Camping with a dirt-cheap laptop

Now with added sticker

For the last few days, I’ve been living in a tent and doing all my work on a laptop that I bought for 80 pounds (that’s around 100 dollars). I’ve developed code, written documents, captured video, opened lots of browser tabs and given the odd presentation. The machine I’ve been using is a GeoBook 140. It is not what you would call highly specified. It has an Intel Celeron N3350 processor, 4Gb of RAM and 64Gb of mass storage. It chugs a bit. And yet it gets there in the end. It has run everything I want faultlessly.

It has a couple of USB A sockets and a single USB C. It also has HDMI and audio outputs along with a micro-SD slot. The keyboard is clunky and not back lit, but I can type quickly on it and it is a good size with all the keys I need. The screen is low resolution (but very bright) and the track pad is not great (although I much prefer an external Bluetooth mouse anyway). It runs Windows 10 very well indeed though (although it may never run Windows 11).

I can even run KiCad

I can open Visual Studio Code, Word, PowerPoint, OBS, Thonny, GitHub desktop, PureData and all the other bits and bobs I need to get things done. The paltry storage space doesn’t bother me because I use OneDrive to give me the illusion of all my files at my fingertips. I’m getting at least five hours of battery life. I don’t know how long the battery really lasts because I’ve not managed to run it flat yet. I wouldn’t be thrilled if someone said that it was now my primary device, but I’d still be able to do stuff.

I’ve got a MacBook Air which I think is lovely. And I use it every now and then. But I’d never take it away to use in a tent. I’d be scared that it might get dropped, scratched, or wet. And it wouldn’t be as useful to me as the GeoBook. I’m afraid that MacBook to me is a bit like a Ferrari. I take it out for a spin every now and then to do fancy things. The GeoBook is more of a Ford Focus. I use it to get things done. I like it a lot, especially in the Minecraft Blue colour. I’d be a bit upset if it got broken. But I’d also only be 80 quid out of pocket. For the price of my MacBook I could buy more than ten “blue wonders”.

The amount of productivity you get for your money is amazing. If you’ve not got a laptop it represents amazing value. You can pick one up from xsonly. They have a bunch of different ones. I recommend the N3350 based ones as they have four core processors. Well worth a look.