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StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

starlabs.systems

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Re: StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

#231

Post by revertmean »

lucb1e wrote: post #32
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #15

$800 for 2 extra warranty years? Uhhhhhhhhh.

And about half that for the afaik EU minimum legal warranty of 2 years. Their warranty page says they'll honor local laws, though, which I expect to mean whatever flag is displayed at the bottom of the page for you as opposed to their local. They probably won't be pleased to learn that the Netherlands, which they seem to have a custom page for so apparently support, doesn't have a minimum duration specified, so you c…

This isn't a regular warranty. As the website states: "Our 1-year limited warranty allows you to take your computer apart, replace parts, install an upgrade, and use any operating system and even your firmware, all without voiding the warranty."

These actions would normally void the warranty on most laptops.

Re: StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

#232

Post by LtdJorge »

commoner wrote: post #127
ahoya wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practically as upgradable and maintainable/repairable as the framework. They sell all of the components separately, and this runs a fully up-to-date coreboot and even esoteric linux systems get tested on it. It is a significantly better Linux computer.

The StarFighter has soldered memory, making it significantly less upgradeable than the Framework Laptop. (Star Labs also sells the mid-range StarBook with upgradeable memory.) The Framework Laptop also has the advantage of swappable port/storage modules. However, the StarFighter has higher specs than the Framework Laptop at a higher price, and Star Labs is Linux-first while Framework is Windows-first.

If you went for the 64GB option, there wouldn't be any RAM upgrade possible. Although that's very pricy.

Re: StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

#234

Post by ktosobcy »

ahoya wrote: post #56
hedora wrote: post #2

This Linux laptop looks too good to be true. It's available with an AMD or Intel processor, there aren't any strange ergonomic decisions (other than the stow-able web-cam). In particular, they centered they trackpad + keyboard, and it looks like it has decent thermals. The battery is rated for 18 hours. You can choose between a medium resolution, high frame rate display (UHD @ 165Hz) or a 4K 60Hz display. The screen…

I have their latest starbook, just arrived a couple months ago and it is stellar. Covid delayed it almost a whole year, but in that time they upgraded frob adwertised 11th gen intel to 12th gen for free, quadrupling cores. It runs extremeley well with latest coreboot and everything. I considered canceling my pre-order because of the long delay, but Support was extremely quick and receptive and it turns out the trust…

how does touchpad compare to MBP one?

Re: StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

#236

Post by zahllos »

gizmo wrote: post #214
perihelions wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- "Note there's no doxxing here, " How on Earth could a customer looking up a vendor's business information be construed doxxing? Do you guys -- I'm asking sincerely, I'm feeling extraordinarily confused and out-of-touch -- think there's some of genuine privacy interest here that you'd wish to respect? Some sort of "right to anonymous business", where you can hide all your sketchiness behind a shell company and peopl…

Having disgruntled customers show up at your office is not the same as them showing up at your home. It's not at all sketchy to want some privacy before you've gotten your office lease sorted. When starting a business you have all these circular dependencies, where you can't get a lease before you register your business, but when you register your business you need an address on day 1.

There is actually a solution to this in the UK. Directors are permitted to have a service address on the public record instead of their home address, and you can find a bunch of companies willing to allow you to rent one and forward mail.

You still need to provide your home address to companies' house but it isn't available to the public at large as easily.

This is not just possible it is an extremely good idea. Mobile phone companies in the UK are very lax about opening contracts (UK has an aversion to government identity cards, so defaults to "give us a utility bill" like you can't find templates online) and using a valid name/address combination is what scammers love to do. So if you want to avoid getting "welcome to" letters from every mobile provider in the UK 3x over (and your credit rating subsequently trashed) then using a service address is a great idea.

Re: StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

#238

Post by markphip »

hedora wrote: post #2

This Linux laptop looks too good to be true. It's available with an AMD or Intel processor, there aren't any strange ergonomic decisions (other than the stow-able web-cam). In particular, they centered they trackpad + keyboard, and it looks like it has decent thermals. The battery is rated for 18 hours. You can choose between a medium resolution, high frame rate display (UHD @ 165Hz) or a 4K 60Hz display. The screen…

I do not really get why they would try to support both AMD and Intel .. given that these are obviously small runs. Where do they get the mainboards for this and how can they manage any testing and tuning? They do at least acknowledge that Coreboot for AMD might not be available at the time of shipping. It seems optimistic to say you can adopt it later when it is not ready yet.

Other than that, I would not mind paying a premium for a well made laptop with these specs. Still hoping System76 will get there someday.

Re: StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

#239

Post by geraldwhen »

totalhack wrote: post #219

Pricing seems extremely high for the specs once you start to configure. I really want to see a company do something compelling here but there is always one thing that's off...pricing, screen, last gen processors. I switched back to Linux last year and ended up getting a $900 Lenovo that has been excellent. Would have tried System76 or Framework if their hardware could keep up.

Prices are extremely high before you configure. These are apple prices without an apple warranty.

When I had keyboard issues I had my laptop flown out with 1 day overnight shipping and the same back to me. When the refurb I purchased has a loose hinge, I got a full refund with no hassle. When my laptop was stolen during delivery, I got a replacement sent out with a 12 minute phone call.

I suspect this small operation cannot match this.

Re: StarFighter 16 inch: 4K Coreboot/Ryzen Linux laptop

#240

Post by vitus »

Oxidation wrote: post #220
kleiba wrote: post #217

Does anyone have an idea what the profit margins on devices like that are? I still find it hard to believe that a laptop should cost north of $1000.

I still find it hard to believe that such a device can be less that $1000, considering how many parts have to be designed, how many cutting edge components there are in there, the depth of the supply chain and the manufacturing quality. Modern manufacturing is insane. Probably the most complex single device humans can make is a CPU die and you can have a mid-range one for the price of a meal, and this consumer laptop…

> you can have a mid-range one for the price of a meal

Is that an expensive meal or a cheap CPU? A meal for a family?

My mental model for a mid-range CPU is an i3 (don't forget Pentium / Celeron), and even for those Intel recommends charging $109-119 for the i3-13100F (they had a similar range for the i3-10105F). Even if you go all the way back to the first generation of Intel Core cpus, the i3-530 had a recommended price of $117.

Even if you're buying used + several generations old off eBay, you're still probably paying at least $50. And, note that once you're looking at several generations old hardware, you're really not looking at a mid-range device anymore -- The i3-13100F scores nearly twice as high on PassMark as the i3-10100F, for instance, and higher than the i7-9700F.

It's still orders of magnitude cheaper and more powerful than anything from the 80s, certainly, but new hardware is not _that_ cheap.

Also, that said, I remember when the Macbook Air first launched -- I know some people who ran the numbers and were impressed they could fit that SSD + RAM + CPU + display + battery in that price envelope.

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