MNT Reform open hardware laptop: mntre.com
Full video: • This laptop was MADE t...
The MNT Reform in this video was provided by MNT, and I am not keeping it, nor did they have any input into the content of this short.
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This is the MNT Reform, and I'd like to thank MNT Research for letting me borrow one for a few weeks. Full video: kzhead.info/sun/kqh6YK6qa4l-YGw/bejne.html
Before this comment, I had to look at your terminal to see what this laptop was: "Welcome to Debian GNU/Linux on MNT REFORM" It goes for about 2096 Euros with an LS1028A CPU with a pair of Cortex A72 1.5 GHz cores, 16GB DDR4 RAM, along with 2TB NVMe SSD and a Wi-Fi card.
oh man wish the vid was out already 😢
Pure expensive garbage
Woot! Can't wait!
Looking forward to the video are you going to build a desk pi super computer that could compete with the standard desktop?
The fact it has user-replaceable non-proprietary batteries itself is a game-changer but the fact that they’re standard 18650’s makes this killer
Well, they are 18650s but not the most common 3.7V lithium ion cells. They're LiPo chemistry which is better suited to longevity over multiple cycles edit: LiFePo4
Literally all laptop batteries before the recent lipo pack trend were just 18650s in a plastic shell
...which were much harder to repair/replace without buying official batteries, especially since they were often epoxied together ;)
@@Atmatan_Kabbaher Aren't they still 18650 in a shell even to this day?
Was thinking the exact same thing. I have at least 50 18650s... Lol
"What it lacks in performance, it gains in personality" hit a little too close to home 😭
Friendly fire 😂
Will not be tolerated@@loveadeola
@@beforedrrdprclever 😂
I'm sure your significant other can tolerate you anyway 😂
.. so b asicly you hae to run as barebone linux as you can, because potato hardware... .. and then make rice videos how linux is better OS
A hacker’s laptop is a 2012 Chromebook that they found at a Goodwill. Something that cannot be traced back to them.
bought by someone else with their cash
Only if you go by the modern, stereotype of a hacker
Lenovo Thinkpad they found used with a bunch of scratches and dents 👍 Chromebooks are awful in so many ways
Kmao
Hacker as in Hardware Hacker, but the word was misused yeah
I love how you use the original meaning of hacker here. Before it was a word plastered on cybercrime,it was mainly used to mean people who take technology into their own hands either building a different way to do something, or breaking something down and sharing how it's done. Gods thinking about the Hacker Manifesto makes me feel old, and that was before i was born.
God*
@@TheALPHA1550Gods. All of them. :D
@@steveheist6426 Just one God. Though it is impossible for us to gain information of a God entity. If you DO come across information about God or find out that there are more than one, let me know. Meanwhile get used to indeterminism of physics and the impact of life on even the stellar mechanics etc. and the imprecision inherent to measurement and sensitivity analysis. Further make sure to watch Sagan's Fourth Dimension explanation. God bless you and I hope you will be successful in your pursuits.
It's like the framework laptop and a mid 2000s thinkpad had a child.
What I was thinking too. But I love the design though, looks so good
It's lacking the nipple mouse though :/
@@derkeksinator17 It's supposed to be customizable you can have one right?
bought myself a framework 13 recently, fucking excellent purchase
exactly my thoughts
I did not expect a "hacker's" laptop to lack performance to gain personality.
Think about it, you dont need to run games, just code. No 3d modeling or anything. You dont need much.
@@TempName525depends, for brute force attacks and shit processing power is everything
@@hugoparox If you're running a brute force attack you're most likely not running it on your personal hardware.
@TempName525 i dunno. It feels like compromising performance for the sake of "looking like a hacker" is not a hacker thing to do. 😅 Like. A. Why wouldn't you want a laptop that does more even if you don't plan to run games on it. And B. Why wouldn't you run games on it? And C. What do you do with a laptop if not for games and not for brute forcing stuff? Like, even if you're just coding, I assume you'd want a laptop that can multitask and handle a number of tabs on your browser simultaneously. I'm not a hacker, tho. but it seems to me that a hacker whose laptop is specifically and compromisingly built to look like a "hacker's laptop" is focused more on looking like a hacker than being one.
i mean when all you need is the shell/terminal with no GUI or 3d accel to do what you need to do then is it really lacking performance then?
>Build this laptop >Install Windows on it > pricvecy achieved
Wait what? Windows? 💀
Better to use tails os or qubes os depending on your use case but any Linux distro is enough
Reading this brought me literal pain. Good job! XD
Ah yes, pricvecy, my favorite.
ive installed windows on a pi 4 before. coincidentally that pi broke right after that
Aaaaaad we come full circle. I remember early 2000's you could put together your own lappy out of shop-bought parts. With the latest tech.
Yeah. We used to McGuyver everything back in the day. Miss that shit.
The last 15-17 years of Laptop Evolution have been a highway to hell......
I knew a guy who installed extra ram... on his Mac!
@painstruck01 dear god...
I've upgraded my Toshiba satellite l300 over the years, vista era machine 2008-2009. 1980x1200 screen(dual channel cable needed), 2Ghz to 2.8Ghz then to 3.06Ghz c2d, 320hdd to 256gb SSD for boot, 1tb HDD in odd bay, internal WiFi +Bluetooth combo card, 2gb to 4gb to 8gb ddr2, 12 cell battery. It's heavy and the igp is weak but it works for general internet and office stuff, more so that later dual core netbook type laptops.
"RISC architecture is gonna change everything" - That's right! It really changed everything. Now eveyone has a computer in their pocket.
But back in the days they had PowerPC as RISC which is significantly worse than IA32 and AMD64
@@teamredstudio7012 ARM64 and RISC-V:
Is having everyone carrying a computer in their pockets, really a good thing? In the last 20 years.. Did it educate people? Did it solve the energy problem? Did it feed the poor? Did it save the nature? Did it make us more social? Did it make our lives better? Did it makes us better human beings? Or did it make us better slaves. Stuff we don't really need... Problems that don't really need to be solved... Resources that'd be better if spent on actual needs... And there're things waiting around the corner, which definitely will wake us up into a nightmare of a life... You're still right though. The RISC architecture quite changed everything. It really helped our lives "reduced" into something less...
You mean RISC-V ?
@@teamredstudio7012BECAUSE IT IS WORSE! That's the name Reduced Instruction Set Chip versus CISC - Complex Instruction Set Chip on IA32 & IA64. The idea with ARM and others micro-controllers is their simplicity to do low level coding. Way easier to implement custom stuff than effectively use all the bells and whistles CISC-s provide. Imagine some don't even have DIV (division) instruction implemented. Not to mention handling floating point numbers in general.
The irresistible urge to be a cool tech computer guy living in a reality where I have trouble finding my photos file.
*adds photo to Word file *Word doesn’t explode and ruin the formatting Me: Hackerman 😎
Me: people are gonna think I'm so cool Reality: nobody cares.
Tech computer guys are considered cool now?
@@svenmify idk, that’s what I’ve always thought, idk what other people think tho
@@svenmify they always were
Where it lack in sizes, it gains in personality 💀💀
“Say a lot without saying anything” -I got you fam
I dare someone to flip it over and go through airport security
Heh.
@@JeffGeerling I think he meant it sorta kinda maybe looks a little like an improvised explosive.
Too organised to be improvised
@@thomasw4422 You would be surprised at what some smart psychopath that has all the time in the world to tinker can do in a basement. The lunatics that build such devices tend to take pride in their work and will go out of their way to make it look organized and extremely complex.
@@deimos7784the problem is that they will have no idea what it is, will detain you and other problems could occur.
When did having a repair friendly and open source device become a hacker thing?
When iphones became popular, probably.
@@_NEPO_your comment doesn’t answer the question, right to repair and open source software is something everyone who was asked that question and understood what it meant would be in support of. Unfortunately we live in a society where they can turn around and use the money they earned selling tech to force us to give them even more money by buying politicians. Who hates greedy politicians and monopolies? I bet it’s not just hackers. And Apple was far from the first to use this tactic they are just the most hated in this subject because they use the advantages every big tech company has better than anyone else. A hacking mind would build their own laptop, not buy some junk marketed to them, thats how this started.
Hacker. It's nothing illegal. It's simply somebody who plays around with hardware and software. The computer repair place in my town is called the Hackery.
@@eli3082 It became a "hacker" thing when devices became more of a status symbol than a tool. Being able to buy an entirely new phone when (what should be) an easily replaceable part breaks means you are wealthy. Caring about right to repair is poor-person moves. (more like fiscally-responsible-person moves but you know that narrative doesn't get pushed)
Because big tech can't control it, ergo anything non-proprietary becomes a threat and will be targeted. Just like people who refused the vaccine. THEY want to control the information stream because THEY are terrified of losing control.
People literally dont even know what they're missing when we say, "right to repair." Even a taste of the concept should be blowing minds wide open, and I'm glad this short is trending.
Waiting until "the greatest technician that has ever lived" find this laptop 😂😂
He won't :( He's already dead. He was the greatest Programmer who ever lived.
Okay, the schematics sold me 😅
what will you do with it though? you any good at soldering, or microelectronics?
@@istvancsap3513 it's a starting point to making your own components
@@istvancsap3513 The schematics make it possible for anyone to add hardware. If the owner can't use it, there are others who may help. It will also be pointless to add DRM chips that prevent you from doing what you like if the hardware and firmware is open, it's just go go around restrictions that is forced on users even if no law apply. The user will not have any problem to get it repaired either.
@@istvancsap3513Believe it or not some people are capable of working on electronics.
My guy forgot that engineers exist
I am rooting for both framework and this company to succeed
Unfortunately the "free market" follows profit, not what's good for humanity and the planet, so I doubt it.
The replay transition is so seamless. Great editing skills!
Exactly what I need for a working machine: Personality.
for some really techy people, being able to get to the nitty gritty without being obfuscated with proprietary code actually gives them efficiency.
We just found Louis Rossmann's newest favorite toy. I want a full length video on it too, however 😅
At that price point he would tell you to git gud and learn how to make your own cyberdeck. This is a joke and a scam
Definitely neither a joke nor a scam. It is quite expensive (thus my last line "not for everyone"), but my hope is MNT has the runway to make progressively better OSHW laptops. Their main design goal is neither "beat Apple" nor "make inexpensive", so it is only for a certain type (someone who loves OSHW, and has the spending money and patience for this thing).
@@Atmatan_KabbaherIt's not a joke nor a scam. it's just a niche product. And the issue with niche products are they are often way more expensive than products way mass produced...
@@TheDeathmail Weird. My flipper zero is a pretty niche hacker device that seems to do more with less and for less cost than this garbage laptop that pretends to be open-source as a marketing ploy to exploit undereducated consumers. My CrowPi, an equally repairable and modular device, is also just as cheap as the flipper is. Also, the cyberdeck I built myself just so happens to look a lot like this laptop does, and it only has $100 USD worth of parts on an x86 sbc with more power than anything you can put into this supposedly open-source device. I'm not seeing my guy. This seems like nothing more than a way to exploit the right to repair hype train that's barely even started gaining proper traction. Nothing more. You need to take some media literacy classes and learn how propaganda works because you're operating on deficient software.
@@Atmatan_Kabbahertake em to school atmatan
> The RISC architecture is gonna change everything With RISC-V, this aged like fine wine
I caught up with one of the team who builds these a couple of days ago - so much care goes into designing and assembling them. So awesome to see their project pop up on KZhead!
Spot on loop editing!
I really hope this trend catches on within the niche side of laptops. Competition is honestly just what the Framework (as a concept) needs to go from novel to incredible.
I'm waiting for the public availability of a "hot swap" laptop.. where even the NIC is hot swappable. Spoofable MAC addresses standard.. 🤓
When it's all set up to be made cheaply and sold high end, and we all allow the market to stay that way, there is no hope for competition anywhere. It's obsolete at this point, competition. If everything is a monopoly and everybody just accepts and purchases JUNK with defects, and no one DEMANDS quality and efficiency, anymore, you're going to have NO true competition. They have us stuck and having no choice really, it's the way they like it. Smartphones for example, a brand new I phone costs $10 to make for the company. They charge over $1000 and people GLADLY pay it.....until we get our braincells back as a society, nothing will change but for the worse.
@@jaysonstewart7536If you only want to swap it because of the MAC, then look up in the hardware's datasheet how to change it.
I see Framework as an unbuyable half-measure, with having everything on USB only .
Hopefully we get a long form version of this video, I'm really intrigued by this laptop!
It's coming next week!
@@JeffGeerling I can not wait to see it!
@@JeffGeerling Lovely
And after writing this message, I realised the video was already out 😁
What does it do?
Hacker is not synonymous with Freedom.
HACK THE PLANET ‼️
Well, years ago hacker wasn't about penetrating systems, but about knowing how everything (program, computer, etc.) works
Si lo es...
HACK THE UNIVERSE
@@walnutdesert960 Not even close
Great concept laptop, correct use of the word "hacker", and a nice bit of video looping. Well done. 👍
I'm SOLD. The schematic alone is enough
Rather get a framework laptop tho
A more realistic option is the Framework laptop
how so
@@firstname-qq3xp Framework is a line of modular laptops with end-user repairability & modern specs to handle modern computing tasks. So like, this homebrew laptop but on steroids essentially. The only point of benefit for the homebrew would be in the sourcing of parts, since modules for Framework must be sourced from them whereas the homebrew could theoretically be sourced from the scrapyard.
I use Arch btw ❌ I use Hacker's laptop btw ✅
It looks and feels old fashioned. Framework looks cute and is pretty functional/serviceable too
I'm gonna say that from now on, «what it lacks in performance, it gains in personality», it's gonna be useful.
Lmfao 😂
Thank you for the correct and original usage of the work hacker.
“This is the hacker’s laptop. It’s not for everyone. This is the hacker’s laptop”
I've been running an mnt reform for over three years and love the thing!
The references to the Hackers movie were hilarious!
Thats just for overly enthusiastic fancy hackers/nerds and its a beauty.
It’s so awesome that there’s options like this now.
100% open source hardware. Yes, especially with Raspberry Pi with a proprietary SoC and closed firmware xD
There are multiple options (not just Raspberry Pi), some with even more open firmware ;)
@@JeffGeerling I suspected, but Raspberry Pi is a joke when it comes to openness, with their firmware and Broadcom chips.
RISC-V? Would like that on a lowish powered laptop, mean my main laptop I use for basic daily tasks is single core, two threads @ 1.3Ghz so probably wouldn't feel any slower even with software incompatibility? Though not sure how far risc-v has come on the BSDs or linux, don't really feel the need to get a faster laptop as I typically stream a VM if I need to do more demending tasks or that main PC if low latency is needed Though GPU compatablity, suppose I'll see what it can do in the coming week or two 😊 Might be worth researching some options as I have an itch to learn assembly for it
@@JeffGeerling"More open"...thanks, I'll stay with proprietary"solutions", like Windows. Where every new release is "more bug-free" and "more perfectly secure".
@@klausstock8020 nice troll.
Yes! Glad to see some *positive* coverage of the Reform for once. Ars Technica absolutely blasted it for silly reasons, and the comments section there was utterly disappointing, with seemingly zero appreciation for repairability, visibility, anything that makes this laptop so nice. It does feel a bit shameful to put hardware in it that uses binary blobs though :x (like almost any modern wifi card)
Ars Technica always does those. Writers on that site only think of themselves and write articles without mentioning "personal opinion".
It's impossible to not put hardware with binary blobs. You would have to design a RISC-V CPU implementation and print all of its schematics, and if you want to be anywhere near a low-end commercial CPU you would need tons of money.
this thing is nasty, why take that thick hunk of junk if you can go with, say a framework laptop instead?
@@thev01d85Because the point is not to have something fancy, but rather something to tinker with, to customize, to experiment with, a project box. You are free to go with a Framework if you likez in that case it's not something for you and/or your interest.
Ars Technica is another pure shill company, just like LMG.
Now make one with high end hardware and I'll definitely buy one
massive thumbs up for Hackers scenes ... love that movie
>"This is a hacker's laptop" >not a single reason or word about hackers, just realy cool laptop
It's the part where it's open source and self-repairable/replaceable instead of being full of proprietary garbage.
The media have forever ruined the meaning of the word hacker, hacking back in the 70s and 80s (and even the 90s ??) was so much more than what people think hacking is now.
You're thinking of the wrong definition of hacker. He even says not like the movie hackers. He's talking about the original definition of hacking. Not the breaking through computer security type of hacking.
You missed it mate, you missed it. He even said "real hackers" lol
Most top programists i know use fucking old 10 years PCs and trash company laptop shitboxes. They use 20 years old phones. The guys that are top at reverse, made hacks back in the past while being a kid, wrote own game engines, login - game servers from nothing. Can tell possible exploits in games after touching them for 5 minutes. Its not hardware that gives you privacy, its the soft and being smart...
I wonder how long until someone mods a thinkpad keyboard with the trackpoint onto it lol
That would be nice; been a while since I've tried a trackpoint nubbin!
@@JeffGeerlingfyi there is a thinkpad desktop keyboard that exists
Some Dell laptops have the trackpoint as well
@@nickfury1279 nowadays, not so much iirc the last latitudes with trackpoints were 8th gen ones
most of the latitude keyboards feel like trash, who would want to mod that onto a development laptop xD grab a cheap replacement keyboard from the t440-t470 laptops and your golden 👌
I've been watching the video for two hours and I didn't realize how smooth the end and the beginning were.
Finally, a modern laptop that lets me see its components
In that case they should call it a hacktop
Hacking the planet is optional.
Honestly the thickness and overall size looks very similar to my first laptop. It wasn't a speed demon, requiring me to reboot into DOS to get the most when playing games (avoiding the overhead of windows 95). No trackpad or ball.. Just a little nib in the middle of the keyboard.
Looks like you can just upgrade everything to infinity
I like my laptops girth measured in inches
🥵
I wish it had a 4:3 or 16:10 display.
Can't say I disagree! Would love 16:10
Wish we had more tech like this.
This should be part of every school, allowing people to understand the purpose of each component, test it, learn about schematics, overall becoming more familiar on this field.
Will there be a full vid on this? :)
Yes there will! Working on that now, hopefully to post next week :)
Sweet!
@@JeffGeerling Oh, I'm looking forwards to it ^^. Please do an unfair comparison to the Framework laptop! :D
@@JeffGeerling NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you have full vid... in ascii art
Surely this is called a Hacktop?
You win!
@@JeffGeerlingI raise you Hacbook
Government trap for hackers.
Oh man, that looks great. I love the size, design, and the 18650s are a beautiful sight to behold.
The speaker part reminded me of a funny story. Several years ago, around 2012, my aunt gave my older sister an old Kindle, with a built in speaker. My aunt left some music and books on it too in case my sister wanted to read/listen to those. My sister left it in her bed most of the time. One day, we start hearing music, sort of distantly. This wasn’t that strange because we lived near a bar that would fairly often play loud music. But we opened the window, and the music didn’t get any louder… My siblings looked through the blankets and found that the Kindle was playing Pokémon music all to itself. No one was on the bed, so we don’t know how its buttons got pushed.
Yeah the open source is great and all, but what it's really missing are some rollerblades attached to the side of it.
Ooh, so you can easily roll it under your monitor once you have it at the desk.
@@JeffGeerling no, because it's thick enough to be a skateboard
@@paradoxx_4221 that feature would be its ultimate gimmick 😂
Wow, haven't seen Schematics included in the Manual since the 80's.
The perfect laptop for the hacker that doesn't hack shit but the laptop.
Only way it could be cooler is if it had a clear casing ❤️
It’s not thin, it’s not cheap, and it’s not powerful, what a steal. It has absolutely nothing going for it.
"b-but it is repairable and 100% opensource"
@@thirun779 Paying extra for open source, love it!!!
Damn right, because you're going to be busy repairing it 24/7. Good luck
I would agree that this laptop is for tinkerer rather than hacker. As the latter need a lot of ram and computing power. This thingie lacks both. Because open hardware platforms have nothing to do with hacking and more with getting to know architecture of laptop computer.
Please research the history of "hacker"
Puts on rollerblades - "Magic people, voodoo people..."
great platform. i wish more manufacturers made such series of hardware along with mainstream ones.
I don't care how sleek a MacBook looks. I don't care how flashy Alienware/Dell, MSI any of those companies make their laptops. THIS is the coolest laptop in the world.
gives old school vibes. which is cool.
I... I would just buy a Framework laptop...
Completely reasonable choice!
Totally agree
Agreed
Cause it is a proper computer for human use... Not a raspberry pi 😂
That was the smoothest transition, ever.
As soon as I saw that it included the schematic they immediately gained my respect and approval
It's customizable and repairable, unlike CERTAIN company
Crime laptops should be disposable. Throwaway. This is not a hipster toy, but a tool. Done the job - dispose of the tool.
That CLICK* at the end when he closed it. I'm sold.
If heat rises, that wopping heat sink may have some problems. Need to have a sink above heat disapation. Flip the pi and sink over add some vents. Or ditch the sink and sink it to a metal plate below the keyboard.
Airport security is going to have a field day with you (Especially with the see through bottom).
"No all those colorful TNT-looking things are not bombs!" "But they *are* batteries, right?" ...well... you do have a bit of a point, in the right circumstances...
Hackers was a great movie.
RISC is good
The schematics included are a game changer
Can't wait to buy one just to use it to browse the Internet and write documents.
Think that's a MNT laptop for those wondering.
yes €1,199.00
I wonder how many others read Mutant Ninja Turtle when they see that acronym.
Coming to a starbucks near you or shown off in some linux cult discord😂
Heh I considered doing that just for the fun of it (reminding me of the 90s, when I did lug around an enormous PowerBook). But didn't!
Hackers movie was the inspiration for many kids back in the day, c'mon!
"Currently in production. Expected to ship in about 333334 months." 💀
Thank God it's running Debian.
No hacker is using a piece of shit laptop with 0 power.
This looks extremely nice to learn hardware security
You guys need to check out the framework laptop.
It's not hackers tool it's just nerd toy
RISC gets good
Now I see that framework actually really did an awesome job
I'm very much looking to their upcoming MNT Pocket Reform
"Mooomm... I want a MacBook!" "We have MacBook at home"
Bro💀
Oh, so this is sponsored content for a product that sucks! Thanks for the warning disguised as an endorsement!
Depending on what you're looking for, this and Frameworks laptops are two of the best options out on the market right now.
Hackers has a great soundtrack, I truly love that movie
It's just a customizable laptop. The work "hacker" in this context should stay in the last century.
Fun fact: no fucking real hacker uses that!
he isn't talking about hackers as in people who break into digital systems but rather the original definition of hacker - basically a tech enthusiast
Maybe he meant hack as in con artist
@@juhis5936 on that case it would have just been called a hack's laptop
@amruthchangappa Why would he do that? That's like using the f slur to refer to a bundle of sticks, we don't use language like that.
@@MarbleThumbs that was my point, that he didn't mean hack as in a com artist, he likely meant tech enthusiast
These are the laptops we need to support
Looks just like my old 90's ThinkPad I loved that machine.