My Honest Review of the Topo 7 Inch Mini Laptop After 6 Months
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- Опубліковано 18 чер 2023
- I've now spent 6 months with the 7 inch laptop I purchased from AliExpress It's been a fun adventure with this little device.. Join me in taking a look at the Pipo 7 inch mini Laptop and see if it is something you might be interested in.
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UPDATE!! - I've now created a forum for everyone to discuss issues, modifications, use cases, and more. Links to ALL the drivers to fix the touchscreen and sound card issues. along with how to correct the on keyboard mouse buttons can be found there. Take a look at www.slagle-tech.com/forum/7-i... for answers to questions you may have, or post your question there and see if other actual users can help out.
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** Links to items mentioned in video**: [ * = Amazon Affiliate Links ]
2022 Portable 7 inch Mini Laptop - (*AliExpress*) - a.aliexpress.com/_mqLRjlG
Logitech Pebble Wireless Mouse - (*Amazon*) - amzn.to/3i6StBw
JWIPC NUC [Intel i7, 16GB ram, 512GB SSD] - (*Amazon*) - amzn.to/3YT1u19
Variable USB-Barrel adapter - (*Amazon*) - amzn.to/3plzqHd
(* These links are affiliate links and I may receive a percentage if you make a purchase after clicking these links. These are a great way to assist in the growth of the channel at no additional cost. ) - Наука та технологія
Thanks for your video series on this device. I purchased one a month ago and discovered your videos as I was waiting for its arrival. I find it's quite nice to use as a media device when lying in bed at night. It's bottom heavy so it doesn't tip over like tablets with keyboards do. Not a huge fan of the keyboard though since it seems to ignore my keytaps at times if I don't press down close enough to the middle of the keys (also the backspace key spot sucks). Thanks for putting up that driver collection on your other video. I couldn't get the audio to work until I had it search through those. Great series!
The main drawback is the awful choice to use remapped keys to emulate mouse clicks. I wish there were a way to fix that. The fan is maybe controllable through Intels DPTF settings, I will look into that. The BIOS is very extensive with a lot of unused options. I appreciate the idea with a forum to share all around the device.
Just use USB mouse.
Did you finally know how to control the mini laptop fan?
Thanks for your videos about this device, I recently made one and mentioned your channel several times!
It’s a great review. I subscribed and thank you for the mentions.
@@S-Technology thanks, and good work on all of yours!
@@S-Technology Может ли он запустить hydrogen.peaceful.exe?
I'm still considering getting this. It's either this or a 6th gen x1 carbon. I know that the Thinkpad will be a lot more powerful and useful but the portability of this tiny laptop is really tempting me
So a few things. I love this thing. Its just the right size to replace my gaming laptop for menial tasks.
I ditched the power supply it came with and bought a usb c to barrel connector cable with voltage selector to use with my usb c pd charger. I got a blutooth mouse since the touchscreen, while good, can misclick with my fat fingers.
I backed up the drivers and reinstalled Windows 11. It did not come activated so I used a windows 10 Pro key I had.
Is still need to replace the 128gb ssd for a bigger one, but have to figure out if it only works with sata or I can get an NVME with B + M key.
I don't plan to drill out the usb c port yet nor open the unit until I get new thermal paste and pads. The temps seem fine for now since I don't do much but pay bills and watch movies.
I did try to install arch linux and while things went smoothly for the most part, I couldn't get the sound, wifi or bluetooth to work. Maybe in the future this will be fixed.
So far I'm liking it and will search for replacement batteries just in case.
I could see myself considering something like this for an emulator machine for old video games. If i could build in a decent controller this would make a decent Nintendo Game Boy replacement.
Quite a competent little device which is surprisingly capable at undertaking pretty much any task you might expect a low end laptop to do. Battery life is sufficient. Size is fantastic for portability. USB ports are good enough to connect external devices without any issues. Bluetooth, wifi, and Windows and MS Office set up and ready to go out of the box. Okay you are operating in Admin mode, which is fine unless you are paranoid, and you don’t have Windows and MS Office licence keys readily to hand, but for what it is, this is an absolute bargain with zero competition in the rest of the market. It just works and any compromises due to the size have been carefully thought out and solved. There is a mouse stub in the keyboard for fine positioning of the cursor and a touch screen where less accuracy is required. Sure you need to think a little and adapt your techniques a bit, but it really does do everything reasonable well. The screen is clear and camera useable although not up to the latest smartphone standards. I’m very happy with mine, as you might have guessed.
@S-Technology - thank you for the series of videos you've posted on this device. You were one of two or three posters who put something up about it, but I haven't seen anyone else continuing to post much after unboxing their devices. Here's where I ended up -
- I bought my device on Amazon. It was more expensive than Ali Express, but I'm still not comfortable buying stuff directly from China myself - I saw reviews from some sellers that said "my device came with cyrillic key caps, and the seller ghosted me when I tried to get latin stick-on key caps", etc. More respect to you, for navigating Ali Express to buy this device.
I did a backup of my device drivers (actually, about three different backups), but I managed to lunch my bluetooth completely. I'm about to try the restore, but thank you for putting your original device drivers up for download. That said, it does bug me that I don't know how to upgrade my device drivers, because I haven't taken my laptop apart to get model numbers. If anyone comes up with a definitive hardware list, a lot of people would probably love that.
Thank you for the recommendation on USB-to-barrel charging cables. Considering that I have carried a laptop with specific charging cables for decades, it's amazing how irritated I am that this laptop has a Type C USB port blocked off, and that even when you drilled it out, it doesn't carry video or power. But I'm ordering my new cable now!
When you posted your first videos, I didn't see a lot of slightly-more-mainstream sellers that were trying to compete in this space, except for handheld game controllers, but several new models have come out since then. This laptop had the advantage that even from Amazon, it was less than half as much as more capable devices, and I'm still not impressed with what I'm reading about customer service from GPT, One Netbook, etc. So I still think I did the right thing.
I'd be interested in a forum for this laptop specifically, but it's worth noting that a lot of them are sold without a logo, so a lot of your target audience may not realize that their laptop is the laptop we're talking about (or, worse, that it ISN'T the laptop we're talking about, when they start swapping parts). I think there are at least five different sellers on Amazon, all using the same pictures, etc.
And again - thank you for making this easy for me.
Great review thank you for creating this. I’ve had my eye on this for a while but I only want to use it for running Mame emulation. Have you tried anything like this on it & if so does it run / look good ? Thank you.
Thank You.
I haven't used it for anything like Mame emulators. But I don't see why it wouldn't work for it. The smaller keyboard configuration might make using it long-term a little uncomfortable, maybe.
I just built a forum category on my website all about these little laptops. I can ask about it on there and see if anyone has used it for Mame or other emulations. You are welcome to join at www.slagle-tech.com/forum/7-inch-mini-laptop
@@S-Technology thank you for responding I really appreciate it. I will check that web link in a bit. I wouldn’t want to use it using keys but using a Bluetooth controller such as an Xbox one pad that can be used on any Bluetooth connection. I can’t remember if your video said or not but does it have Bluetooth?
I have one almost identical to this. We took it with us for camping and were able to access everything we would normally have taken a larger laptop for. That makes this a super useful gadget for us. Ours only has the 128gb drive so I got an external SSD caddy and plug one of those in for extra space. Also bought a usb hub with an ethernet socket for when getting updates and downloading etc. Ours came with a wireless mouse and dongle so we dont use the silly little red button.
the silly red button is what i like on it tho. the very first times I ever touched a computer is one of those old IBM, machines with the red nubs.
What's it called? I'm thinking of getting one
@BrakSplash There are a few different companies selling the same model. It’s originally sold unbranded and they just put their logo on it.
The exact same one I have I got here: 2022 Portable 7 inch Mini Laptop - (*AliExpress*) - a.aliexpress.com/_mqLRjlG
@S-Technology thanks for the info!
@@S-TechnologyIs AliExpress a trusted site.. because I don't want to waste my hard work Money
I'm From India
Now I live in Saudi Arabia
#_I_will buy a8 mini laptop with an Intel N100 processor. Maybe it's a good processor
can you make a video trying to run some games? like tibia, league of legends! i know that is a basic mini pc but if run league of legends in 30 fps is very playable! i want one of these to code and go to school!
I can use this to control my CNC/laser engraver, very portable and will sit perfectly in my shop.
I'm glad I got the Nanote P8 instead. While the CPU is slightly better on Your mini Laptop, the Nanote has a Higher Resolution Display, USB-C Power port and the Physical Footprint is a little smaller to where it can fit in your Pocket!!
I hadn’t heard of the Nanote P8 before. I like the form factor and that it at least comes with 8 gigs of ram.
It’s very similar to a windows tablet I used for years prior to this mini- laptop.
@S-Technology I only recently found out about the p8. The only unfortunate thing is I had to Order it off Ebay and it seems to only be sold in Japan. But it seems like a sleek little device.
@@S-Technology I wonder if that one was similar to the Topton P8. Nothing shows on youtube except Crelander P8 which looks like the topton p8 lol.
Can you tell me what the full dimensions of thos device? I wanna get a new umpc to fit in my bag, but size is a factor, as not even my prior umpc, the GPD P2 Max is small wnough to fit with its 8 inch screen.
how exactly do you use the USB C cable..... I bought 1 and it arrived with a USB3.0 extension rather than adapter to usb c lol, they offered me a refund based on that... 2nd one arrived both turn on and say 5 at start.... holding the button shows letters as on the table's error code but I don't see it switching voltages or showing 12 at any point? thank you
I've been using mine for about a month. I put linux mint on it and everything work fine except soundcard (I'm using bt headphones so it doesn't matter) :D. I used it mostly for develop little games (pico 8, tic 80) and for net (forums, blogs, fb, yt). I like it. :)
Super, merci pour ce commentaire, je m'intéresse à ce petit ordinateur pour pico-8 justement c'est cool de voir que cela fonctionne. Merci
Is touchscreen working in your linux mint? I tried many linux distro and currently using debian 11.7 and kernel 6.1.0. The touchscreen never works in linux. And it can not wakeup from sleep either.
@@lisongyun yes, it works. I had to "remap", because it worked in portrait mode only.
@@jofifpv I just tried linuxmint-21.1-cinnamon-64bit. The touchscreen does NOT work. It's the same as many distros that I tried. You might have different hardware than mine. I am not sure how it works in your place.
@@lisongyun System:
Kernel: 5.15.0-75-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.8
tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
Type: Laptop Mobo: N/A model: N/A serial: UEFI: American Megatrends
v: SDQ-BI-7-S8_G_133R400-G70A-019-C date: 04/21/2023
CPU:
Info: quad core model: Intel Celeron J4105 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Goldmont Plus rev: 1 cache:
L1: 224 KiB L2: 4 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1641 high: 2263 min/max: 800/2500 cores: 1: 1094 2: 1407 3: 2263 4: 1800
bogomips: 11980
Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 600] driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: DSI-1
empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3185
Device-2: BRS 2Mp Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-8:3 chip-ID: b249:b081
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x800 s-dpi: 96
Monitor-1: DSI-1 res: 1280x800 size: N/A
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Celeron/Pentium Silver Processor High Definition Audio
driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-apl bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:3198
I bought this same little laptop. A form would be amazing, it has windows 11 pro installed but I can not activate it. So no personalization or video out… I have the 1 tb model and also have a 1 tb to card for a total of 2 tb of storage memory. Help to activate my windows is needed, thanks.
I had to reset windows now i cant get the sound to ever work again, drivers on windows 10 not supported, i think it had a custom driver even though i check the chip on board its a es8336 i cant get it to work
I finally submitted and bought the same device. So far, very sad. Almost every website I try to open has the dreaded "hmmm, can't open that page" message. Any suggestions?
Can you tell me how far this product supports the lowest resolution? Recent N100 products do not support low resolution, so it is not good to play old games.
Great video,just bought one and pleased with it but struggling to get a barrel to usb adapter cable(as seen in your video)...any help would be great.
Hi, did you find the barrel USB cable? Thanks in advance!
I did end up getting this adjustable one (link below) as I figured something adjustable would be useful if I look to get other similar items.
amzn.to/47S4Vt4
I bought the same laptop from a different company. I am thinking of replacing the screen all together and was wondering if anyone has remapped the keyboard? I installed Ubuntu, and this is really cumbersome
Would I be able to run capcut on this and edit short videos? I'm always shooting on the go and need something to take the footage from my SD to my extSSD. If I could edit it on it as well thatd be amazing. (not for main stuff just quick life stuff). Im looking at this bc the smaller the better lol
I haven’t used capcut so I don’t want to say yes it definitely can or no it can’t.
But when I’ve remoted into my main pc and used Shotcut with this it works “okay”. The main drawback is actually the size of the screen and the amount of editing options it’s trying to cram on there.
@@S-Technology thank you so much and thank you for such a fast response fam
Anyone have experience on how well it runs things like word or powerpoint for easy portable work options
Shotcut FTW!
How I can reset bios to default? Because I changed some options and my screen isn't receiving power, it's just black screen
Have you tried connecting a HDMI cable to it and making sure the setting are set to mirror? I'm not sure if it will mirror the initial boot but that's what I would try first.
Curious how well it works as a Steam link machine
This would be very cool if this thing supports CSM booting so you could use it with FreeDOS + SBEMU for a cheap and decent dos laptop... tho i have no idea if that's the case (i had an intel atom laptop that only supported UEFI but i would love to be wrong here)
@GeminoSmothers My honest answer is I don’t know. That’s why I created a forum for people to gather and talk about these devices.
There are some people on there that have been exploring and experimenting with these little laptops and might have the answers.
I do know that with the issues people are having getting the drivers to work when simply reinstalling windows 11 on it, changing the OS to anything else is an adventure.
But take a look: www.slagle-tech.com/forum/7-inch-mini-laptop
is it good for travel laptop?
just bought one today. just needed a quick little kali console and maybe for some video watching. saw this laptop listed under all different crazy names. I am inclined to believe that it is actually just the same machine made by one manufacturer and rebranded a dozen times. common practice for a lot of chinese products.
In one of the older videos I did, I found a supplier of these laptops off of Alibaba. The sellers offer things like screen printing or etching custom logos on them, installing specific OS versions (Seemed mostly Windows 10, 11, home or pro) and a few other options. The sellers just have to buy them in bulk quantities.
@@S-Technology so that seller isn't even the oiriginal. I might be right then! it's likely just one guy making them. I remember seeing exact same pictures of this thing branded a particular brand in a tech chat and people seem to think highly of it.
mine just arrived in the US so hoping I will be getting it by this week. did you see the comment that says the bios on these are rigged with 'backdoors and worms'? what do you think about the validity of that claim? would a kali install circumvent some of that risk, if any of it is remotely true?
I would love this to play some visual novels on at night before bed 😍
Hello.
After install a fresh copy of windows 11, where i can find the drivers, especially correct drivers for touch screen?
Take a look at this post in my forum.
www.slagle-tech.com/forum/7-inch-mini-laptop/after-re-installing-windows
I want one, but the screen looks so bad, not because the resolution, but because the bezels, and that camera... i think this screen is most likely an aftermarket screen for some old /+ cheap tablet, and thats why there is a camera; althought, i like that there is no touchpad, i just dont like touchpads under the keyboard.
So yeah, i think a website for these cheap mini laptops would be good.
But despite what i wrote, i may buy one, because it would be a good pc accesory for me and for other things that a desktop pc cant do, and my first thing would be to install linux on it. Also, hope i will get my order wrong in a good way, if i ever buy one of these.
This is the perfect device for Xreal Air that gives you huge monitors
Awe. It's so cute. I want it but I can see myself wasting so much time on one.
Is it possible to run voicemod on this laptop?
I reinstalled windows because I didn't trust the OS that was installed but now I can't get the touch screen or sound to work. Oddly enough Linux seems to have the touch driver but it doesn't tell me what it is. Does anyone have the names of the drivers being used for the touch or sound?
I have the drivers I copied from my device on google drive. I put a link to it in the description of the video where I reinstalled windows on the device. ua-cam.com/video/ncGmdq6D3aA/v-deo.html
@@S-Technology Thank you so much! Seriously, it was driving me nuts, no pun intended.
In my case, Linux does tell what the driver is, but it just doesn't work. It's using goodix_ts module. Is the touch screen working in your linux environment? If so, which linux distro and version are you using? Thanks a lot.
Does anybody tried external gpu? And install the windows on micro sd?
Bet the bios is rittled with backdoor malware or a worm.... It would be great if you could make sure it isn't like that, many Chinese devices are rittled with issues like that.
i used it for a year , i had to change ssd because its very low quality, i backed up drivers and installed new ssd with windows 10 then it worked good but i lost the touch screen in contacted the buyer on ali express they tried to help but i guess its hardware issue not driver, i removed the useless loud fan , installed parrot os on it dual boot with windows 10 atlas os modified, its very good small pc , good for hacking wifi because internal wifi card supports monitor mode and packet injection.
i use it for arcade retro games , pentesting , Microsoft office
Does anyone know the type of port the charging port is? Or what the wire type is called.
The usb to barrel adapter I got has multiple sizes but for the mini laptop it uses the 3.5 mm size. It's this one here: amzn.to/3plzqHd
You can find them cheaper, I just wanted one that adjusted the voltage. 12v works to charge it if its off but 15v if you want to charge and use it at the same time.
@@S-Technology thank you
What is the weight?
Where's the link please?
I'm owning a GPD MicroPC (and a few others of GPD). It's for real nothin for daily Work. But the form factor ist top when you have to debug your router or small work data center.
Are you planning to get the new 8inch laptop from the same company ?
The one that the touchscreen swivels? I thought about it, and probably would have bought that one instead of the 7 inch one if it was out at the time. It looks good but I am curious how long that hinge will last.
I ended up buying a couple different things I’m going to be making some videos on instead.
Hello, I'm from Brazil and I'm interested in this product, is it powerful enough to run virtual machines?
You should have no issue with that
the red dot is called trackpoint or pointing stick
the nipple
How much
I am running MX Linux KDE 21.3 (debian 11.7) with kernel 6.1.0. There are three major issues which give me headache. (1) touch screen does NOT work. (2) can NOT wakeup from sleep. I normally put my laptop to sleep when I carry it. (3) sound card is detected in kernel 6.1.0, but it doesn't work (hdmi sound not working either). Do anyone know any solutions of these three issues? Thanks a lot!
I know that when I reinstalled windows on mine the touchscreen and sound didn't work. I had to install the drivers I copied from before reinstalling. That fixed the touchscreen and sound card issues.
If you want to try those, I have a link in the description of the video where I reinstalled windows.
ua-cam.com/video/ncGmdq6D3aA/v-deo.html
@@S-Technology Thanks a lot for the reply, but my issue is in Linux OS. Windows driver won't work in Linux OS. So those drivers won't help. Cheers.
@@lisongyun I wasn't sure if it would. But figured it was better to offer them just incase.
i'll probably be using it to run metatrader so i can execute when i'm going out driving or traveling 😂
someone knows how linux works on that laptop ?
There are a few people that have Linux working on the forum at www.Slagle-Tech.com
People much smarter than me.
Seems like half novelty and half super light use or back up
I think it's a very good accessory for another pc. It's good as part of a whole system where you can use this as a backup or to access another more powerful system. It's just too limited, with Windows, by its screen size.
There are some 8 inch models, too. Slightly bigger screen, slightly higher resolution, and a slightly better keyboard layout.
The keyboard is still the biggest drawback for me.
Price?
I got it for $200. The original unboxing video shows the breakdown and how I got it that price. But the price varies a lot. I have a link in the description for the one I purchased.
Hey just a heads up I'm experimenting with some new names but I am.. or was (Mr Pineapple)
I noticed. Going the AI route I see. Good luck. 👍
@@S-Technology thank you 🙏
Price
I got mine for about $200. I cover that in the unboxing video here:
ua-cam.com/video/mIOKDe4phkA/v-deo.html
Can u plz tell me what is the name of this laptop,? Plz
A7
Ty
can i install linux on it?
Some people have been able to but there are some driver issues.
That looks like my gpd win mini 😅
Like my computer skills ... OK
Come to think ... everything in my environment ...OK.
i'd like a version without the windows tax.
Sooo,Astrophotography Would Be Out Of The Question,lol
Can u plz try playing dead by daylight on it
If he can get stable 60 fps in CSGO at low settings, I doubt you could get over 5 fps in Dead by Daylight
260 bucks 😁😁
where can I buy?
Just get a goddammed smartphone or tablet