Some history on this laptop:
- The StarFighter 16 was originally announced back in November 2022 with an original delivery timeline of 3-4 months: https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/yjuahx/star_...
- Here's a 500-comment HN thread from Feb 2023 about it (3-4 months later) now with an additional 4-5 month lead time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34759507
- The latest production updates only go back to July 31 2025 - they mention a 3-5 month timeline from January 2025 (seeing a pattern?): https://starlabs.kb.help/starfighter-production-updates/
There's an "Unboxing" video from Star Labs on the StarFighter from January 22, 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjYJS5AJZpE
So, 3.5 years later, the chassis is still neat, and good on them for plugging away I guess, but for anyone that actually needs a new computer, there's no shortage of higher-end Linux-centric laptops with a better shipping track record (Framework, Tuxedo Computers, Slimbook, etc).
Also completely reasonable to want reviews. We have sent out a StarFighter for review and I know he is currently testing it before publishing on YouTube, so we are hoping it will be out soon.
There are also some completely independent reviews on Reddit if they are of interest to anyone:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starlabs_computers/comments/1s5raab... er_very_shortterm_review/
https://www.reddit.com/r/starlabs_computers/comments/1rnrte4... ighter_amd/
Fine, wait, but do encourage everybody else to buy, otherwise you won't see any review from any "real world people"
The banks that lent the AI industry the money are already trying to sell their debt.
Yes, the DRAM dies all come from the same wafer supply and fab capacity, and those limits are the cause of the current prices. However, once the memory OEMs have packaged DRAM dies into something like an LRDIMM or SOCAMM, the cake is baked. It's no longer usable in a laptop or desktop. No amount of X-year-old LRDIMMs (hypothetically) flooding the market will be useful for anyone's desktop or laptop. And then there's HBM, where the dies are directly on-package with the CPU or GPU.
Second-hand, revalidated server DRAM components may contribute somewhat to a price decrease, but those won't be the components you or I will be purchasing (unless you run a true server platform as a desktop, in which case, shine on you crazy diamond!).
The same is partly true for GPUs: there are PCIe versions, but most are OAM or SXM modules. You might be able to jury-rig an SXM module into a desktop? Adapter cards exist for at least some SXM versions, and you could figure out the cooling somehow? But it's probably more trouble than it's worth.
You have lpcamm2 just sitting around in a drawer? Or did you get last-gen?
My Asus netbook started with basic configuration and was maximised during its lifetime, just like any PC desktop.
Niche and premium products sell something else: build quality (StarLabs), repairability/upgradability (Framework), Linux compatibility (System76). You don't buy these if you are just looking at performance/price.
I wonder why the price difference between the 8845HS and the 285H is more than the cost of some complete 8845HS based systems. Also a shame one can't opt out of the storage or accessories like (yet another) measly 65W USB C+USB A GaN charger.
Other than those things, it actually looks decently exciting. I love the 16:10 + high resolution. Screen brightness isn't amazing, but also better than average. Glad to see 120 hz+ across all of the options. Privacy kill switch is great but the removable magnetic webcam seems a bit overkill/complicated given the kill switch (a simple physical slide would have been plenty as well). The hardware options aren't too bad for an open/Linux focused device. 6 USB ports + HDMI + audio ports is great, given the thickness it would have been cool to throw in a built in ethernet port, SD slot, and DP out to negate most of the need for the dock.
If I hadn't already bought a laptop this year this would probably be high on my list.
I'd love to see more than 5 years of updates, but there is so much to love here, I can look past that!
They also don't make these computers and are at the whim of their ODM, so unless you opt for Coreboot/Libreboot, there wouldn't be a possibility for that.
https://doc.coreboot.org/mainboard/starlabs/starfighter_mtl.... The previous version is already upstreamed, apparently.
Same goes for the standard one year warranty. Should be two at minimum.
I had my country configured to Belgium while testing this.
If not, how would those rules apply to them?
Edit: tbh, the new "user friendly" idea of automatically converting US prices to the local currency of the visitor in spite of the company not having any connection to the visitor's locale always makes me think of drop shippers, not of legitimate businesses.
Especially if i'm in a non USD non EUR country, I am fully aware that there are different currencies in the world, I already have an established process for converting between those currencies and it's likely to be more to my advantage than whatever Stripe offers so please cut it down.
Tbh there are more issues if they wanted to be compliant with EU regulations. I'm fine that they aren't compliant (they aren't in the EU, after all), but it's something to be aware of when ordering from them.
Seized by customs because they don't offer 2y warranty or include USB charger?
No. That's ridiculous. You can import whatever you want.
That's nice and ideal, but unenforceable in reality unless the company has a presence in the EU.
This is clearly nonsense. There is nothing the EU can do to enforce this.
I know that USers think their laws apply everywhere, but that's just a myth.
I can see the EU's take on this, and maybe overall this will even be good. I have some nice Anker chargers and can charge everything we have at home with them (added some USB-C to ligthning/micro-USB thingies here and there), but I'd be a bit annoyed if the EU would force my company operating with small margins to have 2 versions of my packaging workflow.
Maybe they should just "encourage" good behaviour? With a law that is less forcing, ie just say: "If you offer a version without charger, the price must be the same as with charger. " That would (slightly) encourage leaving it out, while not forcing companies' hands.
The laptop is being shipped anyway, so I assume the charger in there may be a "sweet deal" if you need one. 65W GaN chargers are a nice sweet-spot at the moment (size/power/price-wise), ie Ikea has one at 14 eur), wouldn't mine having one or two extra.
If you ship to multiple countries you can reduce the SKUs even more as the laptop SKU isn’t country specific anymore.
Offering a version without the charger for the same price would not reduce ewaste which is the point.
You do realize you’re paying for the charger, right? And you don’t like the option of not having to purchase the charger?
This is a Dutch source, but BTO charged 25 eur to remove the charger [0], because they prefer not to deal with people trying their own wonky chargers. Ok, so this was a 100 W+ laptop, arguably different (BTO only does this with 100 W+ models).
[0]: https://tweakers.net/nieuws/245774/bto-rekent-25-euro-boete-...
I genuinely don't think there is anything I would want changed on this laptop.
I'm looking get rid of my MacBook Pro, and I'd like to switch to a Linux laptop, but I'm really worried about battery and trackpad.
With all these boutique laptop brands, I hope that one of them will eventually produce a pointing stick keyboard offer a route off Lenovo.
While it is possible to use a notebook on your lap, you are not supposed to. It is a terrible place that is unergonomic. You are supposed to put them on a table of some sort. If you are using it for more than something quick you should have a separate keyboard and mouse (ie attached to a docking station on your desk). The portable form factor is useful for meetings, presentations, or other such - but for real work they are terrible.
Since the lap what it was designed for, and a lap is a bad idea anyway: putting vents on the bottom isn't bad.
I also frequently use that computer, that doesn't have vents on the bottom, for watching movies in bed. And I don't need to think about vents. My last non-Apple computer was some ThinkPad, with vents on the bottom, and I remember always chasing some book to put under the computer to make the vents free. Boy, how I hated that.
People do all kinds of terrible things to their body. That you do something and seem to be getting away with it doesn't mean you should. Talk to a real doctor trained in this (your regular doctors probably is not) for details.
Macs don't have to worry about that since they made a huge efficiency jump with M1. Before that they overheated due to poor thermals.
I wish framework laptops could come with multiple possible keyboard layouts like the one on the picture.
They are full size in height, but not in width.
What’s also annoying is that the function key row isn’t full height.
EDIT. Actually it looks like I was wrong about that. They do apparently at least make their own chassis’s unsure about the motherboard’s or screens though.
System76 has long been working on their own laptop - every few years they make a progress report announcement - but I don't expect to see it anytime soon.
https://us.starlabs.systems/blogs/news/coreboot-on-the-amd-s...
For a Windows computer, x64 makes sense because backwards compatibility is a big deal. But a Linux machine doesn't have the same problem, at least not to the same degree. Couldn't an ARM-based design be used to make a Linux laptop with Apple-like performance per watt?
I agree with you that it would be more rare than trying to live in Windows ARM world, but I’m not sure it’s entirely a lossless experience yet for your personal computer.
You're better off buying a Dell XPS on sale, I saw one for about 800$ the other day with 32 GB of ram.
Dell has committed to actual Linux support.
I don't feel like paying a Linux nerd tax when most Windows laptops are fine.
Lenovo seems to have the best support here. Otherwise enjoy the adventure in driver land!This laptop looks to be more in line with a MacBook in terms of build quality, with a price to match. It's being sold as a Linux laptop, what makes you think there will be driver issues?
All the lower scale manufacturers have to charge more to make a profit. Plus most just white label an existing brand.
The other feedback in this thread isn’t great.
As for drivers, I meant for Windows laptops running Linux. But that’s pretty rare now.
For the unique part of this laptop that AFAIK a Dell XPS won't have is the Coreboot BIOS, that also probably means better support in the long term for BIOS updates.
To be clear, this is also not a laptop for me (but I did pre-order a Framework 13 Pro), but saying "nerd tax" or "anyone who buys one is either giving a donation or an idiot" like the other comment is just focusing in one part (the price) and not looking at the other.
The framework doesn’t support Coreboot though.
Different markets have different price ranges.
Linux nerds have money, thus, this starts at 3500$
Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX 2.1GHz Processor; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 12GB GDDR7;
https://system76.com/laptops/serval-ws
Same CPU and GPU, as a gaming laptop, 2199
https://www.microcenter.com/product/691610/legion_pro_7_16ia...
It’s not like System 76 is developing special Nvidia drivers or anything.
Keep in mind most of these niche laptop brands, aside from Framework, just resell hardware. You definitely can get a better deal if you put in the work.
$2000 for the very cheapest first-gen Core ultra CPU is nuts. You can buy a used, faster XPS 15 OLED 4K for literally $1000 less.
Like, Dell sells refurbished the Precision 5560 with the 11850H, 4K OLED, same ram and storage amounts, and a bonus Nvidia dedicated GPU for $560.
Did I mention that the ram isn't soldered?
If not, I will keep my Intel Thinkpad T14 G2, The Last of the Mohicans that can.
The notebook market is dead for me if the notebook can't sleep on 0.3% battery per hour and if it can't wake up within a second or so.
So far only macbooks and >5 years old Intel notebooks can.
https://community.frame.work/t/responded-coreboot-on-the-fra...
My aging Thinkpad P1 (1st Gen) has a great LCD, but it's also the last non-OLED screen in my life, and I don't think I can buy another laptop without it. In fact it would be a purchase decision driver/upgrade incentive for me. This and longer battery life.
Even though I build lots of C++ code, I still don't think I need more than the Xeon in the P1, horse-power wise.
What about the microphone though?
The camera issue has been solved years ago by a simple analog hack of physically obscuring its field of view, with some business units having a physical switch built-in.
The same is much more difficult for a microphone, hence the appeals of privacy-conscious folks about it, mostly unanswered.
HDMI 2.0, USB-A, Wifi-6E, BT 5.3. This is a legacy device.
I'd be worried about having all of my storage in one place. I like to back up data to more than one place if it's important, and never have huge on-device storage because if something happens to damage it, I'm assuming it's game over for all on-device storage (rather than only part of it). I'd rather my storage was safe and cozy in some place far from where my laptops go.
But if you're not all that worried and happen to do data-intensive work or something, awesome, 8TB sounds like a dream.
(1) I only need local internal storage for apps, current data, and active projects.
(2) It helps me stay honest & organized about my backup and archive strategies.
Unfortunately the company stopped releasing firmware updates for it soon after they launched Mk V. I don't know if it can be still built from source for the older devices.
Very different niche from the StarFighter but StarLabs make excellent machines.
You can see the last release for Starlite Mk IV is from 2024: https://fwupd.org/lvfs/search?value=starlite
These seem to be the SKUs they are building roms for: https://github.com/StarLabsLtd/firmware/tree/capsules/roms
Glossy screens are, in my humble opinion, a stupid gimmick because they look a bit better at ideal viewing conditions. For mobile devices the viewing conditions are most often not ideal, so it really doesn't make any sense unless the screen has to be a touch screen. I have had one laptop with a glossy screen and I ended up putting a glare reducing sticker on it because the glare was intolerable.
I did this because I manage a fleet of BSD based server (BSD runs zfs and bhyve with VM on it) and I wanted the same base system for me.
I wonder how BSD friendly those laptop are.
In any case I am so happy to see some open hardware solution.
The screen and main unit could be purchased independently too. Another idea would be to have a second screen that can hang down from the first one for when it's on a desk stand.
As someone said elsewhere - no USB-A needed with USB docks via a single USB-C.
Another idea would be to have a hall effect keyboard - they are the best.
First thing I thought when I saw the picture was "Yay, a 16 inch laptop with the keyboard and pad in the middle!"
Not sure who the target market is.. but on the homepage it only lists the CPU's in the era of AI/Models etc I'd put the GPU and VRAM somewhere on mainpage as well.
Even when I view "Tech Specs" still don't see the VRAM ? Just some feedback.
Is this an improvement on how long whatever it's talking about usually gets updates for, or is putting a limit on it at all a bad sign? I've only seen this with regards to mobile phones before.
Does it mean this machine has the potential of having amazing battery life since it can be fully programmed? I am talking as close to MacBook Pro level (not accounting for arm vs intel/amd difference).
I have a Ryzen 5 AI 340 powered machine and average about 6 hours. I might be able to stretch that to 7 if I dimmed the screen a bunch and only did light web browsing.
This is closer battery life to MacBook Neo, not an Air or Pro under the same workload.
My findings on it: https://sjg.io/writing/suspend-battery-drain-framework-13-ub...
Are these a good pick for a non-programmer who is interested in Linux but intimidated by it?
If you're not sure if you want to go Linux yet, it's probably best to try a live USB stick of a few distros on your existing hardware. Get a feel for what the interface is like, how things work, how it works on your hardware, etc, without actually changing anything. Seems like a better bet to me than buying all-new hardware.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/629632/can-you-boot-ubuntu-s...
- control key in wrong place - camera notch - half sized arrow keys
No, every laptop does not look exactly the same and they are not all macbook clones.
minimalism as a design choice far predates Apple, and constrains design choices substantially.
Asus has similar materials in recent models I believe; I rather like it.
More of this please.
otherwise, why would you want a resolution you're going to scale to 150% or even 200% anyway just to be able to read it anywhere outside?
... and eating into your battery
Personally, I'm highly allergic to fractional scaling. It's 200% or I'm not buying it!
It completely dwarfs the otherwise great hardware.
I'd rather do that than accidentally keep pressing "Home" instead of Backspace.
With this, I'd have to look down at my keyboard all the time to make sure I'm not mistakenly pressing those keys, because the hand is used to "resetting" on the edges of the keyboard to get a feel for the keys I expect to find on the edges: Enter, Shift, Arrow Keys, etc.
It throws off the brain's muscle memory big time.
Everything else about the computer I loved, but the power issue often meant it was not available when I wanted it. I eventually sold it on eBay (with full disclosure of the issues).
I must also mention that I'm happy to see the UHK has a ball-retention ring; this used to be normal for trackballs but companies moved away for it for some reason.
It is still a crazy question though because if you seen most laptops in the last 15 years there is basically no room for them except on the large workstation thinkpads or large gaming laptops.
That being said, the laptop itself looks rather neat, especially the battery runtime
Edit: it does https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5777vs4585/Intel-Ultra-...
Seems late by several years.
If it had 256GB RAM or even better 512GB, I'd consider.
18 hrs
battery life
if you put it in sleep mode maybe. why do people keep lying about battery life?
It's not MacBook good but it's much better than 3hrs :)
But you aren't seriously suggesting that graphics hardware is irrelevant are you?
1. "AI" is a marketing term used by the likes of OpenAI/Anthropic/Google. LocalLLaMa communities prefer to use "LLM" or "model". So for a lot of people "AI" is just a service (see 4.)
2. "AI capability" is an irrelevant spec and marketing slug. The hardware specs will give you the needed infomation to consider a model[0][1].
3. If you'll want to run a model locally, you'd know that a midrange notebook isn't the device to look for. Instead, look at workstations with discrete graphic cards + lots of VRAM (24GB+), Strix Halo APUs or a MacBook with lots of RAM, or some dedicated workstations like the NVIDIA DGX Spark[2].
4. An inference engine can run anywhere, you can pick any LLM hosting service. LLM clients just expect an API endpoint anyway.
[1]: https://www.caniusellm.com/
[2]: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/products/workstations/dgx-spark...
I think we're at the point where the inclusion of USB-A is a demerit.
Also the x86 processor… that's like two toes in the past… still looks like a heck of a machine. I’d take this over a Framework any day.
But all my keyboards have been TKL over the past 15+ years and I don't miss it. I don't know why anyone needs to use a numpad unless they're in a job where they work a lot with numbers. And if you're not in such a role, what is your hobby exactly that demands so much number punching?
What do you use a number pad for often enough to not only see it as mandatory for you, but to leave you unable to imagine how anyone could live without it?
I'd be super happy to yank my numpad out of my laptop, move the keyboard a little bit to the right and center align it with the center of the screen. My head would be centered with the middle of the screen too.
Unfortunately I had to settle with that keyboard because every other laptop was a worse tradeoff.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/IBM_Thin...
(though I prefer ISO enter, eg. Hungarian, German or Swedish layout)
If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
It’s just that I never hesitate to voice my opinions even if they may seem very assertive.
For me the point of social media is to be 100% myself and always say what rings true to me. I won’t modify my opinions just because they go against the consensus.
It’s an art as much as it is communication and every single word is necessary to properly express my inner self in a self contained one comment exhibition. The only rule is to really be 100% aligned to your core, pure, being when crafting these small literary wonders that best translate the expression of the soul.
Pure individualism.
We do not often have a chance to be this honest in real life for various reasons. I value this honesty, look for it on the Internet and thus I also try to be 100% honest in return according to the rule “be what you want to see in the world”.
Right now, I'm extremely satisfied with my workhorse Linux desktop and less so satisfied with my Linux laptop battery life, but I mostly use desktop anyways.
Yes and that reason is marketing.
I don’t buy new MacBooks. I get them refurbished from MicroCenter, Apple, or elsewhere.
In 2024, I picked up a 2021-released 14” M1 Max MacBook Pro w/ 2 TB and 64 GB for $1800 from Microcenter. Because Apple is so hostile to repairs, I have been paying for AppleCare+ and will continue for some time. But I don’t see myself truly needing to replace this machine for another 2-3 years. It’s my daily driver for BBedit, some IDEs, music apps, Firefox with dozens of tabs, Mail, Messages, iTerm2 with half a dozen tmux sessions.
True - my computing needs are not demanding. But for those of us who offload commuting to remote servers and mostly use thin clients, the computer is a joy to use.
I’ve been dabbling in Ableton Live Suite 12 Lite, which came with my Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88 MKII midi keyboard, and this machine never breaks a sweat.
The M-series are seriously as close to BIFL as a consumer laptop can be.
Meanwhile, my wife’s daily driver is a 2013 13” MacBook Air w/ 128 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM. And an Intel i7 from that era. I won’t defend this though. She’s insane, and I don’t know how she lives with herself. I purchased it used from a Craigslist seller to be my daily driver 14 years ago, and it lasted until I upgraded to a 2020 M1 MacBook Air base model, which I later donated to a friend in need.
Absolutely not. I want to be in full control of my machine, which means a FOSS operating system, and ideally FOSS firmware too. When Apple will request age verification, you will have no alternative but compliance with Apple's machines.
I wasn't aware that generic laptops had moved to haptic touchpads and up-firing speakers over ten years ago...
