Star Book from Starlabs

I've just checked the notebook, it has awesome specs! I mean, it's very expensive. But it's impressive. From ethical and "software" things like Coreboot to really up-to-date hardware and good display quality. Nice! Something to keep in mind for the future.

I find that it stresses me out if I have to spend time hacking things to make them work and my main reasons for choosing it as an OS are ethical.

I feel ya, totally... All those points apply to me, as well.

As you've had experience of actually buying from them I will defer to your experience. I only made an enquiry about Linux compatibility and wasn't satisfied with the response, so I don't have any firsthand experience of their products.

Although I have become somewhat technical after the last few years of using Linux, I find that it stresses me out if I have to spend time hacking things to make them work and my main reasons for choosing it as an OS are ethical.

Ultimately I bought a Star Book from Starlabs, partly for the reasons above but also for the high gamut display and because I wanted Coreboot and no Intel Management Engine. I also didn't want to have to deal with international shipping and they are here in the UK.

Can't you just send the PC back if it turns out it doesn't run linux?

P.S.2: I guess there's also an ideological point of buying from a Linux-first provider. I think it's very nice feeling when it's possible. I remember I've bought a ThinkPenguin a decade or so ago, and I was very happy to have that Penguin printed on the back of my notebook lid ^^

UPD: I've just noticed that the Tuxedo notebook in this article actually ships with NVIDIA. So for a GPU, it cannot possibly be better than any other notebook out there. I mean, in 2025, you either ditch an external GPU for best Linux support, or you use NVIDIA. And within NVIDIA there are no "good" and "bad" models, they're only "new" or "old". Besides a GPU Tuxedo could be taking care of the chipset better to be fair, e.g. WiFi and LAN. That's about it, nothing else can go wrong at all to the best of my knowledge.

I think you're right about a lot of things, even though I don't agree 100%. Individual points below

added value in buying from Tuxedo though as it gives peace of mind that Linux will run well

I think I see your point. All hardware that I've bought from PCS was absolutely compatible out-of-the-box, but then again, I knew what I want. (I've had two notebooks and one desktop computer from PCS if it matters, over the course of 5 years.) If I imagine myself completely not knowing anything about hardware and just buying some NVIDIA stuff, I could end up with hardware that ideologically doesn't mesh well with the "open" parts of Linux, and could be buggy and not working well on a practical aspect. The practical aspect was especially relevant years ago, now it smoothened out a little bit.

you cannot be fobbed off by Tuxedo on the basis of using an ‘unapproved’ operating system when you need support

Does PCS really do that in reality though? I've never heard of that. At the time that I was making my first purchase I was checking comments to their hardware, and people actually praised Linux support. They officially somewhat encourage it as well, as you can NOT pay 130 Euros for Windows by simply unselecting it during purchase. How can they afterwards make complaints that I don't have Windows? Do they really do that, can you reference anything to this claim?

Yes, that was certainly the case when I was shopping for a new laptop about a year ago.

Even if their hardware is generic, I would argue that there is added value in buying from Tuxedo though as it gives peace of mind that Linux will run well (PCS would not confirm this when I contacted them and told me to go away and look at their forums). Also, as a customer who runs Linux, you cannot be fobbed off by Tuxedo on the basis of using an 'unapproved' operating system when you need support.

Last time I checked, you could buy high-build-quality and cheaper notebooks from PCSpecialist..

Things could've changed tho

I know that's what the software is used for, but it's still about the software itself.

Please read the article. It's about open-source hardware (design).

Because it's about software, not hardware.

This is open source hardware.

Why do you think it's spam? It has only been posted to relevant communities..

This had been spammed across about a half-dozen places in my feed so far. WtF does this have to do with hardware, anyway?

If you're in Europe or in the UK, and if you choose to NOT have coreboot, you can buy for half the price from PCSpecialist. I've been using them since 2020, totally recommend. The model that I had (Lafite pro 14) with an identical CPU, twice as much memory as reviewed (64Gb) costed just over 1k EUR in 2024. The build quality is very good.

But again, it won't have coreboot, which is a significant downside. So I'm not saying anything against the reviewed notebook.

HP? Yah, gonna give that a pass.

Thanks! I'm not too impressed with the build structure of the 480s compared to my M4800. It's a shame that screw sizes seem to be non-standard.

lol and the exact reason I haven't pushed in too hard. As it's a new laptop to me (and my current laptop is an aluminium tank) I'm not used to the max forces that can be applied before things get to the 'upset' stage!

As far as the screen goes, I advise following the manual in my other message to disassemble and reassemble. I love to push things back in, but breaking the LCD will be upsetting.

https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t480s-hmm_en.pdf

Starting at Page 57, there is a part number for screw kits and then replacement procedures for each item with screw size and description

it's good to see phoronix point out the hypocrisy of tuxedo just printing the amd ad copy.

the ai features of the ryzen ai cpus are completely inaccessible on non-windows operating systems, by design. they're not lacking software support, they're locked down.

Zen 5, Wikipedia:

Zen 5 ("Nirvana")[1] is the name for a CPU microarchitecture by AMD, shown on their roadmap in May 2022,[2] launched for mobile in July 2024 and for desktop in August 2024.[3] It is the successor to Zen 4 and is currently fabricated on TSMC's N4P process.[4] Zen 5 is also planned to be fabricated on the N3E process in the future.[5]

The Zen 5 microarchitecture powers Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors (codenamed "Granite Ridge"), Epyc 9005 server processors (codenamed "Turin"),[6] and Ryzen AI 300 thin and light mobile processors (codenamed "Strix Point").

so what you're saying is that the firmware powers off when on battery and just suspends if on AC? I have to say I've never heard of such a thing. could be a setting in the DE; e.g. Plasma has a buncha stuff to set up separately for when on battery and when on AC, maybe your issue is there. does it behave the same when you power down from terminal (sudo shutdown -h now)?

also, not to hamper your impressive research, but what's with the powering down of things? all my hardware (desktops and laptops) get powered down or restarted like never or rarer. when it's time for bed, they get suspended and then woken in the morning, ready to go as I've left em. the one laptop that spends days without power, ready to go when I have to leave, has the suspend-then-hibernate thing implemented so its power drain iz zero.

Nope, nothing. And only on Debian. It never did this on Fedora. Madness, but, I have no time to further spend on it. So, unplug, send shutdown signal, and happy life. haha, weird!

Jesus Christ, there is something very wrong going on in there lmao. So, if you just turn it off (no unplugging) I'm guessing it's chugging your electricity for no reason? Does it have any logs of something it could be doing while it's "off"?