they have no usage for it. A laptop in their case, is a compute device to transport it from one place to another for simple tasks, and not to crash numbers or to have business meetings.

I have compiled the following specs after giving it some thoughts, please feel free to add anything that might be relevant to this idea:

  1. Bigger screen up to 10.1 inch screen with nice aspect ratio, and up to 4K resolution if technology allows.

  2. No electronics in the screen lid.

  3. Bigger track pad, even it is possible to use a standard one on a a small laptop

  4. Compute Specs: the RK3588 is very powerful chip, but also an overkill for such a device. It would be nice to target a very low power consumption processors, a low power RAM, and only an NVME storage device. Couple of USB connectors would be nice, HDMI, or small display port, and finally nice WIFI ax with Bluetooth, including a camera and a mic with hardware switch. and not to forget the most essential one, the mechanical keyboard. Note that the compute specs are limited to reduce essentially the price, which is addressed in the following point

  5. Pricing: it would be nice to target a reduce price for this laptop, something between 500 to 1000 euros depends on the configs.

  6. Light: we are getting used these days that laptops / notebooks are around 1 to 2 Kg. However, it would be nice to have something that is under 1 KG.

  7. Battery, same technology as before, but it would be nice to get it with different dimensions to make the laptop slimmer.

Source of inspiration of notebooks

Notebooks are usually designed to be a cheap laptops for standard home usage, since they have much less adoption in the business world. However, Vaio used to have nice laptops that could be used in both context such as the following:

  1. PCG-SRX - VAIO Library Link to video
  2. VGN-TX - VAIO Library
  3. VGN-TZ - VAIO Library
  4. PCG-TR - VAIO Library

The reason I only included Vaio, because I had the opportunity to uses these ones and I never had the same experience with other notebooks from Asus or other companies.

Why the above suggestions (arguments) :

  1. The current 7 inch screen is too small, it is sightly bigger than a mobile phone, which makes the Pocket Reform in a thin line between a laptop / portable phone / tablet.
  2. Low electronics in the screen to make the screen and thin as possible and to reduce the weight on the hinges.
  3. trackpad are nice for comfortable usage.

I would be interested to hear if there would be any interest from the community in such a device. Or if MNT Research would consider this proposal.

Thank you very much
All the best,

2

I like a lot of these suggestions but what you want might not be feasible in the land of small volume electronics production. I think the low-hanging fruit is finding a bigger display that fits the Pocket chassis with a smaller bezel. OLED would be great.

I think overall what I’ve learned about manufacturing is that big companies can make everything custom: order up whatever display tech they want in whatever size, order up molds for the plastic case components, make a custom keycap set that shrinks a keyboard’s footprint… sky’s the limit because they can splash cash at component manufacturers.

The open hardware scene has a very narrow assortment of documented, off-the-shelf components to combine into devices, and what MNT makes is in the quantity of hundreds and not tens of thousands or millions like a big company. The scale is so much smaller it’s more like a neighborhood bakery than a huge Foxconn factory. It’s fun to dream up new devices, but MNT is doing something very different than mainstream computer makers, and there are tricky limitations on what’s possible. 500 euro for a new computer that’s been designed from near-scratch and is thin and lightweight, well-documented, easy-to-repair, and hand-assembled in small batches in Berlin is probably impossible.

3 Likes
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Minute (Lukas) already showed a prototype tablet that they made using some of the Pocket Reform’s internals on Mastodon. So I think they are already tracking in that direction.

My only real suggestion for the Pocket Reform would be like bnys has already suggested with increasing the display size and decreasing the bezel size. I also think it would be great given the form factor to have the display also a touchscreen.

One other suggestion I would have would be to modularize all of the connectors on the mainboard similar to the Next. Make it so that wearing out the charging USB C port doesn’t require a mainboard soldering job or replacement but you could just order a new port breakout pcb.

I know that MNT is a small team and that they already have A LOT of stuff in the oven so these are just suggestions to be captured hopefully one day. MNT is doing great stuff.

4

I personally love the Pocket as it is - although the size is perhaps bordering on large, and take the criticism that the top part is top heavy. Perhaps it could be lighter - but then again, it may not feel so sturdy if it was light.

Having easy access via the four panels to all components is great. The size is perfect considering the keyboard is still usable (to touchtype) while being as small as possible, and I love that it has a trackball (I don’t like trackpads).

I think what you’re looking for, especially at that price bracket, is something entirely different, and to be honest, there are already other options available. What you describe sounds like an altogether different beast to the Pocket, which is unique and all the more special for it.

5

I’m still waiting for my pocket reform and I’m super excited. The only thing I’m missing is thunderbolt connectivity. Upgrading the upper USB-C port to thunderbolt would make the pocket reform such an amazing device.

Cheers,
Triss