And the winner is …. The Results of my Linux Laptop Search

 

After I posted my about my personal exploration into purchasing a pre-built, no-assembly required Linux laptop I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed at the response to the post.  In fact I have been inundated with emails, private messages, direct messages, and just about every communication method you could think of to post the results of my search and reveal which laptop I ended up going with.

While I purchased the machine weeks ago  I did not want to just simply answer the question with a slight note or addendum saying I ended up buying Brand X. I think every one would agree that the experience does not really end at the purchase.  I wanted to make sure I had some quality time on the machine and give some perspective after some real-world heavy duty use.  

So without a further ado, after some considerable analysis I ended up purchasing the System 76 Gazelle Professional.   The specs on my specific purchase are listed here below:

System 76 Gazelle

• Base System
• Ubuntu 13.04
• 15.6” 1080p Full High Definition ColorPro IPS Display with a Matte Surface
• Intel High Definition Graphics 4600
• 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4900MQ Processor ( 2.8 GHz 8MB L3 Cache – 4 Cores plus Hyperthreading )
• 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz – 2 X 8 GB
• 960 GB Crucial M500 Series Solid State Drive
• 8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 – 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth
• US Keyboard

Please keep in mind that the reason for the purchase was to have an every day Linux machine that I could use for a mix of work, pleasure, and hobby.   I was not aiming to build the greatest development machine, or a gaming machine, or anything of the like.   Although I would argue after considerable use that this machine could be used in any of those configurations and perform exceptionally. But I am getting ahead of myself.

 

The Ordering Process

I ordered my machine through the website which was a pretty standard click-through configurator.  At the end of the process and submitted all my payment information in, I got the confirmation from System 76 pretty quickly.   I was also told that due to unavailability of some of the parts it would not ship for at least two weeks.   The instant satisfaction guy in me was disappointed, but having been around this industry long enough I know this happens a lot.   To my surprise I did not have to wait very long.  I got a note from them letting me know that my machine actually shipped out sooner than expected.   THAT is something does not usually happen.  

I should probably break away to let you know that the Customer Service Experience during the order process was exceptional (in my opinion).  Upon ordering the machine, you get a link to your order that constantly updates your status.  It tracks when you created your configuration, When you ordered it, When the teams at System76 start building it, and even features a ‘chat’ mechanism in case you have any questions.  Its not really live chat, but you can send questions, comments, or converse with them as part of the order process and they actually respond back to you fairly quickly.  All communication is tracked whether by System 76 “standard messages” like your system has started being assembled, to your order is shipped or any interactions you may have had with a Customer Service person.   The order interface also keeps track of all Serial numbers associated with your machine for ease of use later.

 

The Arrival

My machine arrived at the home in quick order and I was very happy to see quality of the shipping and related protection.  To be honest this was a bit of a concern as I had never ordered from these folks before, and I have had issues with shipping quality when order “clones” or “non-name brands” before.   But System76 did an outstanding job, rivaling if not hands-down beating the “bigger guys” in this department.  It may seem like a weird thing to comment on, but when you spend that kind of money on a machine it’s a terrible feeling if you cannot play with it immediately.

Regardless of how incredible the shipping material was, it was no match for my fingers as I tore into the box and removed all of it to get at the goodies inside. Please keep in mind that what you don’t see in the pictures below, is the box that the box the laptop actually came in!

 

Once free from its plastic and cardboard prison, the machine booted right up quickly and quietly (I love the SSD!).  Now that it was operational I got to work ensuring that the machine was well acquainted to its new home.   Which basically involves getting connected to my home networks, creating SSH keys, getting access to the servers and services in my home, (I have my own mini-data center in my house), mounting all of my cloud-base storage locations, downloading/installing the software that I use most often and getting connectivity to the variety of household peripherals scattered about the place.

The configurations were pretty straight forward and everything configured with ease. Everything of course except my scanner.   I am not sure why scanners have always been trouble for me, but even in the Windows world they are a pain in the….  I could probably do another whole post on getting my darn scanner to work. 

Anyway it all ended up well and it has become my main machine ever since.

Some of the more astute of those reading this post may have noticed that I bought this machine when the standard Operating System was Ubuntu 13.04.  I had completed all of the above configurations and had been using the machine heavily for some time before I had a slight panic moment after Saucy Salamander (Ubuntu 13.10) went general availability. So I set aside another weekend thinking that all of my hard work would have to be re-done when I did the upgrade.   In a very “Windows-like” notification I was given the option to automatically upgrade.  Intrigued, I clicked through to proceed and was pleasantly surprised that my machine upgraded with NO ADDITIONAL configurations from me.  It just worked.   It saved my weekend (or at least my Saturday).

I have been banging away on the machine solidly for over a month, and I have to say that I am extremely satisfied.  My only real complaint is that I wish it had a better keyboard.  Not that the keyboard itself is bad.  Its pretty standard actually.   I just think the industry as a whole could learn a few things from Lenovo about building a really great laptop keyboard.  

It’s definitely a powerful little workhorse of a machine!

\Mm

[This post is a follow up to my initial post looking for a pre-built Linux Laptop]

Looking to buy a Linux laptop are you?

I recently underwent an interesting adventure of trying to purchase a Linux-based laptop that I thought I would share as it lead me to some interesting revelations about the laptop industry in general.  First let me admit, that my home is kind of like the United Nations for Operating Systems and Tech Platforms.   I have Windows-based machines, Macbooks, Ubuntu and Mint flavors of Linux, and my home servers are a mix of Microsoft, CentOS and Fedora. 

I recently decided to go out and look for a high performance Linux Laptop to use for home purposes.  Up until this decision I did what everyone probably does when they want to use Linux, they go out and download the latest distribution depending upon whether or not they prefer .DEB or RPM variants and install it on an old or existing machine in their home.    I have done this over and over again.  This time, however, I was determined to go out an purchase a ready-made Linux laptop.  My love affair with Unix or Linux based laptops began when I ran into an engineer from Cisco earlier in my career who was sporting a clunky (but at the time amazing) HPUX based laptop. It was a geek thing of beauty and I was hooked.

If there is a name brand in Linux laptops its System 76.  These guys have been building special purpose system since 2005.  They have three models to choose from and all of them are rock solid.  Now to say they are a ‘name brand’ is a little bit misleading.  The hardware is generally sourced from firms like CLETO or MSI.  But what makes System 76 so special is that they really do try to replicate the normal laptop  (or desktop) purchasing and product experience that you are likely to find with traditional Windows based experiences.  They ensure optimal driver support for the hardware and generally deliver a very high customer experience.  I have always been jealous of people with System 76 gear when I have seen them at the odd trade show. It’s generally a rare sighting, because lets face it…with the proliferation of Windows based machines and Macbooks, seeing a Linux based laptop environment brings out my inner geek.

Another brand that I occasionally see around in Zareason.   Like System 76, they custom build their laptops and pre-load Linux on as well.  Where System 76 is limited to and specialized in Ubuntu loads, Zareason gives you many more options. 

Other firms like Linux Certified try and take a best of breed approach and try to find the balance of purchasing their own hardware and/or mixing it in with other manufacturer created platforms like a Linux Optimized Lenovo Thinkpad. They also give you a choice of which flavor of Linux you would prefer.

Now you could also go out and purchase all of the components yourself from CLETO, MSI, and others to build your own model, but as I was expressly going out to buy one, and not ‘build’ one I opted out of that effort.

But the Linux Certified approach got me thinking about what do the ‘Big Guy’ manufacturers offer in terms of Linux based laptops.   The answer in short was Nada.  Not off the shelf at least.   I had remembered that Dell was making a purpose built Linux machine and started digging in.  I found all kinds of great references to it -  the XPS 13 Developer Edition.   However when I went online to the Dell website to dig in a bit more, I found that the XPS 13 only had Microsoft based options on the Operating System.  I searched high and low, and somehow managed to get linked to www.Dell.Co.Uk, where Lo and Behold, I found the XPS 13 Developer Edition.  Apparently they are only selling it outside of the United States.   Huh?  This piqued my interest so I started up a chat on the Dell web page which confirmed my suspicion.  I had secretly hoped that there was some super secret way to get one here in the United States. But apparently not.  

 

To be honest this kind of made me mad.  Why can people in Europe get it, and we can’t?  It probably sounds a lot like whining as I am sure there are tons of things Americans can get that Europeans can’t, but for now, I am atop my high horse and I get to complain.   Essentially I could get it.  However, like the old adage, there would be Some Assembly Required.   Purchase the hardware, blow away all of the preinstalled Microsoft Software, and install over it.   Surely HP must have a version with Linux.  Nope.  What about Lenovo?  Nope checked that too.  As I gazed at the Thinkpad website I relegated myself to a position that I would need to also think about the ‘some assembly required’ category.  Truth be told, having owned them in the past,  I absolutely love the Lenovo keyboard and solid case construction.  I do not think there is a better one anywhere on the planet.  

So I created my Some Assembly Required List as well and it was then I realized two things – First, that If I wanted anything in this category it was really no different than what I had been doing for the previous ten years.  It really highlights the need for better partnerships of the Linux community at large with the hardware manufacturers if they ever want to break into the consumer markets.   Most non-professionals I know would never go through that kind of trouble nor do they have as much affinity for the Operating System as I have.  The second thing I thought I had realized was that in going this route, you essentially have to pay a ‘TAX’ to Microsoft.  Every laptop you buy like this, comes with Windows 7 or Windows 8.  Which means that you are paying for it somewhere in the price of the equipment.   At first I was irked, but what’s more interesting is that generally speaking (with the exception of the Lenovo configuration) the Price points for the ‘Assembly’ options were generally lower by a significant margin than the ‘Optimized Linux’ counter parts.  Some of this was reflected in slight configuration differences.  Which led me to believe that the Microsoft ‘Tax’ gave little value to the machines overall.  Here’s an example of my process:

Not all of the configurations are like for like above, but it gives you a flavor.  

My Revelations?  I would have thought by now that the OEM to Microsoft connection would have seriously weakened.  At least weakened to the point of offering a little more variety in Operating Systems or at least the ability to purchase equipment without an Operating System.  It could also be a factor of the people I hang around with and what we think is cool.  I guess, once a hobbyist, always a hobbyist.

\Mm

[You can find out which machine I ended up getting in my follow up post here]