MNT's Pocket Reform Highly-Open Netbook Edges Closer to Launch, Receives Finalized Specifications
With a finalized design and specifications, the fully-open Pocket Reform is due to hit Crowd Supply in the very near future.
MNT Research is preparing to open crowdfunding for the Pocket Reform, its netbook-style follow-up to the aggressively-open Reform laptop family — boasting the same freedoms and even accepting the same systems-on-module (SOMs) as its thick predecessor.
The full-size MNT Reform proved a success, offering a retro-throwback chunky design — complete with 3D-printed trackball assembly — in which as much as possible is open, from the software it runs to the design of the case. It's even possible to produce your own Reform, either as a direct clone or a spin-off, with some in the community doing exactly that with tweaks including split keyboard layouts and USB Type-C charging.
The Pocket Reform, meanwhile, is just as open but considerably more portable. Designed to take the same system-on-module designs as the larger Reform — including work-in-progress FPGA and RISC-V designs — the Pocket Reform drops the 12.5" display in favor of a 7" Full HD panel and a micro-HDMI port for external displays.
The aggressive rake to the keyboard has been entirely removed and replaced by a flat ortholinear layout, still using mechanical key switches, while the single-color backlight now offers RGB control. As with its predecessor, the Pocket Reform even finds room for a trackball — albeit a smaller 10mm unit with the buttons placed two to either side.
Precise specifications will depend on model purchased: the base model offers a slight upgrade on the full-size Reform with an NXP i.MX8M Plus offering four Arm Cortex-A53 cores running at 1.8GHz and a choice of 4GB or 8GB of DDR memory, plus a Vivante GC7000UL graphics processor and neural network co-processor; other modules are expected to be available during the pre-order campaign, but with precise specifications not yet shared.
Power comes from a pair of lithium-ion cells with a combined capacity of 8Ah — trading away the long lifespan and safety of the LiFePO4 cells used in the original Reform for a higher capacity and smaller footprint. Elsewhere in the compact clamshell are up to 128GB of eMMC storage, a microSD slot, M.2 NVMe slot, two USB Type-C ports of which one doubles as a charging port, and an industrial Ethernet port — though anyone looking to make use of this will need an optional adapter cable to connect it to a standard RJ45 cable.
MNT has yet to confirm pricing and a launch date for the Pocket Reform, but the project is getting closer to release: its landing page is now live on Crowd Supply, and the prototypes have been successfully running from internal battery power for the first time since the devices were teased a year ago.