A couple of unusual computers showed up on AliExpress last month: the Book 8088 is a mini-laptop with an Intel 8088 chip and support for MS-DOS and early versions of Windows, while the Hand 386 is a handheld computer with a QWERTY keyboard, a 386sx-compatible processor and support for operating systems up to Windows 95.
They’re both basically modern computers with the guts of a PC from 30 to 40 years ago, allowing you to run classic games and other apps on near-original hardware, without emulation. And they both come from a Chinese retro gaming enthusiast (who has an odd approach toward open source software, apparently). Both systems are currently sold out. But if you were wondering what you can actually do with them, YouTuber LGR picked up one of each, and has got you covered with a .
So I Bought Those Weird New AliExpress Retro PCs [LGR / YouTube]
A video review of the Book 8088 and Hand 386 portable retro computers that showed up at AliExpress recently for under $200. Unfortunately they’re no longer available. Or maybe fortunately because they’re not great for much more than nostalgia.
Here’s our first look at the Fairphone 5 [Android Authority]
Fairphone 5 design leaked: hole-punch selfie camera, new positions for the microSD card and SIM card slots, and three color options: black, light blue, and transparent. No word on the specs yet.
AYA Neo Air Plus w/Core i3-1215U now shipping [Indiegogo]
AYA Neo Air Plus handheld gaming PC models with Intel Core i3-1215U processors and 6 inch, 1080p IPSD displays are now shipping to crowdfunding backers. A small number of early bird backers paid as little as $271 for this little computer with an Alder Lake-U chip, but after those reward levels were sold out the price went up to nearly $600, which makes this model a lot less attractive.
Running Linux On The ASUS ROG Ally Gaming Handheld [Phoronix]
One of the things setting the Asus ROG Ally apart from the Steam Deck is that the Asus model ships with Windows 11 rather than a GNU/Linux distro. But you can run Linux on it. Just don’t expect WiFi to work out of the box… yet.
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Shame that those Aliexpress retro computers didn’t turn out well. Hopefully at least the interest will show that it’s a viable product concept.
I hope that we see some using FPGA hardware. If someone built a small laptop that offered a 486 with a 4:3 screen, I would buy that for sure.
“If someone built a small laptop that offered a 486 with a 4:3 screen, I would buy that for sure.”
Same! My first x86 PC was a TI TravelMate 4000M in 1995, it was a 486SX-50 with 4MB of RAM and a 200MB hard drive with a crappy DSTN screen. I had to run a RAM doubler to be able to play Doom and a few other games that required 8MB, which was a $200 upgrade my 18 year old self couldn’t afford. If someone were to release a modern take on a 486DX-100 with 32MB of RAM and 2GB of flash storage, I’d be in retro heaven!