Check the right side of this laptop: https://stationx.rocks/products/spitfire
and compare with Galago pro: https://system76.com/laptops/galago
sides: https://screenshots.firefox.com/0I2YsDmIvbKuYbr3/stationx.ro... and https://d1vhcvzji58n1j.cloudfront.net/assets/products/galp3/...
and I've seen this model at least on two other resellers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5umefi/system76_refr...
So right now I'm leaning towards reseller and this is a bunch of bull.
So you use coreboot. Right? Because if you don't, where is this firmware development going on?
* Except for the Nvidia hardware, which never really worked right. I'm using unaccelerated (?) Nouveau drivers as the least bad option.
I don't know if these guys do that part well, but if they actually make it work flawlessly (and if their competitors don't do as well), then the cost difference might be worth it.
Frankly, I haven't found any new laptop of any OS to work great all the time. It's like we've moved back in time about 15 years. Everything sucks in some way.
Not really that hard in 2017, just go all Intel (CPU/GPU/WiFi/etc), and you're pretty much set.
The touchpad is stupidly large, and I suppose it took some tweaking to get that working comfortably, too.
It's not like I can just pick up any random model and expect it to work, but the process is a lot better than it used to be.
Only linux? Seems like a weird limitation... or am I understanding this wrong?
Indeed, the Windows logo on the Super key in all but the "Manjaro Special Edition" confirms that. At least System76 takes the time and effort to customize the keyboard.
I don't blame them for wanting to cater to the vastly underserved Linux enthusiast market, but they haven't impressed me.
Ooohh...bingo :)
> designed and customised to run Linux - and only Linux.
But super key still have Windows logo.
Because, screw bsd users.
Then there's the model that's branded "for manjaro", a distribution that almost nobody cares about and that every arch user will sneer at.
They could get a clue. At least try to understand the target market.
I got the 17" Kudu for work. Honestly, I'm now aware that a 17" screen on a laptop is just too impractically big, but the hardware has been great.
It's tall enough so that you can see a lot of text but narrow enough that the laptop does not get too bulky.
If there will ever be a new 14" machine with a 1400*1050 display I will be first in line to buy it!
I don’t mind having a big and heavy laptop though. I carry it in a backpack, and a few pounds more or less on my back is pretty insignificant.
Another issue I have is with the spacing between F keys. Looks like an afterthought to Fn+? keys.
Not to mention there is not a single clear picture of the keyboard on the product page...
https://stationx.rocks/products/manjaro-special-edition-spit...
Yeah tbh that's the only thing that puts me off a bit. War is war, I'd rather not glorify it; it might be a necessary evil on occasions, but I'd rather not be reminded of that every day. Then again, I'm not British.
Still, I would expect the subset of potential buyers for geeky machines not to massively overlap the nationalistic subset of the British population, so to me it looks like poor marketing overall.
If everyone makes you a way because you're a Woman, not a good engineer - is there anything good about this?
Who cares about the picture, if these guys make nice laptops?
Ensuring that as many interested people as possible feel like they belong should be something that any subset of society thinks about, especially when publishing materials aimed at a broad audience.
The issue, for the record, isn't a single material. If there wasn't a problem in the first place, there'd be nothing to criticise here, except for it feeling a bit out of place - the fact that not many people feel a bit odd about a marketing material targeted towards "Linux nerds" that only features men is a small piece evidence for said problem.
These machines have very decent specs and are easy to service and upgrade, but at the cost a of very low quality build with regards to the laptop case itself.
There are plenty of other brands that offer the same kind of Clevo laptops with Linux, the best known of which is system76.
Basically, these are just the same Clevo machines you can buy with any Clevo reseller, but with Linux installed for marketing differentiation, and a significant mark up in pricing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevo
I hope the people from System76 or StationX will be able to show that their added value is a little more than installing some linux image... (I was considering buying one of those, but your statement makes me hesitate)
There is a video review from Quidsup up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhpPsktOZFw
Does that mean they have a disabled/cleaned ME like the purism machines? Or what does "free and open" mean in this case?
The appeal is that your fingers don't ever need to leave the homerow and also working from your lap on a bus for example is much easier since your hand doesn't have room to move to get to the trackpad
[0] It kills my wrists on pretty much any laptop that's placed in a reasonable position with respect to my eyeline. It's a bit easier on a well-designed keyboard but still not something I'd consider natural.
They're also lacking a 4k laptop, which I would highly recommend to anyone used to working on the road. (or who has to show of work to clients in person).
Also, I wouldn't want any of the distribution options they offer to pre-load. And I wouldn't want a pre-loaded OS anyway.
I'm not trying to discourage a worthy goal, but these are some of the issues that this company has to overcome.
Most of my work happens over SSH, my laptop is currently fast enough for Netflix, email, and web browsing. I'm capped at 2 1920x1080 monitors but this is livable.
I think if someone took the old X220 generation Thinkpads, upgraded the internals, and kept the keyboard and docking that they would sell like hotcakes.
I recently got an x62 and it's great, although you must put some effort into making linux work smoothly on it and making the screen brighter. But all in all I am extremely happy with it.
1. "Beautiful machines" is the first point being made. This is superficial.
2. "All distros welcome". Turns out that installing a distro is the least of my concerns when it comes to a laptop.
3. The first thing you notice is this video with the multiethnic group of people from which one of them is at the front as well as happier/dancing. This is inconsistent and weird. What is the message being communicated with this? How is it relevant? Sell me a goddamn laptop instead. Put a picture of a laptop or something.
In order to be constructive, what I would rather emphasize is: laptops are hardware. The intended audience here are tech enthusiasts. I would rather speak about hardware specs, or something distinctive about the hardware, compatibility, the ergonomics... post a benchmark. Something that is actually better than "beautiful laptops" and a awkward video. This is common sense.
This is how a system is sold: https://www.apple.com/imac-pro/ . Note: I do not own one and I am not affiliated with that company, just making a point.
Then... just a reminder: most laptops are potentially a Linux laptop.
Man, how times have changed. Linux working half-decently on a laptop used to be the holy grail of opensource fans. Nowadays, thanks to Ubuntu and friends, chances are that most of it will just work, regardless of hardware. This is a massive achievement and it's not really as promoted as it should be.
All I want from my next laptop is to be powered via USB-C. I'm sick of dragging around multiple different chargers for my gadgets.
(I've liked what System76 has done, but even then I probably wouldn't spring for the Galago as opposed cheaper Chromebook unless I were jumping up to one of their other workhorses)
First thing I noticed on these pictures, was the ugly sticker left side underneath the keyboard. Sorry, but such trifles got nothing to do with gorgeous. Also, black camera frame, huge display bezel, and non-centered touchpads are, imho, a nogo if you wanna call it gorgeous.
So no BSD then?
Not a MacBook Pro killer at all.
My next Linux laptop may be from one of these companies if they can work with Clevo to stop making the screen bezels so horrendously large.
Station X was the wartime codename for the Bletchley Park facility where (amongst others) Alan Turing worked on breaking German Enigma-enciphered traffic and Tommy Flowers built the Colossus electronic calculator for breaking encrypted teleprinter codes (Geheimscriber).
All the laptops are named after WW2-era fighter planes. The desktop is named after a long-range wartime strategic bomber.
The world doesn't need another random laptop which you might be able to install Linux on. What's needed is a Linux laptop that just works(tm) - all the time, every time, with the most common peripherals.
So have they blocked installation of windows in some manner, a la Chromebook?
Anyway, no track point so I'll just skip!
Adding that to the pushing of one distribution over the others... way to utterly misunderstand your target market.
I doubt they'll be selling many. Morons, the bunch of them.
Might be worth fixing your typo :-)
