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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

#341

Post by Klonoar »

prmoustache wrote: post #318
cpfohl wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS agnostic here (I’ve worked professionally in all three major OSes and on both Apple and a variety of Windows machines, currently enjoying WSL2 on my Dell XPS 9700). Apple’s laptop hardware still seems to be the gold standard to me. I have 10 year old laptops that still work great. My 2.5 year old Dell is currently with Dell for out of warranty repairs. I have no other windows machines left. All of them had an 4ish…

> Apple’s laptop hardware still seems to be the gold standard to me. I have 10 year old laptops that still work great. Last time I looked at second hand laptops. Most of those the +5y old macbooks in the market had huge issues / defects (and also looked like shit) while you could find a lot of decent refurbished thinkpads and HP elitebook from the same era with no advertized defects (and those I bought didn't have an…

Many would agree that the middle years between 2015-2020 were not gold standard. It’s laughable to suggest Apple didn’t win the title back with the advent of the M1.

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

#342

Post by Klonoar »

azangru wrote: post #10
NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have they actually made one yet? The pictures on the site all look like renders; and I couldn't find any pictures of an actual prototype anywhere.

> Have they actually made one yet? Exactly. No real laptops so far; no videos with honest in-depth reviews; no information on the dirability of these machines. If something is too good to be true, it likely is.

There’s an entire subreddit that has people discussing theirs.

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

#343

Post by wtallis »

brookst wrote: post #297
MobiusHorizons wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately low power ddr4 (lpddr4) does not come on SODIMs, soldered ram is the only way to get it. I know everyone likes to shit on apple about this, (and they definitely should about soldered storage) but there are practical engineering reasons for soldered ram. Note that the framework laptop has abysmal battery life relative to the competition.

Note that modern apple ram is not just soldered but actually in the SoC package. Sucks for upgradability, but that’s how they get 400Gb/s UMA speeds.

In-package RAM vs soldered on the motherboard next to the SoC package makes no difference to the bandwidth: GPUs take the latter approach to achieve equal or higher bandwidth. In either case, having a memory bus wider than 128 bits is a major factor in offering higher bandwidth than mainstream platforms. (Wide memory buses are easier to lay out on a PCB when routing to BGA memory packages than [SO]DIMM slots.)

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

#344

Post by heavyset_go »

Jnr wrote: post #187
coolspot wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To support Linux-friendly hardware? For many people extra $1000 here or there doesn’t matter.

Not sure how exactly 16 inch 4K display is Linux friendly knowing that Xorg and Wayland still has plenty of UI scaling issues. And the fact that they expect you to power it with Pentium N5030 processor is laughable. Why even offer such combination? Also it's funny how on landing page it mentions 165Hz display, but in specs it is only available as an option and not for the 4K display. Not that it would even be able to…

Scaling on Wayland on popular DEs has been a relatively solved problem for at least a year or two now. Fractional scaling, and scaling in general, used to be a pain I ran into often, but I've hadn't had to think about it at all in quite a while since it just works. Might still be an issue on older LTS distributions, though.

edit: I looked back at some release notes and it's been more than 2 years that fractional scaling worked. The pandemic has really messed with my sense of time for the last few years.

> And the fact that they expect you to power it with Pentium N5030 processor is laughable. Why even offer such combination?

I wouldn't choose it, but it has a Also, I don't see an option for a Pentium N5030 in the laptop in the OP.

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

#345

Post by heavyset_go »

gmokki wrote: post #256
Jnr wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how exactly 16 inch 4K display is Linux friendly knowing that Xorg and Wayland still has plenty of UI scaling issues. And the fact that they expect you to power it with Pentium N5030 processor is laughable. Why even offer such combination? Also it's funny how on landing page it mentions 165Hz display, but in specs it is only available as an option and not for the 4K display. Not that it would even be able to…

I have Lenovo 14" with 4k display and Ryzen 4850. I really like the crisp and accurate display. I have used wayland since 2015 when it became default in Fedora. I'm not sure what you mean when you refer to scaling issues? And even Skylake iGPU was fast enough to drive the 15" 4k display 60Hz on Precision 5510 laptop smoothly in desktop use. Ryzen is obviously many times faster so there should be enough power for high…

Fractional scaling was initially an afterthought for Wayland and its implementations, like in Plasma, lagged about adding it and then implementing it without bugs. Fractional scaling was broken on Plasma for a bit because of it, and GNOME decided that users didn't need it. That hasn't been the case for a while, now, and it works on both desktops.

Xorg also had to implement it, and at one point Xorg's implementation was more stable than what popular Wayland compositors offered.

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

#346

Post by heavyset_go »

edf13 wrote: post #152

I’m the market for a new laptop - considering MacBook Pro m2, but also looking at Linux alts. What’s the suggested options these days?

I picked up a Dev One and am very happy with it and its Linux support. If you can't find one, it's just a rebranded Elitebook 845 G8.

Otherwise, System76/Clevo are the usual recommendations, along with certain Thinkpad models.

Here's what r/linuxhardware recommends: https://old.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/1073j9f/reco...

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

#348

Post by lhl »

hajile wrote: post #320
lhl wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the StarFighter is a much more expensive product, I think the argument would be that it's fairly unique, arguably the highest end Ryzen 6000 developer laptop that an end-user can order globally (but not get delivered, sadly) atm. Comparing the Aura 15 Gen 2: * One of the biggest spec differences is that the Aura uses a Zen2 based 5700U (Lucienne) vs the StarFighter's Zen3+ based 6800H (Rembrandt) so expect a +5…

Do you know where there's any hard data on the actual speed of AMD's USB4 implementation in the 6xxx series? Everywhere I've looked, I get "USB4" then a blurb that USB4 can be "up to 40Gb/s" with the more honest stating that only 20Gb/s is actually required to meet the spec requirements. What does AMD actually implement? While we're on the topic, why is there basically no public information about Socket FP7 or it's c…

I haven't seen benchmarks, but my understanding is to officially claim USB4 support with Windows, 40Gbps and PCIe tunneling support are both required. This PC World article has some real world testing w/ a Ryzen 6000 laptop: https://www.pcworld.com/article/703578/usb4-support-amd-ryze...

I'm sure you can get a BSP contract w/ AMD to get implementation details (or simply have a relationship with a board design partner, but I'm not really sure why there would be an expectation for public information on something that's not really relevant to the general public).

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

#349

Post by Oxidation »

nicoburns wrote: post #277
komali2 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really curious about people that actually use laptop speakers. Even the best laptop speakers I've heard (I've heard MacBook speakers too) sound terrible. Other than for a quick video or demo or whatever, who is seriously listening to videos or music on laptop speakers... And why??? Even a cheap pair of earbuds sounds better to me.

> Even a cheap pair of earbuds sounds better to me. That doesn't work very well if there's more than one of you trying to watch...

Relive the days of being a playground boss: https://aliexpress.com/item/32835649231.html

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

#350

Post by ryanisnan »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #295
mihaaly wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They seem to be real entrepreneurs running the thing from a farm in rural settings [1] where the director lives (same personal address declared). If I read it right they are in ca. 400k debt so far, working it down slowly. I am wishing them quick success as their product looks great. Perhaps if I will be patient enough waiting 5 month for delivery after payment and will not worry about if warranty (or even shipment)…

Frankly, if it's three people, you're lucky it's not riddled with typos and grammatical errors. If "we aren't polished at PR" is your big criticism, it's a nit. If they are successful, they'll eventually hire someone and likely get some polish on those details.

I think this criticism is missing the point of the OP. It’s not simply “PR”, it’s how the company views or thinks about their products that matters. It’s disingenuous at best to make such claims with presumably almost no laptops shipped, fraudulent at worst.
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