5 Cups of Ubuntu
I am extremely excited by the new Gazelle Professional laptop model released today. I'm hoping this will be my next laptop.
Are there any third party reviews of the new model available or has anyone seen one yet?
Does this model require special drivers for a fresh Linux install like prior models?
I do wish System76 didn't name all their versions the same, it makes finding reviews impossible.
Chocolate-Covered Ubuntu Beans
I know that we have one going out for review soon. If you're looking for information, you can also search by the model number rather than just the name; the current Gazelle is the GazP7.Originally Posted by braddock
System76 Pangolin Performance - panp7
Intel Core i7-840QM (1.86 GHz) - 2GB DDR3 RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 4570, 512MB GDDR2
320GB HDD @ 7200 RPM
First Cup of Ubuntu
Does anyone know if the new Gazelle supports two hard drives in the hard drive bay? I know you can install one in the space of the DVD drive but I'd rather have the DVD.
Chocolate-Covered Ubuntu Beans
No, there is only room for one hard drive, besides the optical drive bay.
System76 Pangolin Performance - panp7
Intel Core i7-840QM (1.86 GHz) - 2GB DDR3 RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 4570, 512MB GDDR2
320GB HDD @ 7200 RPM
First Cup of Ubuntu
Ok Thanks isantop.
Just Give Me the Beans!
I own the old Gazelle Pro, having purchased it in October. I note that the new one is a little bit of a step down when it comes to the connections it has. It has VGA rather than DVI video, and it lost the line-in audio and the optical audio out. IIRC, the old one could be upgraded to 32 GB of RAM, this one only 16 GB.
It has Intel 4000 rather than nVidia graphics, though I am not sure how much difference this makes. Intel is in some ways better supported by Linux.
On the plus side I note that the new one is quite a bit lighter than the old one, so that might be a plus. Also, since it only uses 90W, the power adaptor is likely to be considerably lighter than the brick I carry around.
I wonder, is there going to be a new machine with specs more like the old Gazelle?
First Cup of Ubuntu
You can a secondary hard drive with the optional caddy. My Gazelle Professional is arriving on Wednesday so I can't wait to check it out and give a brief review.
5 Cups of Ubuntu
I own the panp9 model myself and I have been very pleased. The new Gazelle laptop appears to use the same chasis so I will go ahead and give you all the low down on it.
[a] Chasis only supports a single hard drive. S76 support was extremely helpful and told me which optical hd caddy to buy so that I could add a 2nd one (after I asked). I boot off a 120 gb SSD and keep another 500 GB HD around for storage and I wasn't willing to give up either. The machine boots great off the $35 USB2 dvd burner I bought from NewEgg.
[b] If you purchase a model with a 3rd Gen Core I7 processor - you'll get the Intel HD 4000 graphics. My 3610QM is an extremely fast processor. My last machine contained a 2230QM and this one appears to be a substanial upgrade in terms of speed. Both the graphics and the processor perform admirably. The HD 4000 is able to play pretty much any indie game I throw at it and can handle most AAA games of yesteryear along with a handful of today's brand spanking new games at low detail. Diablo III plays on it at low details and still looks good. As a self styled retro and indie gamer, the HD 4000 is a perfect fit for me.
[c] Although System 76 in no way officially supports Windows beyond providing a few driver downloads, Windows does work great on the machine. I'm currently dual booting between Arch Linux and Windows 7.
[d] Now in terms of Linux compatibility, that can be a bit rough. Which seems mostly due to the fact that the hardware is quite cutting edge. Ubuntu 12.04 and Mint 13 RC install without issue. Rolling distributions (the ones I prefer), tend to have issues however as their installation discs aren't updated very often. Arch's official disc was updated last August and doesn't work with the wireless hardware in the machine. The latest nightlies have a bug that renders the installation impossible to complete. I ended up installing ArchBang to get around this and that appeared to solve my problems as their install disc was just updated late last month. Other rolling distros like Linux Mint Debian would boot off the live CD fine but as soon as the graphics drivers were loaded, the screen would get corrupted. I'm sure these situations will resolve themselves in one way or another over the course of the next few months, but it is still better to be aware of them in advance.
[e] Misc items: The panp9 is extremely quiet and runs very cool. Occasionally I can get it bothered enough to fire up the side fan, but beyond that, it's really very well behaved in that respect. The machine seems to last about 3 hours on battery regardless of which OS I am booted into. The case design is very slick and has received numerous compliments from people I know who have seen it. In addition the machine is extremely easy to get into (which is a huge change from the Asus G53SW I owned). Oh and one last thing, if you order yours with bluetooth, it will ship in an "off" state. You have to turn it on using the Fn-F12 key combination. Anything else won't do
5 Cups of Ubuntu
Re: New Gazelle Professional Laptop Thread
That's it! I am moving to Ubuntu!
A Carafe of Ubuntu
Considering a new Gazelle Pro (or two) for work. Both will be used for Skype/video conferencing, etc. One (mine) might also be used for movies, etc. (And, of course, all the other work stuff.) I don't think I need to uograde the processor, but will upgrade RAM. I assume the 95% NTSC screen is worth the upgrade. How about the SSDs? Why do the Crucial SSDs cost more than the comparable Intel SSDs? Are the hybrid drives worth it (more storage, faster boot), or are they something that's has the disadvantages of both? Are HDs on the way out? I'm trying to find the sweet spot in value and, to the greatest extent possible, as well as "future proof" the machine for the next few years.
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