Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by the Skimlinks, Amazon, Rakuten Advertising, and eBay, affiliate programs, and Liliputing may earn a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on those links. All prices are subject to change, and this article only reflects the prices available at time of publication.
The GOLE 2 Pro is a pocket-sized device with a touchscreen display, 5.5 inch touchscreen display. But it’s not a smartphone. Instead, it’s a PC with full-sized ports, an x86 processor, and support for desktop operating systems including Windows 11 or Ubuntu.
Powered by a 10-watt Intel Celeron 5105 quad-core processor and featuring 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of solid state storge, the GOLE 2 Pro is the latest in a line of mini PCs with screens from HIGOLE, a Chinese mini PC maker. The GOLE 2 Pro available from the company’s website for $259 and up.
The latest model appears to be an upgrade over last year’s GOLE 1 Pro in a few key ways. The processor has been upgraded from Intel’s Gemini Lake architecture to a chip based on Intel’s Jasper Lake architecture, which is a newer (but not newest) version of Intel’s line of processors for low-cost, low-power devices.
And the new model has an M.2 2280 slot with support for PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe solid state storage rather than slower eMMC storage. The starting price for this little computer includes a 256GB SSD, but you can pay a little more for a 512GB SSD.
But this is still very much a mini PC designed as a cost-efficient low-power solution. It should be able to handle 4K video playback and most basic tasks, but it’s not going to be much good for more demanding tasks like AAA gaming or video editing.
Ports include:
- 1 x USB Type-C (full-function)
- 1 x USB Type-C (for power only)
- 1 x HDMI
- 4 x USB 3.0 Type-A
- 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
- 1 x 3.5mm audio
- 1 x microSD card reader
HIGOLE says the system can support up to two displays thanks to the USB-C and HDMI ports. Storage should be user-upgradeable, but the computer’s LPDDR4 memory is fixed to the motherboard.
Other features include support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 and the computer’s most unusual feature, its 5.5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel touchscreen display that you can use as a status display, touchscreen controller, or for other functions.
The GOLE 2 Pro measures 142 x 91 x 19mm (5.6″ x 3.6″ x 0.75″), making a little larger than two smartphones stacked on top of one another.
The only place I can find that’s selling the GOLE 2 Pro so far is the GOLE Mini PC store, but HIGOLE does have a presence on Amazon and AliExpress as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this little computer showed up at those storefronts soon.
While earlier GOLE mini PCs with screens have also included small batteries allowing them to be used for at least a little while without a power adapter, it looks like that became an optional feature at some point. The starting price for the new model does not include a battery, but customers can opt to pay a little more for a model that does have a 2500 mAh battery. That model is expected to ship in December, 2023, while the battery-free model is already available.
The optional battery is one thing that sets the GOLE 2 Pro apart from the new JX02 mini PC, which has also has an Intel Celeron N5105 chip, but features less RAM (8GB) and a better display (a 5.7 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel screen). As far as I can tell, the JX02 does not offer a battery, but it’s a low power PC that should be able to run while connected to a 30W or higher USB power bank.
via Jorik
This article was first published November 19, 2023 and most recently updated November 20, 2023 to reflect a change in processor (HIGOLE switched from a 15-watt N5095 to a 10-watt N5105 chip) and an updated link to the HIGOLE website).
It strikes me that the converging Lomiri UI would work really well for these types of device.
this is trend, small computers (meybe with linux?)
But still this is too fat, not working without wire power, no have mechanic keyboard (chocolate layout?)
Nothing create a computer for hackers communiti (big community)
You’re looking for something like the GPD Pocket 1/2?
OQO or Sony Vaio Pocket P
week working time on one charge
Every time a portable device comes along, you ask for this. You have to realize that it isn’t possible with hardware like this. To get a week’s working time on one charge, you will have to have either much less computing power or much more batteries, and probably both so you don’t end up carrying around 5 kg of battery. If you scale down the processor that much, it won’t be able to run desktop Linux or Windows, which is clearly what this device is going for. That is why they have not made it.
In theory it should be possible with an ARM CPU in combination with an e-ink display, but that would be very niche…
It really depends what it has to do. Making a computer that runs that long isn’t that hard, but you have to be pretty ruthless about what stuff you’re throwing out. One frequently necessary step is picking a low-power SoC that’s just fast enough for what you need it to do, which works a lot better if you’re custom-writing all the software than if you want to run a desktop environment and GUI code pulled from the package manager. You also have to decide whether you’ll find a chip with well-supported sleep modes and be certain that you’re using them to your advantage or whether you’ll have the device fully shut down when you’re not using it.
The best example I have of such a device is an ereader, which usually shuts down nearly everything between page turns, usually has a single CPU core from a place like NXP with good power management, and only one program which controls everything. The software is really important, as if you try to run a program that isn’t tailored for that power profile, battery life will drop significantly. The problem with building such a thing is that we start to risk throwing away a feature that someone needs, so you take the small market for such a device and immediately start partitioning it based on the lost features. That’s why it’s not really going to happen.
It is possible. You simply need to clock the processor and memory properly.
https://hackaday.io/project/186277-psion-5mx-kludged-linux
https://cmp.felk.cvut.cz/~kybic/old/psionS5/
https://jm.iq.pl/psion-5mx-z-linuxem-na-pokladzie/
etc.
Normal linux , x11, cc, ssh , ruby, python, perl etc.
@Jorik
no eink, normal black-white screen or PixelQ screen. E-ink is not for desktop or terminal
Your Psion examples prove the problem. For one thing, that’s not a week’s working time. It’s at best 20 hours working time using the original software, and I’m guessing much worse with the Linux system running. It also required using a 36 MHz CPU, which is not enough nowadays. You can easily get Cortex-M series processors and graft on a bunch of memory, but nobody wants to. The number of things that such a device cannot do is very high nowadays, with no wireless networking, basically no networking at all, and no compatibility with most software. I don’t want that, and nor do a lot of potential buyers.
@Nathan
Arguing about whether users want it or not is idle.
We might as well argue whether someone needs ethernet on a laptop or tablet. Such designs are emerging, and I just want to make you aware of this with the example of GOLE.
Such a computer that is portable is very necessary for many people. There are already enough of these people to make it worthwhile. Today the number of computer administrators is significantly greater than it used to be.
Psion has a 16 MHz CPU.
Look for how long a regular ESP32 which has 240MHz runs.
It is true that such a small computer will not be for everything. And there are people who do not need it. But I see a trend. Computers are emerging that meet the needs of people who want to write programs on the go.
Administrators etc.
Today all people use homemade computers.
On the store page, the third buying option is listed as “N5095 16GB+256GB With Battery (Shipping In December)”. Of course, there’s no info about the battery, so it’s not clear if it would last for more than a couple of minutes, but it does appear that a battery is at least an option.
Could even be a USB power bank, for all we know. There’s no battery listed in the spec sheet, unlike the Gole 1 Pro, which shows a 2500 mAh battery.
Technically CMOS battery is also battery
2.5Ah no 2500 mili Ah
I contacted HiGole about this and they say that “the internal battery of the Gole 2 Pro is 2500mAh”, just like the Gole 1 Pro. They’re also glad with the coverage on Liliputing 🙂
Thanks for confirming!
If this device lacks batteries, no one’s going to use it as a small, fat tablet. Which means it’s likely going to be used on a desk, attached to a keyboard and monitor. Which means it should have a form factor more like an Echo Show, so you can see it without having to lean over it lying flat on the desk, and so the cables can come out the back, not the bottom when it’s place on the elevated stand that would be required.
It will have been built for a specific application, not for general consumption.
Brad, have you handled any Windows 11 devices with screens around this size? I’m curious to hear what the experience is like.
Going based on my experience using Windows 11 via remote desktop on various smartphones and tablets, I don’t find the Windows 11 experience very good below 8″. On a 7″ 1080p tablet, I find it difficult to use even with the highest DPI scaling enabled.
Nope, but I think it’s best to think of this as a secondary display rather than a primary screen. It’s probably fine for media playback controls, for example, or home automation control buttons.
For me it’ll serve as a full-blown pocketable Windows pc, that will be mainly connected to other displays using it’s full-featured USB-C port (like external monitors and even smart glasses like the Xreal Air). The few times I’ll be using the internal touchscreen, its small size won’t be a problem when using something like TouchMousePointer. A huge plus for me is that I can have it with me at all times without having to carry a bag, unlike a bulky laptop.