The One Netbook OneGx1 mini laptop is an unusual little computer that features a 7 inch display, an Intel Core i5-10210Y quad-core processor, and a physical design clearly inspired by gaming laptops. It supports an optional set of detachable game controllers that can clip onto the sides of the device. And One Netbook offers the OneGx1 with optional support for 4G LTE or 5G cellular networks.
As I discovered after spending a few days testing the OneGx1, it offers decent performance for general purpose computing, but gaming is a bit of a mixed bag. But that was with Windows 10. What about other operating systems?
I decided to take Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for a spin, and I was pleasantly surprised that most of the OneGx1 hardware was supported. But there are a few things that could certainly work better.
First up, the good news. Here are a list of things that work out of the box:
- WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4G LTE
- Touchscreen
- Keyboard shortcuts for brightness, volume, etc
- Keyboard shortcuts for adjusting the RGB backlit keyboard (and light ring on the back of the computer)
- Keyboard shortcuts for toggling Performance/Normal/Mute performance modes (to adjust the CPU and fan speed)
- Fractional display scaling (allowing you to choose DPI settings between 100 and 200 percent)
- Hardware accelerated graphics
That last one isn’t exactly a home run though. While Ubuntu tells me that hardware acceleration for the Intel UHD integrated graphics are supported, when I installed the Steam game client and downloaded the game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I was only able to get around 20 frames per second. The same game runs at 60 fps in Windows 10.
I can’t say for certain if the issue is a graphics driver or something to do with the Linux port of the game. But whatever the reason, there are some tasks that run better under Windows.
Now for the bad news. The first time you boot into Ubuntu, the screen will be rotated to a 90-degree angle. You can quickly rotate it 90 degrees so that it shows up in landscape orientation by opening a terminal window and typing xrandr -o right. But the change doesn’t always stick.
For example, sometimes when I open a game that adjusts the screen resolution or orientation, exiting the game causes the screen to rotate back to portrait orientation.
Screen rotation settings also don’t always survive a reboot. I did try adding a command to the startup applications which automatically rotated the display 90 degrees every time I log into Ubuntu… and it worked for the first few reboots. But something I did after that caused it to stop working.
Folks with more patience and/or Linux expertise than I have might be able to find a better solution.
I had no trouble streaming 1080p video from YouTube. 4K video playback was also fairly smooth, but the video paused occasionally due to buffering at that resolution.
Setting up the device to connect to Google Fi using my data-only SIM was incredibly quick and easy, and this allowed me to use the OneGx1 to do a little web browsing even after turning off the WiFi.
When it comes to support for fractional display scaling, it’s a helpful feature for the OneGX1, because the first time you boot Ubuntu on the little laptop you’ll be greeted by very tiny text and graphics. The notebook’s 7 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel display features 323 pixels per inch. So in order to make content more visible, you’re probably going to want to set the DPI scaling to 150 percent or higher.
Overall, the OneGx1 makes a decent first impression when running Ubuntu 20.04. The operating system may not run flawlessly, but so far it’s easier to run Linux on this mini-laptop than on some other models, like the GPD Win Max.
The OneGx1 is available for purchase from GeekBuying and BangGood:
Buy from GeekBuying
| Model | Price (USD) |
| OneGx1 (8GB+256GB) WiFi | $840 |
| OneGx1 (8GB+16GB) 4G LTE | $934 |
| OneGx1 (16+512) WiFi | $1,008 (w/coupon: GKBGx116) |
| OneGx1 (16+512) 4G LTE | $1,084 (w/coupon: GKBGx1164G) |
| OneGx1 (8GB+256GB) 5G | $1,140 |
| OneGx1 (16+512) 5G | $1,318 |
Note: The first 50 customers to buy from GeekBuying will get a set of game controllers for free.
Buy from Banggood
| Model | Price (USD) |
| OneGx1 (8+256) WiFi | $840 |
| OneGx1 (8+256) 4G LTE | $934 |
| OneGx1 (16+512) WiFi | $1,018 |
| OneGx1 (16+512) 4G LTE | $1,094 |
| OneGx1 (8GB+256) 5G | $1,140 |
| OneGx1 (16+512) 5G | $1,318 |
| Controllers | $45 |
To stop the screen rotation issues,It might be worth trying something like this in the link below https://askubuntu.com/questions/1035209/how-to-turn-off-screen-rotation-in-ubuntu-18-04-lts
How do you toggle performance modes?
LE: Found this recent one, works great
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/945/cpu-power-manager/
Does sleep and resume work? For example, Wi-Fi/4G reconnect, no weird display/window issues (screen corruption, windows stuck always on top and other things that sometimes have issues on resume).
I have not tested this super extensively, but so far I haven’t noticed any weirdness when putting the OneGx1 to sleep for a day or two when running Ubuntu and then opening the lid to resume using the device. Battery drain doesn’t seem to be a problem, and wireless continues working after resuming.
Built-in 4G alone was enough for me to get this over other UMPCs. Decent Linux support out of the box is an awesome bonus.
This thing is definitely replacing my GPD MicroPC even if it’s not a thumbable UMPC.
This was meant to be about the typing video.
I figured as much. Sorry, I’m playing with site speed optimizations and I think I broke comment replies. Hope to have that fixed shortly.
Thanks for the video. That helps a lot to set expectations accordingly.
I know it’ll vary between people but have you tried thumb typing with this? I guess using the mouse would be hard though.
Looking to replace my GPD MicroPC with this and I’ve mostly used it as a handheld before the hing broke and I stopped using it. Plus I want the built-in mobile broadband.
Actually I find the touch sensor easier to use with my thumb (when holding the OneGx1 in my hands) than with an index finger. But the keyboard really isn’t designed for thumb typing. The keys are too large and far apart, although I suppose you could do it if you bad large enough hands.
Thanks for the answer. Well, looking at your video, my hands seem to be about the same size. I guess I would only try handheld mode if I really can’t sit down and use it on my lap.
I’d get another MicroPC or try to get mine repaired but I really want the mobile broadband when my (and everyone’s 🙂 ) “house arrest” is over.
I decided to do a video to show the difference between 10-finger and thumb typing: https://youtu.be/jvIACo9sDpE
Thank you for the typing video. I guess I could still thumb type in a pinch when I’m standing. Since I’d rather have built-LTE, I plan on replacing my GPD MicroPC with the OneGX1 4G. Glad to see Linux works well including the 4G modem.
Any details on the 5G modem for the 5G model? With so many things going with 5G, I wonder if/what is supported in terms of US carriers. There’s low, mid and high bands. There’s that thing that shares existing 4G bands with 5G dynamically. Plus, a lot of that are yet to be implemented by carriers.
Well, I probably have enough reasons to go with the 4G version but I’m curious of the 5G capabilities.
Thank you for testing Linux on this. I’m going to get this instead of the Surface Go 2 LTE to replace my current Go 1 LTE. While chunky compared to the One Mix and GPD Pocket lines, it has built-in LTE. Despite Linux’s shortcomings on the desktop, I still prefer it over Windows 10 so it has that edge over the Go 2.
A fan is a downer though since I’m so used to my fanless Go 1. I also place it on top of a couch, bed, carpet, etc. Don’t think I’ll be doing that with the OneGX1.
Just have to wait if these 3rd-party Amazon sellers are reliable given these Chinese UMPCs seemingly have a high amount of QA/QC issues.
Since this works well with Linux, I’ll probably get the LTE version from that Amazon seller after they put it up for Prime shipping and some user reviews indicating no or at least few DOA devices.
no altGr ! I cant write my char in Polish language
Do you see any tearing when watching videos or moving windows? Is this the only case color available?
Crappy graphics performance on Linux is pretty much standard still, I guess.
Anyway, while I think Windows 10 is better for overall desktop use, I still prefer to use a Linux distro with Xfce since I’ve found it easier to automate/script things than with PowerShell and other automation/scheduling tools in Windows. Glad to see 4G working without needing to hack things.
Now I need to choose whether I get the OneGX1 4G or wait for the OneGX Pro 4G. Ah, first world techie problems.
I see a couple of other 3rd-party sellers without Prime shipping as well. One has “USA” in their seller name (ie. not likely USA based) with 0 seller reviews and another with a very low seller rating.
At least this XAMMUE seller has an okay rating and some of their products are available with Prime shipping, The OneGX1 could eventually be fulfilled by Amazon too. As usual, it is more expensive than buying from the Chinese sites.
Looks like you can pre-order on Amazon (not Prime): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BZQKDXJ
Is XAMMUE at least an official One Netbook distributor?
I don’t know, but I didn’t list them because One Netbook gave me the Banggood and GeekBuying links. Some AliExpress sellers are also listing the OneGx1 too though.
The Amazon price is not that jacked up compared to the Chinese websites. I would probably buy from Amazon if they had the LTE version.
Amazon seller is listing the LTE versions. There are 2 Wi-Fi and 2 LTE versions in the above link.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll keep an eye on this seller.
Hmm. My LTE comment was supposed to be a reply to ram’s comment about LTE speed tests but it got submitted as a separate comment instead.
Sorry, I’ve been playing around with making the AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) version of the site the primary version of the site as a way to increase page loading speed & performance. An unintended side effect seems to be that comment replies get treated this way. It’s not the only unintended consequence, so I may end this experiment soon if I can’t resolve this and a few other issues.
Yeah, was hoping for some LTE speed comparisons between the OneGX1 and his phone using the same carrier and server. Oh well. The fact that it even works at all is great since I’ve had issues with broadband modems before under Linux.
I guess I could rationalize to myself that I should get this instead of waiting for the Tiger Lake version because it “could” have Linux support issues due to the “newness” of the SoC.
Looking forward to the battery life tests under Linux if you’re doing that. Thanks for testing it this much. It’s pretty good out of the box.
I’m tempted to wait for the OneGX Pro LTE was well. However, I may bet that it’s going to be released next year as well. If so, I don’t mind replacing a OneGX1 LTE with a OneGX Pro LTE after year and half or so.
I’m interested in how well Xfce runs on this too. I only have 1 device running Linux and it’s a GPD MicroPC. I installed OpenSUSE Tumbleweed Linux since at the time, it had the kernel patches needed for the MicroPC. I don’t use any scaling since the screen isn’t very high resolution but the OneGX will need DPI scaling and I’m not sure how well Xfce does that.
The only thing I needed to do on the MicroPC was to set some Xorg conf file setting to make sure the screen is oriented properly after the OS loads. It’s still sideways in the BIOS and GRUB. I assume it’s the same tweak for the OneGX.
I believe this is common on these modern UMPCs because they all use phone/tablet LCDs that tell the OS/system that portrait orientation is the default “correct” orientation.
Great news! Thank you. Too bad you have a data cap so you can’t run an LTE speed test to compare with your phone but the video shows things loading pretty quickly.
Thank you for testing Ubuntu and LTE. Glad both work well. I plan on replacing my Surface Go LTE with this running a Linux distro. I wonder how well Xfce runs with DPI scaling.
I’m somewhat tempted to wait for the Pro LTE model but I think that’s likely to come out at least next year. I doubt One Netbook will get first access Tiger Lake.
Waiting for this to show up on Amazon Prime.