I like the brand but what are they doing? Intel + NVIDIA is not the hardware combination that comes to mind when building a Linux laptop.

When my laptop was my primary device, I still had an external monitor/keyboard/mouse (our work also had the same setup); that being said I still got a 17 inch laptop.

For me personally, I don't mind the weight/bulk in exchange for a larger laptop screen.

a large 17.3-inch monitor for getting work done comfortably without the need for external screens

While the brand is very good from what I hear, this particular statement is total nonsense. External screens are usually meant for overall comfort. And if you care about overall comfort and ergonomics, you would 100% buy an external keyboard and an external monitor (the latter ideally mounted on a monitor arm).

Basically, don't be lured into actually using just the notebook for desktop use, even if they advertise the best possible keyboard and screen. Instead, buy proper external peripherals and get a "thank you" from your wrists and neck in 10 years.

What do you mind about the Intel part?

Intel + nvidia, hard pass

Holy Moly. You know your target audience when your specs say "100 MHz main clock oscillator" rather than "now with powerful 0.1 GHz CPU that can be pushed to >>>0.2 GHz<<< !!!💪"

Sounds like Qualcomm are a bunch of linux-hating dicks. They are huge and leave the development of linux support up to a tiny Bavarian company. Pathetic.

It's probably because the hardware market is really unstable right now. Prices of RAM, storage, etc have gone way up the past few months due to shortages. Valve are waiting to see where they'll land before committing to a price.

Its crazy because Linux users are more likely to want to try swapping architectures. We are more likely to use software that supports both architectures, so we do not run into as many issues as windows users would.

How do we know what drivers they use and not know the price yet?

It's telling that Valve opted to use open-source Turnip drivers for their VR headset instead of relying on Qualcomm to actually support their own chip.

Because Snapdragon X sucks and Qualcomm never fails to not deliver proper drivers for Linux.

Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't even know the framework 12 came out yet, it seems great but I'm not sure if the repairability is worth it for its price/performance and the fact that it would be hard to get one used. The yoga 9i does have thunderbolt and there are some pretty good deals for it on Ebay, I might get a framework later if I can find one used but I doubt I can this close to when it released.

The ports are not built into the chassis. They are modules for slots that the chassis has. The framework 12 has 4. I am not sure if you can output to 4 displays but you can have 4 DisplayPort modules plugged in. I think the latest batch has better processor options.

Minisforum V3 is the next best after the Framework 12. It has a better CPU but its not a real laptop its a surface like device, and while the CPU is far more powerful than the Framework 12, it will only get about 4 hours on battery. If you can pick up a "bricked" V3 it is possible to unbrick it, but its a PITA, but because of that they can be found for a deal.

The framework 12 can be configured to be reasonably cheap, but it's specs are weird. Big battery, but an 13th Gen. i3 or i5, and only 1 ram slot. Battery life should be good, but I'm not expecting. They're not the greatest laptops or anything, their specific niche is repairability. So you get a very repairable laptop, not necessarily the best laptop.

Adapters are kinda life in the USB C world. The framework at least has them built in. Does the yoga at least have thunderbolt? I don't think the framework does and TB is NICE for higher end stuff.

It's as open as humanly possible, is a better way of putting it. Indeed ARM CPUs aren't fully open. Also, depending on your particular compute module and options, other things aren't open, like GPU or Wifi driver binary blobs. But the non-open bits are listed when you configure the machine, if this is particularly important to you.

If you absolutely insist on 100% open, there's theKintex-7 FPGA compute module: you can do whatever you want with it and it'll be totally open. But the price is... fantastical. But hey, it exists if you have the money 🙂

Hey, that's an interesting laptop, thanks for sharing! One question about it if you don't mind. On the website, they position the notebook as "Open Hardware":

Open Hardware
All sources public
Modifiable & reproducible

However, if I go to the details, I see that the CPU is an ARM Cortext-A76/55. That is not open is it? Not all sources are public for it, it's not modifiable or reproducible. Is the CPU an implied exception to their statement above? Are you aware of other "exceptions"? Or maybe I don't understand something? It does look this way though.

As of when? My M2 (base) MacBook Air is not the fastest ARM computer in the world, but it's been able to play Cyberpunk since what, May? June? Whenever it came out on Mac. Though, the ARM port of Cyberpunk exists because of the Switch 2. Other ARM platforms just benefit from it.

Watched the first half of the video. The video does mention the M4 Mac mini, and the neat thing about M4 (they're up to M5 now) is that it supports ray tracing natively.

So whether you're on an iPhone, an Android phone, a Switch or Switch 2, a Mac, or a PC running ARM, it's long since past time to retire the notion that ARM means weak. It hasn't for a long time. It's still more power efficient than x86-64. It's a fine platform for browsing and casual work. For AI stuff and high end gaming, you might still want x86-64 for its power throughput, but ARM is getting very punchy for games. The last few generations of iPhone are very good for gaming, at least for rendering games. Jury's still out whether a 6.5" (average) touch panel is the best way to game (I think not). But the CPU/GPU are there. Android is catching up. And of course on the desktop you have more options. More room, better cooling. Macs are leading the charge in desktop ARM, but PC ARM is picking up, too, and Qualcomm is making some impressive hardware there as well.

Note that my M2 MacBook Air gets better performance than his rig. I get around 20-25FPS, but I get no traffic or pedestrians. They made some interesting compromises to make the game work. My M2 Pro Mac mini plays it a little better, but I'd just rather play on Xbox.

I don't have the fastest ARM machine in the world, but arguably the most open (a MNT Reform laptop) and I was very pleased to see how advanced Linux ARM support is now when I first got it. With a few exceptions, there's essentially zero things you can do on amd64 that you can't do on aarch.

And since the only games that interest me are more or less turn of the century or older, it's plenty fast enough for my gaming needs.

Yeah, you can toggle IME on/off in Coreboot. It was off when I got the laptop.

They seem to have a Lemmy community, too: https://lemmy.ml/c/starlabs_computers@szmer.info (a bit empty, but well, doesn't hurt to add then)

UPDATE: nevermind, found it here: https://starlabs.systems/pages/why-choose-us

By the way, I don't intend to buy it right away - more like marvel the notebook for a while. But, with regards to disabling Intel's ME - do you see any claims to that on the website? I haven't found anything while briefly skimming through the page, both the main one and the "Tech Specs" tab. I could be wrong, but how I currently understand it, there's the functioning of the CPU itself, and there's the motherboard (e.g. BIOS). How I thought it works, is that Coreboot targets the motherboard, whereas techniques for disabling Intel ME are for the CPU. Do you know?

Lovely. Thanks for sharing!

(PCS notebooks are indeed Clevo. Just assembled, warranty'ed and supported locally.)

The hardware is lovely! I think they sort of position themselves as the 'macbook pro'' of Linux. They design their own stuff, rather than using off-the-shelf models from Clevo or whoever, which I think most of the other options do, like Tuxedo, Slimbook, PCS etc. They're very good with customer support too. Also very repairable and they still stock parts for their older models, so I'm confident I can get my money's worth out it in the long run :)