Could you elaborate on the reform?

For some reason, I was under the impression that laptops in the MNT Reform series were the only laptops that were manufactured using open (source) hardware only. Or, if there were others, that it must have been doing something so special that they deserved to be put on a pedestal. But, currently, I don’t feel confident enough to state why it would be superior over say the Olimex TERES-I or Pinebook Pro.

I hear the hype yet to me it looks like a severely overpriced tv box with some low-grade peripherials strapped to it in the least space efficient way possible.

We definitely pay a premium, but I don’t know exactly why. Especially when the aforementioned Olimex TERES-I and Pinebook Pro are almost an order of magnitude cheaper.

Did they got rockchip to release sources instead of blobs or something?

From what I understood, Rockchip offers (at least some of) its SoCs as open source hardware. So, what MNT Reform did for the SoC is order them as open source hardware and include/publicize/provide all the schematics (etc).

What is the praise actually for?

FWIW, the open source hardware aspect is what I was intrigued by*.

I got a couple I really like, though for vastly different reasons:

• The MNT Reform series takes the crown for their commitment towards open source software AND open source hardware.
• The ASUS Zenbook DUO is an early entry in the direction of what I perceive as peak design. This technology will only improve from here and I hope other vendors will take cues from this one.

Didn’t islam have to have special religious scholars for figuring out tiny things?

At least in theory, Islam is traditionally adhered to as an all-encompassing lifestyle. As such, it’s unsurprising to find rulings on the minutia of affairs.

FWIW, deriving new religious verdicts and/or refining the old is a continuous effort as new issues/situations arise.

I feel like I remember them having to be called in to issue a special ruling through the Quran that a religious building could be entered temporarily by the police to end a siege between them and some other group.

Perhaps you are referring to issuing a so-called ‘fatwa’, which is basically understood as a religious ruling derived by an Islamic jurist on a (pressing) matter.