The reply from them is detailed and understandable Average consumer can use it as it is and then tech savvy people can tinker around to their hearts content.

If I'm being honest their reply is ok to me.

@bluesquadron593

10 ай бұрын

I agree.

Their reply looks pretty honest and I appreciate that and your effort to contact them. Thank you.

That's an interesting plot twist 😅

i mean, it's their product, and they didn't lock the hdmi just hide it, for target or looks is fine. if i can grab a Dremel and cut a hole for the cable if i need it is fine. if they disable the port that would be a completely different conversation

Good to have you back sir - hope you are feeling better.

Great work, great video 👍 They were probably hunting for a 512gb 2242 NVMe that is TLC nand, but ultimately could not find it. So I bet they ended up with QLC nand and just loped on 2tb as a wear cushion. It possibly is not the quality claimed in the email, otherwise my spidey sense tells me that they would have stated it: TLC nand. *If it is bona fide TLC and not QLC at a full 2tb PCIe4 with phison controller, then that's a pricey drive.* No wonder that this device is so expensive. Sincerely (but skeptically) yours.

Thanks for the follow up DB. Cheers.

Great follow-up. It does seem like they are missing an opportunity for an Umbrel SMB or Umbrel Pro which could expose those extra options. I suppose being Linux-based, the trade-off is that people who want the extra features will just grab an inexpensive PC and install the OS themselves. I'm not convinced I want or would use all the Crypto stuff, so I'd probably DIY and Umbrel before buying one. Of course, I doubt I'm in their target demographic anyway. Thanks for the video!

Their response seems reasonable to me. But I'm just still confused on who is buying this. This seems like a very tech-y product, but not for tech savvy users? Interesting

Thx a lot for the teardown ! I would love to know what is their intended use for the 3 visible USB ports...

Although they have explained why they hide the HDMI, I think it is a very bad decision. I take this opportunity to mention another alternative to CasaOS, it is Runtipi or Tipi. Thanks David for your great work and giving us these explanations.

@admcd5795

10 ай бұрын

Agreed

Even given all of this, it is still WAY to expensive. If they are trying to build the iPhone version of docker, they picked the wrong container management system. This would be far better with CasaOS on it. At that point just buy a zimaboard and you will have a way better experience it seems.

Love Teardowns, keep up the good work :)

They will.sell you the same unit with hdmi and charge you extra for that

Even with the new found HDMI port they priced this thing out the market! I wanted a mini pc to setup as a secondary server with CasaOS. I got a mini PC with an Intel N100 (far newer than the 2year old cpu this uses) for $107. Sure it comes with only a 256GB no name brand NVMe. But even if I wanted a reputable 2TB drive I can get a 2242 Sabrent 2TB drive for $170 on Amazon. It also has space for an additional 2.5" SSD so I can add another Silicon Power 2TB SSD from Amazon for an extra $60. And even with all of that is no way near the $600 asking price of this thing!

@MON5TERMATT

10 ай бұрын

Not to mention something like an older HP 800 G2 is like 100 bucks right now and You can usually find them with 16 gigs of RAM for pretty cheap

If it had sata ports and a 2.5 GB ethernet jack, maybe an additional m.2 it would've been perfect

Personally, I think that they missed the mark. A port cover for the HDMI port and a small note stating that the HDMI port is not used by the OS/Containers would have been sufficient. Should have also included the ability to use TWO NVME 2080 drives; 2, 3 or 4 x 2.5GBE ports; and perhaps 1 or 2 USB-C /Thunderbolt 4 ports; and a more powerful CPU. I sort of understand the target market; those that want to just purchase (a well configured ) device, go to a webpage, and get it working; i.e. someone that just wants to hardware preconfigured and just plug it in. Even as an IT professional, I could completely understand wanting something like this; however, too pricey for what I'm getting. However, at some point, I might want the expandability, which this device severely lacks. At about $250 ~ $300, for the current hardware, IF it supported clustering, well, I might consider getting one or two for purpose, but in reality, the hardware is a bit on the weak & pricey side. This item seems to be targeted as a "cloud" alternative; but the reality is that with "cloud" architecture, hardware by its very nature is redundant. With this, if I put my data on it for the next two, three or 5 years, and then it dies, well, there goes my schtuff. The less than tech savvy, well, they'll end up just tossing everything, and kick themselves in the proverbial pants. & NO, I haven't tried the Umbrel OS; my daytime IT job keeps me way too busy..

@protaginets

3 ай бұрын

Wow, how expensive did you want this thing to be?

Makes it more difficult to interfere with it if it's doing crypto stuff. No hdmi. No Kids or Houseguests can mess with it?...but nah not for me at half the price.

After that response, they seem like even more a sketchy company. No one who isnt a techie is going to want to run their own containers or stuff. So by them claiming they are targeting the people who dont know what theyre doing, and charging double to triple of what the device should be priced at, it shows their intention is to screw over as many people as they can to take their money. This isnt something like a TV stick or mini pc. This is something that literally only someone who knows what Docker Containers are would even care to own

@stefsmurf

10 ай бұрын

Depends. I know plenty of people who are techies who don't want to get custom configurations at home as well as deal with that stuff at work. Or have something their spouse could use/manage as well as themselves. Or are somewhat technical (support, hs students learning, etc.) but don't feel comfortable yet jumping in cli all the things. Hell, this would be a semi-decent solution for someone wanting to run a small office network with one device managing almost everything. You never know who this is for until you see the after action report.

Any chance at getting an ssd dump from the unit? Curious if it would boot on a different nuc, also very curious to see what they’re layering on top of the Linux install it’s running on, vs the regular umbrel that people install on Ubuntu.

@DBTechYT

9 ай бұрын

that is an interesting idea.

@AdamStansbery

3 ай бұрын

@@DBTechYT Or just take out the SSD and place it in another mini PC. There are plenty available on Amazon for less than $200. There are even several with probably the same motherboard. A couple of models from GMKTek look surprisingly similar.

So you are saying that we can flash ssd and install casaOS there with a proper display support?

@DBTechYT

2 ай бұрын

that is correct!

As cool as this device is I think its just not worth the price. You can get a NAS system for about as much as this and have close to the same specs. The set up on both can be done by someone not tech savy. At that same price you can buy mini pcs brand new and upgrade them for the price of the Umbrel Home to have 64gb RAM and a 2TB nvme ssd.

What about running the Umbrel OS on DIY hardware? I have a mini PC I'd like to use it on

@DBTechYT

10 ай бұрын

Luckily I made this video: kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZHh62bmEoJPUhtI.html

The target audience is probably people who want a docker "appliance"; something that just plugs in and runs. That'd explain why they'd want to hide access to the CLI, or more importantly removing the possibility of logging in as root. Kind of like end-user Android. A typical tech-savvy user, such as most of your viewers, would probably buy a NUC with better performance (such as an i5 based system) and install Umbrel over a fresh Debian install

That’s for the pro model

So they are specifically calling attention to the fact that their target demographic is literally people that don't know any better, Considering the crypto-centric nature of the OS and the absurd price point for it, this feels like a racket to squeeze cash out of folks. Full stop if you have an HDMI port it should be exposed in a usable way - hiding physical functionality of products does no one any good.

Who besides tech-savvy, hobbyists would want to set up any kind of server in their house???? I can understand some kind of simple NAS, but not a server.

@NeptuneSega

9 ай бұрын

Someone who is dabbling in the space and one of their creators suggested it. It's even more simple than Unraid for a newcomer. The only thing that might be a barrier is price, but that's what you pay for, for a turnkey solution.

Looks like they didn't want people installing windows or other distros.

@jukkaniemi

10 ай бұрын

I think that too.

You aren't the target demographic for this. The HDMI is covered because it's not the desired function from their point of view. for example, I bought a Starling Home Hub. Opened it up and its just a Orange Pi LTS with their software on a micros SD card. Why would any of this be sketchy? I don't get your strange sentiments.

@DBTechYT

9 ай бұрын

Because they very much implied that this kind of device WAS for my demographic. Their super flashy website isn't for non-tech people. Their system being FULL of crypto-related stuff isn't for non-tech people. If people think there is no HDMI port on it and don't know that you can install other operating systems on it, it may become unnecessary e-waste when it could easily be repurposed for other things.

I find it amusing that people are put off by the lack of video out. The specks of the hardware make it obvious this is a lightweight server appliance. It is not meant to be a multidrive Windows 2022 server or anything. I think that I would have loved a second NIC, more preferably Intel over Realtek, but I am a bit of a hardware snob. This is in my opinion a little hub of a home server for the Mac user. Someone who is comfortable with tech, but isn't really out there wanting to a sysadmin or scriptkitty. I look forward to upgrades to the hardware and for now plan to install it on a NUC.