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System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

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Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#111

Post by pxc »

acomjean wrote: post #14
jesuscript wrote: post #7

What makes their stuff so great? I was customizing a gaming rig on their site the other day and it was wildly overpriced. I imagine you can match their specs for this laptop at cheaper prices.

You can. Its for people like me who want a linux laptop, but don't want to go through the hassle of installing it. While I could, I just didn't want to spend the time on it, plus setting up some drivers here and there. Thats the value prop. I got one for home use, (Oryx pro with Nvidia) 4 years ago. It worked well enough and had so few issues I got one for work.

> Its for people like me who want a linux laptop, but don't want to go through the hassle of installing it.

For me, buying from an upstream-oriented Linux hardware vendor is about getting an assurance that on any distro newer than the hardware, everything will just work. I always plan to perform an installation because I have distro preferences.

With System76, a stable, fast, open-source BIOS is also part of the value proposition.

Personally, I'd never get an NVIDIA laptop again, 'supported' or not. At the end of the day, NVIDIA's kernel module will constrain what kernel versions you can use regardless of what any downstream vendor does. That means possible version conflicts with other out-of-tree kernel modules that I actually want, like ZoL.

Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#113

Post by RosanaAnaDana »

lost_tourist wrote: post #94
RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #61

I'm on the Serval 76 with a 2070. I don't really care if they are going team red again. I'll be trying a different manufacturer next time.

this is in addition to intel, so what's your point? You don't like system76 hardware at all and will be switching?

From a hardware side things are spec'd fine. The issue is on the firmware/ company side. I no longer have confidence in the company to support their products. A couple of qol firmware updates could have fixed that.

Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#114

Post by nullandvoid »

jesuscript wrote: post #92
coder543 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a 144Hz display, which makes it significantly more interesting than an average 1080p display. 60Hz just feels so stuttery these days. But, I agree that a higher resolution would be nice, and if I'm being completely honest... I would want OLED. Tons of affordable OLED laptops have come to market over the past year.

Why does 144hz matter to you if you aren't playing games? This is not a gaming machine. You absolutely will not notice the difference for non-gaming tasks between 60hz to 80hz/100hz/120hz/144hz/244hz.

I absolutely do notice when my laptop screen defaults back to 60hz, instead of 144hz after some interactions.

Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#115

Post by RosanaAnaDana »

trelane wrote: post #72
RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

System 76 has a ways to go in this regard. My system 76 firm ware feels like abandon ware

Really? That is not my experience with them at all .

I bought a high end serval a couple years ago. I think they stopped producing that line. We never got any firmware updates to address battery life, wifi, sound, bluetooth, trackpad issues. I think they perhaps realized the fu'd, and that product line might have represented a sunk cost for them. I can't blame them if thats the case from a buisness pov, but as a consumer, I'll shop elsewhere for my next 'it just works' linux laptop. Many more options now than a handful of years ago.

Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#116

Post by teaearlgraycold »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #89

Not gonna lie, very underwhelming compared to what's coming out from other manufacturers... Even a budget brand like Acer is releasing Ryzen 7000 chipsets and pairing it with higher resolution OLED screens, probably will be cheaper as well... https://www.acer.com/ca-en/laptops/swift/swift-go-14-amd

System76 is a brand for ideologues. They ship laptops with FOSS UEFI. That’s their gimmick.

Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#117

Post by lhl »

This might be the first Ryzen 6800U Linux laptop, which is cool, but it's a bit hard for me to get too excited about it...

* One of the biggest selling points of Ryzen 6000 is the chip's USB4 support, but looks like the Pangolin won't have it. It also only has 1 USB-C port, which is a bit of a headscratcher in 2023. Does it support PD even? (Not mentioned)

* 16:9 FHD display (no brightness specified) - high refresh is nice, but again, weird that it's not 16:10 in 2023 and IMO, QHD would be better for a 15-16" display.

* soldered memory (32GB at least)

* Numpad keyboard. This will be a positive for some, but I'm in the centered keyboard camp

* Only a 70Wh battery and still not so light (1.8kg)

While it's running an older chip, if you're not going to have USB4/TB4, and the points I listed are important, I think the Tuxedo Pulse 15 Gen2 is still a better 15" option atm (5700U chip, but lighter, bigger battery, better (still 16:9) display, Ethernet, SODIMM slots). There are some Ubuntu certified ThinkPads that are an option too (they have Ryzen 6000U chips but also no USB4), although almost all the models are w/ soldered RAM on ThinkPads now, which is a bummer.

If you want USB4 on AMD, the best (Linux friendly) options right now are probably the Asus G14 GA402 or a ThinkPad Z16. The HP EliteBook G9s are an option as well, although you need Linux 6.0+ to fix a broken HP BIOS update (HP support is also aggressively indifferent to Linux users) and I've seen lots of complaints about the fan curve and the SureView displays so I'm hesitant to recommend it...

Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#118

Post by mixmastamyk »

renewiltord wrote: post #11

Been a Linux user for 20+ years. Pretty sick that we have companies like this selling Linux laptops with Coreboot. Man, that was a wild dream back in the day. I'm using a Macbook personally, but this stuff is so sick. To be honest, I never really imagined the future as using Windows + Linux + MacOS without thinking that much about the platform, but about the only thing that sticks out to me is that the command line o…

You need a better adjective and to try Windows Terminal with a modern shell shipped this millennium. ;-)

I like yori when in a DOS mood.

Re: System76 AMD-Only Laptop Returns

#119

Post by RosanaAnaDana »

imachine1980_ wrote: post #22
jesuscript wrote: post #7

What makes their stuff so great? I was customizing a gaming rig on their site the other day and it was wildly overpriced. I imagine you can match their specs for this laptop at cheaper prices.

you are paying for convenience, support the project, and have system that is tested for the ground up and configured by the manufacturer, and branding. I don't feel that is so great, some other laptops and pc in the linux ecosystem are great also, but this is their monetization scheme, high price for niche products. I don't think they can sell for lower price and compete whit companies who doesn't expend the money in…

'support the project'

And what project would that be?

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