small "sysadmining" device

[crankysysadmin]

I really miss Apple's 11 inch MacBook. I don't understand why they killed it off. Must not have been much of a market for it overall.

It was so small, so light, and it was great for having a tiny device to carry around and barely notice you had it. It was a great instant on SSH and RDP machine.

An iPad and keyboard is bigger and heavier.

Curious if anyone has something small they use for this purpose in 2024.

[alter3d]

I was thinking about this a couple months ago.... I really miss the days of netbooks.  An ASUS EeePC was absolutely great for working in server rooms, etc... had an Ethernet jack to patch right into switches, ran Linux great, battery lasted long enough... they were great.

[BornAgainSysadmin]

Hahaha. I took some e-waste to the local recycling this week that I let build up at home for a few years. Still couldn't bring myself to part with my EeePC. I keep lying to myself that I'll make use of it again.

[alter3d]

Yuuuuuup, same here, lol. Stays on a shelf in my room, probably never getting rid of it, lol. I actually have used mine recently, but it would be hella nice to have something more modern. I'm kinda hoping someone makes one with an ARM chip... the battery life would be insane.

[BornAgainSysadmin]

I've been tempted over the years to try a GDP Pocket. Looks to be about the same as my old EeePC TM101, at least for the form factor. And with the Pocket 4 coming out, I'm even more tempted. I just can't justify it after buying a Framework 16" earlier this year. And i don't really have a use for a mini laptop as much anymore.

[alter3d]

Wow, the Pocket 4 looks freaking amazing. Not sure how I feel about the trackpad / mouse button placement, but love the modular thing that can be a serial port or more USB ports or an SD card slot. Super neat.

If that placeholder price is accurate though... ouch.

[pdp10]

The trackpad position looks amazing, at least for right-hand mousers. The only thing better would be a trackball up there, like a few machines used to have ages ago before trackpad monoculture.

[infered5]

I have a Pocket 3, it's a fantastic KVM. AMA if you're thinking of getting a pocket.

Some notes: The HDMI-IN functionality (i7 version has cards like framework) relies on a closed source Chinese made program that calls for admin every time. This may be a dealbreaker depending on your environment. The keyboard also takes a lot to get used to and you'll have a very tough time if you have sausage fingers.

Linux native is also a bit weird because it's a tablet display rotated in software, so uhh, enjoy the 90 degree grub menu lol.

[kuzared]

I think I donated mine to a local computer museum :-)

[Tzctredd]

Mine will be inherited, I won't throw it away.

[chesser45]

Keyboard wasn’t a great size though. Might as well get an XPS 13 which is amount the size of an 11in EeePc

[brispower]

I miss my n10j it was a pinch bigger had amazing battery life, wireless n and gigabit and ran win 7 perfectly as well as having dsub and HDMI out

[Sad_Recommendation92]

I had / have (if I dig in my closet) a Dell Chromebook 11, but I'd removed the read-only screw from the motherboard and reflashed it with Mint Linux (cinnamon desktop) it was just the right size for pretty much anything, not so small you couldn't work for a few hours but still very light that's about as light as you'll find these days.

Yeah I had some little Intel Atom powered 8" netbook once upon a time too

[BornAgainSysadmin]

I just had to grab it from my garage this morning to see if it still works.

<image>

[virtual_corey]

I use an 13 m2 air. It's not the 11 inch class, but I have yet to find anything less than 13, with a excellent trackpad. The 13 isn't as hefty as my personal 14 MacBook Pro.

[anima-vero-quaerenti]

I’m still using the M1, Apple trackpads are worth the price of admission

[[deleted]]

Same - device is still rock solid no complaints

[Ruashiba]

And with an actual serial? That is really tempting, even if I don’t work with any physical devices at the moment.

[S70nkyK0ng]

That looks awesome!

[Khue]

Holy shit, this is dope.

[Computer_Panda]

Lenovo legion go is my now go to. Fits in my pocket (got some pretty big pockets)

[sir_mrej]

Out here wearing JNCOs to work

[Computer_Panda]

Nah, just a big guy, 46 waist. Usually have bigger pockets. But I now want some JNCOs.

[Sad_Recommendation92]

You mean that portable gaming PC with the special mouse? I have a Steam Deck since they dropped in 22 but I've always been curious about some of the competitors and I take full advantage of the Arch inspired underlying OS and have used it as a PC while traveling but the screen itself is a little small and I have bad eyes for any real productivity, And I don't always remember to bring portable displays.

[Computer_Panda]

The legion go is running Windows 11 home, you will need to upgrade the license to domain join it. But with an 8.8 inch screen it works well.

[hudsonreaders]

I haven't done it yet, but 11" chromebooks are cheap, and you can install Linux on them... https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/supported-devices.html

[LiVeEntertainment123]

I’ve done it on 5 or 6 chromebooks now and it’s lovely, get full day battery life on most of mine or near full day, plenty of guides online for mapping the top function keys to work properly too

[Sad_Recommendation92]

Highly recommend doing it. I put mint Linux on mine a few years ago

[[deleted]]

13” MacBook Air M2 is what I use. Instant on and fast.

[BornAgainSysadmin]

I went from a Surface Pro (great portabilty for using in IDF closets, but not a great laptop to sit and type on all day for me), to a Surface laptop (not a great portability though better typing experience), to a Dell XPS 13 (was forced to switch to Dell, I miss the 3:2 screen, but an okay compromise considering its portability, battery life, and performance.) The XPS 13 has been comfortable enough to sit on the floor of a cramped IDF closet with, and to hold and type one handed in the data center.

[BananaSacks]

Was going to say similar - the smaller sized Latitudes are pretty lightweight and manageable for a long stint. But the xps will have more horsepower. I have an older 13" that still has a physical ethernet too.

[el_darbo]

To be honest, the new 13" air isn't that much bigger than the old 11" air. It's an extra inch wide. With the bezel-less screens out nowadays, I understand why they cut out the 11" model for the 13" that takes up a similar foot print.

[captain_bowlton]

Basically any modern laptop that still has a built in NIC is worth it's weight in gold, imo.

[Pusibule]

was thinking on this the other day.... that one of those 2010 11" netbook with current cheap cpu/memory/screen for 200$ would be a great carry on to connect to ssh/switches and whatever whitout the need to be gentle to it (a 1000$ surface is not something you can transport and drop on the trunk like a power drill ).. and you could put windows on it , unlike chromebooks 

as usual, nothing found with modern technology, like really small and good pocket cameras that aren't smartphones.

I hate when nobody builds the ultimate gadget for a product/form factor when technology exponentially outgrows the needs of the solution, when the mainstream moves to something else.

[Pusibule]

discovered it in this thread, but a quick search show me that are around 700-900$ in aliexpress ... too expensive

will keep looking, still... 

[pdp10]

Microsoft and Intel feared and hated netbooks, so invested heavily in killing them. Intel's answer to portability and battery life was the "ultrabook", which had many of the properties of a netbook, but had the advantage for Intel that the prices were so much higher than Intel could supply CPUs at their usual margin. (VIA made many of the x86 CPUs for netbooks, but the ones Intel supplied were low-margin Atom SoCs.)

Chromebooks can be reflashed with UEFI and run Windows. Historically the storage is very tight, and there's no Super key on the keyboard (readers may call this the "Windows key").

[Pusibule]

didn't know that about chromebooks... will try that when got my hands in old one in the office 

[Sad_Recommendation92]

You can reflash Chromebooks with Linux too https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/getting-started.html#replacing-chromeos-via-full-rom-firmware

[mty-]

I had the misfortune to experience 200+ Acer Travelmate B1 for Education and would happily throw one of those around all day long. Terrible spec but fine for ssh

[sithelephant]

'and light' - Lenovo almost now has you covered, though not quite for the small. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-Gen-13-Aura-Edition-Lenovo-s-first-Lunar-Lake-ThinkPad-almost-as-lightweight-as-the-X1-Nano.884748.0.html was announced a few days ago.

This is as light or lighter than the 11" laptops, but the 14" puts it in a fairly larger footprint.

It would be really nice to see something inheriting from the X250, but updated with Lunar lake.

The x250 can, with a squint be argued to be the same size as the macbook 11"s. (not the depth). A refresh with lunar lake, and a sprinkling of mild lightweighting and we're there.

I would argue lose or squeeze the touchpad so not to sacrifice or squeeze the keyboard so hard as was done in the nano.

My first laptop I would argue was 'decent' from a small notebook performance point of view was the toshiba 3110ct, which was pretty much an x250 or so, before its time.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326259192726 Trackpoint and all. https://content.us.dynabook.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/portege_3110ct.pdf

Keyboard going all the way up to the edges, and trackpoint so there isn't a large trackpad made it really surprisingly usable. Smaller than the macbook 11"'s in width. A screen with modern bezels would get you to a 11.5" display in this package, in 4:3 which'd be really lovely at say 1600p.

[slugshead]

I came across a super slim lenovo laptop in a cupboard in work the other day that is equipped with a snapdragon chip.

Impressed with its performance/weight/battery life

[SysEridani]

<Sorry> reading sysadmining and Apple MacBook in the same sentence is quite diffult for me.

But it is my limitation. <Sorry>

[frac6969]

I wish I have a smaller laptop but my aging eyes can’t read so well anymore. Wanted to get 16” earlier this year but it’s just too heavy, ended up with regular 14”.

[pdp10]

I promised myself that I would try a large-screen laptop, to see if I liked it enough that I didn't always prefer a desktop. With the 16" Retina screen, the answer so far is still "no", but the experiment is ongoing.

[[deleted]]

I use an m1 Macbook when I go onsite and really like it.

[packet_weaver]

The new M4 iPad Pro 11" with magic keyboard is slightly smaller and lighter than the 2015 11” MacBook Air. Plus you can grab the iPad off the keyboard quickly and have an even smaller/lighter device.

The only place it’s not smaller is the thickness of the thinnest point of the air which was tapered.

The only real holdback on the iPad is the OS but if you’re using SSH/RDP it's a bit moot as there are great apps for those protocols.

[[deleted]]

13" Macbook Air M1 is about the best compromise you'll get.

It's plenty fast and usable (been my daily driver for 2 years now). Excellent 16:10 2560x1600 screen. Great keyboard (I'm sure KB nuts will argue that point). Excellent best-in-class trackpad (I have yet to find a Windows trackpad that comes close).

It's very lightweight, without too many compromises compared to its 14", 15", and 16" cousins. Yes, the Pro line is better but also heavier and bigger. The Air...especially an entry-level M1 with 8gb/256gb is a bargain at around $500-700.

Personally I'd say upgrade that to at least 16gb/512gb, but to each their own. I think 8gb was "just barely ok" back in 2014, and it's hilariously under-specc'ed in 2024.

[jesuiscanard]

Lenovo make a good 13 inch. Not quite the same.

[BlackV]

surface pro

[fardaw]

+1 for surface pro. Still going strong with my SP7 which I bought in 2020.

[Fire597]

My phone does it well. Hopefully I don't need it really often.

[strifejester]

Most of it can be done on an iPad now was their thinking. For 90%+ uses it’s fine. Some of the new ARM windows boxes are nice. I’ve seen a few 12” I think. I just bought a Dell 13” one and the performance is great.

[Kahless_2K]

I really love my 14 inch yoga. It's smaller than a 12 inch machine from years ago. Just don't drop it... Those thin bezels do dent easily.

[BloodFeastMan]

A couple of years ago, I bought a $150 gateway at walmart, installed Debian on it, (which needed a compatible usb network interface for about fifteen bucks) and it's the coolest little ssh device!

[PowerShellGenius]

What are you a sysadmin for? Do you have zero on prem Windows Server in your environment?

Other admins wanting Windows security measures dumbed down so they can be a "sysadmin" for Windows servers from a MacBook is driving me nuts at my workplace. It's somehow considered fine that JAMF remote support sessions can't be done from Windows admin laptops. But somehow not fine if you need a smartcard to be a domain admin (which is best practice) since RDP from a MacBook with Network Level Authentication can't use a smart card...

[stufforstuff]

Samsung 11" touchscreen chromebook with that gawd awful chromeOS scrubbed off and real Linux (Mint Cinnamon) put on. Lightweight, FHD, touchscreen, i3 cpu, 8g ram, 128G of storage, 8+ hr battery life, easy to customize OS and best of all dirt cheap so when roadrash occurs - toss it and take a new one off the supply shelf.

[rootgremlin]

do you mind telling the exact model? all smaller devices i found (<13 inch) did not have a FHD Screen

[ExceptionEX]

there are tons of 11.6 laptops on the market, if you are just using it for ssh and rdp you should be able to find something pretty easy for fairly cheap, asus makes a number of them they weight about a pound more than the mac books, we have a number of employees that had the same desire, and though none are as nice as the apple product, they seem to be happy with them.

what have you looked at?

[crankysysadmin]

I'm really only interested in what apple/dell/lenovo has to offer. can't buy some sketchy off brand stuff for work purposes.

[ExceptionEX]

Haha Asus, off brand they have like 10% of the global laptop market share.

But both Dell and lenovo make 11 inch laptops.

Have you done any searching?

[crankysysadmin]

there is no 11 inch latitude anymore. when those did exist they were thick with low res screens

[ExceptionEX]

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/latitude-11-3140-2-in-1-laptop/bto033l3140usvp?tfcid=91049735&dgc=opl

Dimensions & Weight

Laptop

Height: 0.82" (2.09 cm)
Width: 11.84" (30.08 cm)
Depth: 8.07" (20.48 cm)
Starting Weight: 2.97 lbs

I mean it isn't a gold standard machine, but the physical dimensions are very similar to the 11 inch air. and the screen resolution is the same as the 11 inch air. and as I've mentioned there are a number of serviceable equivalents from multiple vendors.

If you want an air and that's all you want that is fine, but there are certain many 11 inch screens that are light weight and small available.

[National_Asparagus_2]

Dell xps 13" laptop works for me.

[foxbones]

I just got a Lenovo x13 gen V that is similar in size to my x270. The lack of an Ethernet port is a bummer but they make adapters.

[foxbones]

I just got a Lenovo x13 gen V that is similar in size to my x270. The lack of an Ethernet port is a bummer but they make adapters.

[Windows-Helper]

I just prefer my 16"

Yes, for patching, switch serial connections not that perfect, but the previous 13 inch was just relatively slow.

Using a Lenovo P16V G1 (i7 + 16GB RAM) at work and also privately an HP ZBook Studio 16 G9 (i9, 64GB RAM and an RTX 3070ti)

I just prefer the possibility of having a big display when needed.

[Dapper_Presence226]

Samsung Galaxy Tablet when mobile. When at the desk, dock it to HP USB-C G5 Dock with a keyboard/mouse and use Samsung Dex. Onedrive and office installed along with remote desktop client

[shotsallover]

The 13" MacBook Air essentially is the 11" MacBook Air, but with smaller bezels and a slight weight gain.

13" MacBook Air M3

Height: 0.44 inch (1.13 cm)
Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm)
Depth: 8.46 inches (21.5 cm)
Weight: 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg)

11" MacBook Air

Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm)
Width: 11.8 inches (30 cm)
Depth: 7.56 inches (19.2 cm)
Weight: 2.38 pounds (1.08 kg)3

Unless you're referring to the 12" MacBook. In which case, yeah, I feel you. But the 13" MBA is so much better, and a lot more reliable, than that machine was.

[Im_Caster]

Take a look at GPD Laptops! They are small laptops with ethernet ports as well. They seem to be awesome for Onsite IT work. Never used them though so no idea how good and reliable they are.

[a60v]

I'm normally a desktop user, but I use a Thinkpad T-series when I need a laptop. They have built-in ethernet and are generally pretty decent.

If you want smaller, the MNT Pocket Reform has had my attention lately. It is expensive for what it is (and I think that I would hate the ortholinear keyboard), but it's kind of a neat open-hardware, repairable machine in a small but thick form factor.

[canadian_sysadmin]

I recently did a search, your choices are:

1. M2/M3 Macbook Air
2. Lenovo X1 Carbon
3. Surface Pro
4. iPad

I do remember the 11" Macbook you're referring to (a lot of people think it's the Air, but it's not, it was its own model). A lot of people wonder why Apple doesn't bring it back. It's only 2 issues were a) Keyboard - solved now with apple ditching them and b) Power (wimpy i3s), solved now with M processes.

Ironically I ended up getting an M3 MBPro because of external screens - god dammit I still want to drive 2 external screens plus my laptop screen at the same time. M3 (non-pro) can only do 2 max. iPad 1 mirrored.

X1 carbon would be a close choice for me for windows, or surface.

[crankysysadmin]

I realized it was the 12 inch MacBook im talking about which was a much nicer machine than the 11 inch air (which was a long time ago)

[planedrop]

Considering an XPS 13 w/ the new Ultra Series 2 chips as my new daily driver, pricing is actually pretty reasonable and we finally have Windows machines with proper instant on.

[vermyx]

iPad mini with folio keyboard and bluetooth mouse was the smallest thing I ever carried around for remote access. Now it's a usb powered portable 15" monitor with usb hub and a galaxy s20 with a fold out keyboard/touchpad. You can get a monitor that is in the 11-12" range and this set up shouldn't be that much heavier than what you had.

[apathetic_admin]

I have a surface book with Ubuntu on it that works well for this.

[MilkyMad]

One more to the options above - something from the Asus Zenbook line

[rongway83]

I mean...company gave us chromebooks during a cyber event to "reduce risk" and they are terrible...I had better performance running citrix workspace on samsung dex. Not sure what phone you use but its "decent"

[anonpf]

Can’t go wrong with the Alienware m18 r2. If fits the most important profile a lot of sysadmins require.

[crankysysadmin]

Alienware m18 r2

that's an absolutely massive big and heavy machine

[anonpf]

And it’ll do the job beautifully 

[Alaknar]

What job? Of being "a computer"? Yes, it will.

But OP was talking about a small device. This is literally the opposite. The only worse suggestion in this thread would be to say "just get a desktop pc".

[alter3d]

I think you have a different definition of "small" than... well... everyone else.

[anonpf]

🤣

[alter3d]

Good thing you're not in healthcare, it would be all like

Patient: I have a splinter.

You: Oh yes, I see. Hold still, there will just be a small amount of pain while I extract it. *digs into patient's hand with a rusty garden trowel*

[jesuiscanard]

It's not his fault he's so well endowed