2024-01-02T13:53:00+09:00

Why I regretted buying the tiny One-Netbook OneGx1 Pro laptop

I bought a OneGx1 Pro for a compact 4K60p video experiment in 2021. Its tiny keyboard, limited ports, and swollen battery made it difficult to use, although I later found other server uses for it.

Note: This article is more than one year old.

Availability, warranty, and accessories for OneGx1 Pro in Japan vary over time. Check retailers, official information, and current community reports.

Drivers and input-device handling differ between Windows and Linux, including SteamOS. Check the OS assumed by the article.

Its usefulness as a handheld gaming device depends heavily on the game and resolution. The figures here describe the environment used at the time.

Tiny laptops, or netbooks, with screens under 10 inches are something I am sure to regret buying. In October 2021, I needed to test some work-related idea involving 4K60p video on a small system, so I bought a One-Netbook OneGx1 Pro. The netbook format has quietly faded again, while recent small devices tend toward tablets with game controllers attached. One-Netbook OneGx1 Pro, already discontinued:

https://www.one-netbook.jp/landing/onegx1-pro/

Related product listings: Search Amazon for One-Netbook OneGx1 Pro (Ad)

At the time, Amazon had one with a damaged box, and I think I saved around ¥20,000. While looking up its original price, I found shops that still had stock in December 2023. In an era where coercive treatment of suppliers is unacceptable, electronics retailers cannot simply force unsold stock back onto suppliers, so obsolete inventory lingers.

One-Netbook OneGx1 Pro specifications

Even now, its specifications look attractive: an 11th-generation Intel Core i7-1160G7 and 16GB of LPDDR4 3200MHz memory. It still looks good on paper. Impressive performance: The Tiger Lake 11th-generation Core i7-1160G7 has up to four cores and eight threads, with a maximum clock of 4.40GHz.

One-Netbook's own technology extends TDP to 20W. The 10nm+ manufacturing process is presented as delivering powerful, stable, smooth processing while saving energy.

You might expect performance beyond its size.

Small, powerful, and capable: At only 620g, its 7-inch screen is small enough to fit in your hand. Put it in a shoulder bag or small pouch and take it out on a commute, trip, train, or airplane.

What went wrong with the OneGx1 Pro

A tiny netbook's greatest appeal is the dream: small but powerful, light but capable, perhaps even able to play games. Then you buy it and find its practical usability is awful, and before long it becomes junk. The dream was an illusion.

1. The keyboard was too small

Small size is the main attraction, so naturally the keyboard is small too. After about ten minutes of typing or keyboard operation, my shoulders became painfully stiff. Never again. The FN combinations, another tiny-keyboard limitation, require careful hunting. Parentheses, slash, underscore, and other symbols have unconventional positions. The small Enter key is painful too. Everything is difficult; that is the fate of a tiny PC.

2. Too few connectors

There are three USB ports on the back, but one is used for power, leaving only two available. It is a 7-inch PC, so I suppose that is unavoidable.

3. Battery and exhaust problems

The exhaust design did not seem good. Probably unrelated to that heat issue, the battery developed a problem: after only a year, it started swelling. It distorted the keyboard and prevented the lid from closing. Swollen batteries seem common enough that unofficial replacements were sold on Amazon. They cost around ¥10,000, and I did not want to spend more, so I removed the battery. I was then stuck wondering how to dispose of it. I felt that spending ¥140,000–150,000 on it had been a waste.

What I still liked about the OneGx1 Pro

Despite being awkward to use, with its battery removed it weighed under 500g. In a sense, it was a sturdy little system with a built-in screen and keyboard. The integrated Iris Xe Graphics were surprisingly capable; I think I even managed to stream 4K60p video. You could attach a capture unit, install OBS, and make a compact streaming PC, or install Ubuntu and use it as a streaming server. Those sound like fun uses. At the time of writing, I was running Minecraft on Ubuntu and using it as a Minecraft server. Strangely, doesn't that make it sound a little tempting again? You could still buy one at Bic Camera!