About to purchase one and I plan to carry it daily, presenting at work in meetings with the external screens in the meeting rooms, updating papers I’m writing, and taking notes in the cleanroom/lab. Then I can keep my more powerful framework laptop at home to run simulations etc.
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And one thing that MNT products are really known for is how they are built like tanks. They are just really durable. So the perfect is even more perfect for what you are envisioning. 
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That is great to hear. I have been lucky enough to have an opportunity to use the reform a couple of times (not my own) and I own the web camera now, and off thoss experiences I thought they felt like really sturdy products. I believe the pocket reform will withstand the environment (primarily the wipe down prior to entering the cleanroom) I plan to use it in better than any alternative (not that many other options exist).
Oh man I can’t imagine rocking my purple pocket reform in the fab. Not that it won’t hold up but I’d just get so many questions. On the other hand I’m pretty sure I sold like 50 remarkables by carrying mine around the fab. Could drum up good business for mnt.
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Haha! I’d be very happy to get questions and introduce someone to the Pocket Reform in my lab. I’ve a Supernote which did comvince someone else to buy one, but tbh it’s not backlit which isn’t ideal in a darker lab, and also the touch gestures are pretty impossible to use with gloves on.
I got a Pocket Reform to replace a Thinkpad X220 as my daily driver.
I assumed that the Pocket would run on external power and charge if you plug it in but it does not, not without a cold reboot. Even then it dies after a while because it uses more power than it draws. Wifi stops working after a while. Maybe it’s my fault for not applying enough firmware updates.
I don’t have a phone so I need a reliable laptop. The Pocket Reform is the most unreliable laptop that I have ever had the misfortune of paying money for.
If you want a decent laptop I think an old Thinkpad from Ebay is still the best option.
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@emery that is rough. Just out of have you updated the controller firmware? Also what external power supply are you using?
Wifi - unfortunately can be a challenge. With weaker signals I have a similar experience.
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@emery I have felt the way you are now many times with the Reform and Pocket Reform. It is the same story with the Purism Librem 13 and Librem 5. Even more so in that case.
What I have learned is that computers are very very difficult. Small boutique companies are fighting an uphill battle. The difference that I have seen with MNT is that @minute and @josch are superstars and are SUPER helpful. The community here is also amazing. I have never seen a fight here, or anything like that. Everyone just helping each other.
Regarding the wifi, I believe the issue here is that because the wifi chip is getting too hot it is throttling on transmit and this leads to dropped connection. I’m fortunate in that my desk is right next to an AP and I never had a drop. On the couch which is still only 5-8 meters away from the AP I don’t have any drops either. So for me, without any modifications (other than rerouting the wifi antenna), wifi has been reliable. The aluminum back plate that @pandora made would also directly address this. Still in the testing phase, but I could see MNT picking this up going forward, and perhaps making it available in the MNT store.
The issue with charging is well known, and MNT is working to address it. There are some sysctl updates which make some improvements. Basically your adapter has to supply PD power at a minimum of 6v or higher. Some things are being worked that would allow even dumb power sources to work (5v, for example). The issue has been discovered AND a solution proposed.
All this said, I find the Pocket to be really impressive, considering the massive hill that needed to be climbed to even get here. I take my hat off to MNT and the team. (typed from a Pocket Reform)
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Well said. @minute is the reason why i want to join this adventure to finetune the Pocket Reform for other linux distros. He is indeed a superstar.
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To be fair the Reform2 was a great laptop. The Pocket requires a strong reality distortion field to work properly, as evidenced by this forum.
can you not use a rk3566 cm4 style module?
I am not sure what you mean.
I am waiting for RK3588 and 32GB RAM with WiFi capability so that I not have to sacrifice the cellular LTE modem.
Also, I need to save up the money…
rk
I was suggesting looking at some of the cm4 style boards that were produced during the shortages. In particular i suggested rk3566 versions but looking at the specs compared to what you already have it clearly woudnt help much save in the GPU department.
I have a pinetab2 by pine64 that uses the rk3566 and I am generally satisfied with performance in general tasks.
I have a RK3588 on order for my pocket, but if I am being honest, I think the IMX8M+ is more than fast enough to be an improvement over what I was used to with the Reform and the nomal IMX8. I really like that it had bluetooth bundled with the wifi. Didn’t have this on the Reform.
As much as I know folks here wont like this, but I would really like to run Windows on the RK when it arrives. I know how to lock Windows down so I don’t have privacy concerns, but still that is a tangent and not the point of this post.
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There may not be much love for the trillion dollar golliath (including myself), but having freedom to choose is how it should be.
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Well said @SpaceLizard this is why I love opensource. It is up to the individual to use the product the way they want.
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The only reason I won’t be using it daily, is because, A: I am used to qwerty and this setup is a bit confusing for me at times. And B: I mainly want this for mega low level stuff, such as writing novels and music. I might also use it for very low level gaming in the future though.
Like for example, doom mods.
Also, suspend isnt working sadly as of now. Maybe RK3588 will change this whenever that is out.
As a final note, I would love to be able to try this on OpenBSD. It might be interesting to try. Probably better off though when RK3588 is supported on it. 
Oh and EDIT:
I also want a blobless option at some point and/or init freedom option. 
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I’ve just been having so many issues with the hardware with the WiFi running incredibly slow (and only having improved to sluggish) to random boot failures, to the trackball cutting out on me, the headphone jack not really working, to the M key on the keyboard starting to fail, and on top of that being unable to use XFCE without massive screen tearing I don’t experience on other devices that for now I just gave up in frustration and largely went back to my previous tiny laptop.
Well, I’ve got mine running much better now - almost all the niggles I initially mentioned are either resolved, or I can work around.
Am on the RK3588 and it’s great! I am using an external USB WIFI adapter though (attached via velcro to the top of the lid), but it works perfectly for now - until a better solution comes around - perhaps a modded backplate to act as a heatsync (if I can source one).
Are you using the recently released Wayland enabled version of the one still using Xorg? I know that MNT supports Sway and Wayfire out of the gate. Deviating from this means you are dealing with the issues. So tearing under XFCE is not really MNT’s fault.
But it really sounds like you got a lemon outside of hearing more information on how you are using the pocket. haven’t had any boot failures, the trackball has never cut out on me, and my headphone jacks works. But the keyboard switches not working is something I wouldn’t expect at all. Have you checked to make sure that the switch is properly inserted?