This Laptop is from the FUTURE - Nexdock Touch
ShortCircuit
·ShortCircuit
·2021-05-05
·
2,306 words · ~11 min read
0:00
- When is a laptop not a laptop? When it's a lapdock.
0:04
This is the NextDock Touch,
0:07
NextDock Two Touch. I forget if it's something like that.
0:12
We've reviewed the NextDock Two on Linus Tech Tips,
0:16
last year? I forget exactly when it was. Editor, will tell you now.
0:22
And when we did that video, I was like, I like doing these kinds of products where it's like
0:27
it doesn't really make a ton of sense for the average person, but it's something that makes you think.
0:33
It's something that makes you imagine a future where we're all flying in cars and it's a utopia
0:38
and there's people trying to hunt down Androids and retire them by force
0:42
because they're getting becoming sentient. You know, that kind of thing.
0:45
So the NextDock Two was really cool but the one thing that we really wanted it to have,
0:50
that it didn't have yet is a touch screen. So this one apparently has a touch screen and it's added,
0:55
it's kind of refined the design a little bit more. So, as usual, there's no knife to open these things.
1:01
So I'm using James's screwdriver. Ooh, I almost stabbed myself.
1:05
I didn't even say what this thing is. It's a lapdock, which means that there's no
1:09
laptop brains inside, there's no computer in it.
1:12
It's just a shell, to which you are supposed to connect
1:15
like a phone or a Raspberry PI. You'll see, if that doesn't make sense.
1:19
I'll show you, don't worry. It's really cool, okay.
1:24
Ooh. Oh, okay.
1:28
So that was a somewhat unglamorous way of dumping all this stuff out, but
1:32
This is like a micro USB to USB-C.
1:36
It looks like an HDMI to micro HDMI adapter, cool.
1:41
These are all power adapters for various regions, I believe.
1:46
Okay, so there are still cords.
1:49
Here's a USB-C to C, which we need to connect the phone.
1:53
HDMI, USB-C to micro USB and USB type A.
1:58
So that is for a Raspberry Pi,
2:01
or a similar kind of micro PC device.
2:06
I like this packaging, hey? You got the saw you got the closed cell foam.
2:11
Not only that, but they also, have
2:15
What do you call this air pocket? What would I what would you call this?
2:19
Inflatable pool toy packaging,
2:23
a life preserver, a lapdock preserver.
2:28
Quick start guide. Okay, let go, let's just look through this real quick.
2:32
Just do some light reading, just so I know. You don't wanna see my knees, Andy?
2:36
Look, it's beautiful.
2:40
Help! So right away, I noticed that they may be listened to us.
2:46
One of the things we said about the other NextDock, the pre touch NextDock,
2:50
was the fact that the finish on it felt kinda rough.
2:53
Like, they did this kind of like, blasted aluminum look
2:57
that you know, it looks like a MacBook type of thing or a ZenBook or whatever you wanna do.
3:01
But if it felt a little rougher than you'd expect and this feels already a bit smoother, so that's nice.
3:07
Nice job, NextDock. And, let's look at the ports.
3:12
So can you see that, Andy? We've got the same ports, it looks like.
3:15
One HDMI, which is how you would
3:18
connect to something other than a smartphone to put a video onto the display.
3:24
And actually you can connect anything with an HDMI output. You can kind of connect game consoles,
3:28
other things with HDMI upwards, I guess, a computer, I guess a regular PC.
3:32
And then you have three USB-C ports, which are all meant for different things.
3:37
So, this one is for charging. This one is for,
3:42
I believe for the Raspberry Pi. And I think this is a multi-use one.
3:46
You can use it for Raspberry Pis and for like data. And then this one is to connect your smartphone.
3:50
On the other side, we have a USB three type A port, a headphone jack, and a micro,
3:55
yeah, micro SD card slot, nice. Very nice.
3:59
They really took some measures to protect this thing.
4:02
Like it had that extra layer of like, bump protection and now they had,
4:06
they had a keyboard protector and a plastic
4:11
screen protector. That glossy screen looks nice.
4:15
It looks nicer than I remember on the other one. Okay, the feel is pretty similar to the original NextDock.
4:20
One thing that I said about it was that I thought the keys were a bit large
4:23
and I think that appears to be the case here as well.
4:27
I don't know how that. Aren't I aren't like laptop keys kind of a standard size?
4:32
But it's not anything horrible, like obviously if you know how to type on a keyboard,
4:35
you can still type, It's just like, Oh, I don't need that,
4:39
I don't need that much space. What are you trying to say about my fat fingers, NextDock?
4:43
Wow, is this track pad even bigger than the last one? I feel like it is.
4:47
And also again, the finish on it is a lot nicer,
4:50
so nice to see that, NextDock. Nice, job.
4:54
One other thing I wanna say about the physical design before we get into it,
4:57
is this little notch here. This wasn't here the last time.
5:01
Can you see that, Andy? This thing? They added a little nipple nubbin.
5:06
It doesn't have a webcam. This is like a little vent. I can see that there's a vent there.
5:10
I don't know whether that's input or output, probably output. But I guess maybe this also serves a function of
5:16
allowing a little more air pass through there. I don't know.
5:19
Okay, so it's time to turn this thing on. But before we do that,
5:23
it's time to talk about our sponsor, guys. Micro Center, get the best prices
5:28
and best selection at Micro Center, at any of their 25 locations
5:31
across the United States or online. Join the new Micro Center community
5:36
to give and receive advice on PC parts selection and hardware.
5:39
Also check out their custom PC builder configurator. And if you follow the link below right now,
5:43
you can get a free 32 gig flash drive, and a free 32 gig micro SD card,
5:49
valid in store only, no purchase necessary. Check 'em out.
5:52
It's time to plug stuff in. I got a Samsung Galaxy S20 5G.
5:57
Now in case you're wondering why the heck you would ever
6:01
want something like this, we kinda go over it in the LTT video.
6:04
So you should definitely watch that if you haven't seen it. Basically the NextDock is a dream,
6:10
for those who, you know, want to realize a future where
6:14
you can have all of your personal info and all of your like PC stuff that you need on your phone.
6:20
Power, okay, so there's a light, there's an LED light. Editor, pull up a shot of the
6:25
NextDock Two non-touch edition bezels. 'Cause they were a lot thicker.
6:29
That was one of the main things that we had a problem with on the first model,
6:32
in addition to the texture stuff. Now, granted, they can make them that thin
6:37
because there is no camera. So that's one of the things that you're losing.
6:40
Although, you have a phone. So if you really need a webcam,
6:43
and it's plugged in like this, boom, you got a,
6:46
get over yourself. And right away, you know what? Before I do anything crazy,
6:49
I wanna hook up this magnetic mount as well. What am I looking at?
6:53
Okay, so we're putting it on. Here we go.
6:56
That seems about right. And now, we put the phone on.
7:02
I should've put it higher up 'cause I'm seeing, there's a bit of a, there's a bit of a bending, bendy cord problem.
7:10
Ooh, that is a, that's a very unfortunate sort of a situation here,
7:15
where it's like, okay cool, look at your, your phone mounted there.
7:18
And then you can't really have it at a certain angle
7:22
before it starts falling back.
7:25
Or you could just keep it there. I'll just keep it there forever. Can I have another internet window?
7:30
Aha, I can! So you can have two browser Windows open side by side.
7:34
This is another big thing I wanted to talk about. The touch pad. On the original NextDock Two,
7:38
the touch pad had this weird like acceleration problem.
7:42
Like you would swipe over and the mouse would just kinda keep going.
7:47
And they appear to have fixed that. This is a lot more snappy.
7:50
It doesn't feel like I'm like out of control. I definitely felt like I could not do things with precision.
7:55
Nice job, NextDock, thank you. Okay, cool.
7:59
The last thing I wanted to do is to take a look at the bottom, because, I opened up the last one
8:04
and I want to see whether there's any major changes. So, let's do it.
8:08
Let go of your, (laughs)
8:11
Oh, this is different. This is two-cell battery. It says 60.8 watt hours,
8:17
which is a lot, well, the last one had 52.
8:20
I think originally, the NextDock Two was gonna ship with like 40 something,
8:24
and then they upped it to 52 watt hours. And now this one has a 60.8 watt hour.
8:30
Great job. Oh, you're here. I just wanted to show you that I took this off.
8:35
Are you proud of me? - [Alex] Ughhh
8:38
- For the first time, I've never touched this laptop and I took it off, are you proud of me?
8:42
- [Alex] What the hell is this laptop? - Are you proud of me? - [Alex] I'm proud of you, Riley.
8:46
- Good, God! It's a lapdock, it's not a laptop.
8:50
Have you ever heard of that? - [Alex] Yeah, so it's like a stamp bottom.
8:53
They didn't CNC it. - You're getting, wait, what?
8:57
- [Alex] Why? - What why? - [Alex] Why so much expensive?
9:00
- Why? Wait, what do you mean? You don't even know how expensive it is.
9:04
Yeah, it's 269 for this thing. - [Ales] I bet. - Yeah, I mean like you could get a Chromebook
9:08
or you could just like get one of these and you could plug your phone in or a Raspberry Pi or a
9:12
whatever you want. (banging on machine)
9:16
Ah, that's not right.
9:20
That's the way, that, that's, the build quality overall,
9:25
has improved in this version.
9:28
But, there is still that kinda feel of like, "Hey, we're like a startup,
9:32
you know, we're trying to prototype quickly and get some of these things out to people who are,
9:37
who are really trying to tinker around with new ways of computing."
9:40
And that's cool, I think that's cool. But know that, you know, it's 269.
9:46
For a relatively high-end build
9:49
you know, there are some things like when you take the panel off the edge is a little bit sharp
9:53
and there's a little bit of flex to the panel. But I mean, I don't know. I think these kinda tinkerers who like,
9:58
go for this kinda thing, are they really complaining, I dunno.
10:03
- [Linus] But it manages to do so with a claimed, zero addition of--
10:07
- That's plenty loud. What's that? - [Linus] And, the exact same TDB as before. - What?
10:11
- [Linus] On top of that, aim (pop music)
10:20
- Okay, so they're, you know, they're not super great laptop speakers or whatever,
10:23
but they'll do, I mean, like I've heard a lot of laptops speakers that are worse.
10:27
Okay, well I'm impressed. I mean, it seems like NextDock has improved
10:31
on most of the things that we had an issue with last time.
10:34
The texture is a lot smoother. The track pad responsiveness is a lot better.
10:39
The bezels, the big fat bezels are gone. There's touch support,
10:44
bigger battery. I, I'm impressed.
10:48
Nice job, NextDock. I, you know, this gives me more faith that
10:54
this kind of future where we all have just our phones as our main computing devices
10:59
is maybe a bit more realistic than it seems.
11:03
Even if, even if Samsung
11:07
might be the only phone manufacturer, really putting a desktop mode in their phones.
11:12
And NextDock, you appear to basically be
11:16
the only manufacturer doing these. I've seen a few other ones,
11:20
and like there's been some on Kickstarter and stuff, but like, they haven't really gone to fruition.
11:25
So even if you guys are the only people who seem to be really pushing this future,
11:29
I think it's a future worth pushing. And keep pushing, pusher.
11:36
All the way to the bank. Probably not, but maybe.
11:42
269 bucks, not bad. And you know what else wouldn't be bad?
11:45
If you checked out more of ShortCircuit's videos.
11:49
'Cause we're making these how many are we making, three or four a week?
11:52
I don't wanna promise that. Tweet Jono, if we're short on videos.
11:58
You can get real mad at him. And after you do that, come back here
12:02
and subscribe to ShortCircuit, 'cause I'll miss you, what?
12:09
Hey, you ever heard of "Carpool Critics," movie podcast? It's a thing.
12:12
Subscribe to that. I'm on it.
12:16
TechLinked. (background chatter) It's okay. (laughter)