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Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

system76.com

61–70 of 468 posts

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#61
post #54
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple can design custom everything and has the economy of scale to justify it. The PC space is also more competitive, Apple managed to associate their brand with luxury and charge a huge premium for their hardware, a laptop with equivalent specs would struggle massively to sell at the same price when you could purchase similarly powerful laptops for half the cost that would run the same software. At this point Apple…

The Mac markup is not 100%.

Yeah. I've said it before, if you do a like-for-like comparison (of notebooks, I've found this to be less true on their desktops) then their prices are often in line with other manufacturers. Every time I've bought a MBP (2007, 2009, 2012, 2017) I've done a comparison with non-Apple laptops and found that a spec-for-spec equivalent from most manufacturers is going to be roughly equivalent in price to Apple's (usually a range of about $300-400 on the prices, Apple being near the top but not always the top).

Now, if you spec out their Mac Pro, especially as it gets updated so infrequently, those get very out of line with competitor hardware quickly.

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#62
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple can design custom everything and has the economy of scale to justify it. The PC space is also more competitive, Apple managed to associate their brand with luxury and charge a huge premium for their hardware, a laptop with equivalent specs would struggle massively to sell at the same price when you could purchase similarly powerful laptops for half the cost that would run the same software. At this point Apple…

It wasn't always the case. Also, Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. have more than enough economy of scale. $1000 for the M1 air is not a huge premium. It's actually very cheap.

It's been the case for a while though, and I know for a fact that Dell offers form factors very similar to MacBooks. But even then, the market is a lot more fragmented when Apple offers a full ecosystem of devices.

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#63
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why do you prefer 1080?

My eyesight is not great. The higher resolution screen is wasted on me, and wastes computing / energy resources to drive it. I enjoy gaming on my laptop, and prefer native resolution gaming. I require a high refresh rate due to post-concussion syndrome. So sure, if that can be the case with a higher resolution that's fine, but that isn't the norm yet. (2021 seems to be the year for QHD 165Hz though!) I'm in no way sa…

Same here. I (old fogey) use a 1080p 24" monitor with my desktop, and don't feel any particular need for more.

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#64
post #27

I'd love to replace my thinkpad. But I need/want things that seem unavailable. * trackpoint + buttons (can be without touchpad, disabled anyway) * full keyboard * strong durable * removable battery * 4k screen * ecc 64-128gb * rj45 * lots of ports * hardware switches to disable: networking, camera, mic,.. Thinkpad's are move farther away each year. I hope some company will fill the gap.

This may interest you:

https://www.xyte.ch/

I have a thinkpad x2100 and it is a great laptop.

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#65
post #23

Is this system better than, say, Lenovo Legion 5 or HP Envy, they have similar price, are those System76 laptop offer better build quality, etc?

I have owned multiple S76 machines - the machine was built by Clio? The guts were good, but the case was chintsy.

I had four of these laptops - and on ALL 4 they would have screws come loose and fall out inside the case. You could hear it rattling around when you turned the machine. Two of them had one type of connector for the screen and the other two had a different connector - One got fried and on the other I broke the screen on - so I couldn't harvest parts from one to the other.

S76 wanted $90 for a new charger after one of mine failed.

I have an HP Omen laptop as my primary machine now - here is what is cool:

I had an HP Omen and it failed to power on one day - so I contacted support and they had me send them the machine - instead of fixing it, they sent me a brand new Omen which was way better than the failed unit. The design is super elegant, and it has dual NVME slots, so I have dual drives in it.

The screen is matte so no glossy reflections like my macbooks have...

Yeah - I think I'll stick with Omens for the foreseeable future. HP's support was FANTASTIC.

When my macbook pro caught fire in my sleep and nearly killed me (it was laying on my bed and I fell asleep watching a movie and the machine caught fire - something that that model was recalled for) I took it to Apple's main store in San Francisco - and they kept it for two months "analyzing it" then came back and told me that even though it was a safety issue and the machine was under recall for CATCHING FIRE, they found that one of my moisture sensors had been triggered and therefore, they were not going to replace, fix or help me.

(I had spilled a small bit of water on the keyboard many month prior to the machine catching fire)

Then they tried to sell me a new machine, or have them "replace the machine for $1,500"

A total joke. Ill never buy another apple machine nor a s76 machine again.

HP support is AMAZING.

Also - When HP bought Compaq - we had a bunch of Compaq/HP servers back in 1998 - and the support back then on those servers was top notch - and the HW design was as well. I used to rebuild those servers in minutes in the literal dark.

All the Sun servers we had, like the 650s would bitch if their case was even slightly off center and would refuse to boot.

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#66
post #31
post #8

I like my System76 desktop but I've had plenty of issues with their laptops, and I really dislike a numpad on a laptop.

given the size of the unit it makes sense to have a numpad, no? What would you put instead?

Most offices don't allow people to put pictures or personal effects on their hotel desks anymore so perhaps one could have a little LCD panel there displaying pictures of one's loved ones, or the cat not eating salad.

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#69
post #31
post #8

I like my System76 desktop but I've had plenty of issues with their laptops, and I really dislike a numpad on a laptop.

given the size of the unit it makes sense to have a numpad, no? What would you put instead?

I don't like having my hands off-center. I assume I'm not alone there. Among other things, it causes amplified wrist pain.

Re: Pangolin – Mobile AMD laptop with Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics

#70

I don't understand the appeal for System76. It seems grossly overpriced. Is it simply because they install Linux for you? You can find the same processor with much better specs for cheaper on Amazon or Costco.

With system 76 you get not just the processor, but also the other parts. You know System 76 didn't change network interfaces to something new with no linux drivers mid stream. Or Wifi, USB chipset, some BIOS, or one of the many other non-processor parts that manufacture change all the time. If there are drivers the substitution doesn't matter to anyone, but often there are no linux drivers for 3-6 months (best case - meaning that it isn't hard to write the driver, in the worst case linux will never get a driver).

Note that for the above substitutions there often is no part number change so you have no way of knowing if the amazon/costco model will work even if it works for someone else.

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