Gemini II - The perfect notebook for the light traveler

[oumgas]

I am super happy to receive my brand new Gemini II notebook. Ultra light but sturdy aluminum chassis, super minimal design (oh, how I LOVE that there's not a single logo anywhere on the chassis), 256GB SSD, no Windows OS (I installed Ubuntu Mate). Perfect for my needs (browsing, writing docs on Google Docs, editing stuff in Libre Office, using InkScape and GIMP). The display is super sharp, brightness is O.K. I just worked outside a bit, and in sunshine with brightness tuned full up it was manageable (although not super bright) - also, the glass screen is reflective which doesn't help when you sit outside.
All in all, despite the "weak" celeron N4000 CPU and only 4GB RAM (DDR4L 2133 MHz), the machine is super fast. I guess the performant ADATA SSD is a win - setting some decent 16GB swap space in Ubuntu certainly helps.
So, a super good looking, ultra portable notebook with decent battery life (about 8 hours with normal office-style load).

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks for the detailed review and photos!

 

[Oussebon]

Thanks for the review - and also for installing Linux on it as one or two people have been curious to know if the chassis plays nice.

 

[oumgas]

Hey, no prob. Happy to write the review. One little problem though: When I posted this one, after clicking on post, I got an error message and I thought posting the review wasn't successful - so a couple of minutes ago I posted again. Does anybody know how do I delete my duplicate post? @Oussebon - maybe you can help me with this?

 

[Oussebon]

I think someone else beat me to it

 

[SpyderTracks]

Quick on the draw, they call me Cool Hand Luke!

 

[Stephen M]

Nice review, thanks and also good to see more Linux users here.

 

[oumgas]

Nice review, thanks and also good to see more Linux users here.

Yep, I am quite a Linux fan. Especially with this slim little notebook which is not a powerhouse, it's so much better to be in full control what's running in the background so that the whole machine stays snappy and super fast. Also, I love that these user-friendly distros like Ubuntu Mate are offering so much customization opportunities. I'm not a Linux pro though, just looking up stuff on the internet for my particular needs. That's how I got to review and set what apps shall start automatically, installed tlp for some further energy/performance optimization (although I have to read up a bit more on this to get it right), tweaked SSD IO operations by containing swappyness to a reasonable extent.

And by the way, it was an awesome smooth experience ordering this notebook from PCSpecialist. I placed the order on the German site on a Tuesday, and just 3 days after, my notebook was delivered from their UK factory right to my door in Germany on Friday! I couldn't wish for a quicker and more seamless experience on this!

 

[leof240]

general question: where can I find detailed specs for this laptop?