Current section: Laptops LaptopCompass
Find my laptop

Pine64 · 2021

Pine64 Pinebook Pro (RK3399)

A 220 dollar Arm hacking laptop with privacy switches and mainline Linux on the RK3399, but it is slow, has 4 GB soldered RAM, and suspend has never been solid. Buy it as a tinkering project, not a working machine.

Compiled from public sources and community data, not hands-on tested. What that means.

Linux readiness8.0

Best on arch. Confidence: high

Scores

Specs

CPURockchip RK3399 (2x Cortex-A72 + 4x Cortex-A53)
GPUArm Mali-T860 MP4 (integrated)
RAM4 GB (soldered)
Storage64 GB
Screen14" 1920x1080 @ 60Hz
Weight1.26 kg
Battery (real)~6 h

Linux compatibility

  • arch Minor setup
    Wi-Fi
    works
    Bluetooth
    works
    Fingerprint
    unknown
    Webcam
    works
    Audio
    works
    Suspend
    needs tweak
  • debian Minor setup
    Wi-Fi
    works
    Bluetooth
    works
    Fingerprint
    unknown
    Webcam
    works
    Audio
    works
    Suspend
    needs tweak

arch: Ships Manjaro Arm with KDE. This is an Arm SBC in a laptop shell, not a PC: the RK3399 is well supported in mainline and on the panfrost Mesa driver for the Mali GPU, but it is slow, GPU acceleration in browsers is patchy, and suspend has always been the weak spot on this board. No fingerprint reader. 4 GB soldered RAM caps what you can do. It is a hackable, privacy-switch-laden hobby machine, not a daily driver, and we have not run a current build long-term. PINE64 wiki: Pinebook Pro Linux status →

debian: Debian and Armbian builds exist and boot, with the same s2idle suspend caveat as the Manjaro image. The hardware row is community-sourced from PINE64 forum and wiki reports, not a long-term bench test here.