Why to consider system76

[dhunt84971]

I finally broke down and got a Galago UltraPro. Very happy with this killer laptop. It has all the features I was looking for and was the first laptop I didn't reformat upon receiving. (I have always ended up reinstalling the OS initially because of all the adware and bloatware installed on Windows laptops and later because I was installing Linux.) So far I have been VERY HAPPY. And as far as the price, I think it was quite fair. Many laptops I have seen with the same features have cost much more and although I could have purchased the Clevo 'unbranded' laptop for a little less, it would not have been preinstalled, nor would it have had the Ubuntu logo on the superkey or been backed by System76. I'll pay a couple extra bucks for that.

As for running Windows, I am a VMWare user so I just run my Windows virtualized. And at work, I have installed a Proxmox server which runs our Windows software virtually connected to our office PLC Lab equipment. This has allowed me to VPN into the office and access the Windows VMs running all the "Windows Only" tools we use directly from my Galago.

So far, I am loving my System76 laptop.

[Welly Wu]

I used to own a System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) notebook PC and it was terrific. Right out of the box, Ubuntu and most other GNU/Linux distributions were 100.00 percent compatible. Eventually, I decided to get my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P high end gaming notebook PC. I purchased Crucial Ballistix Sport PC3L-12800 DDR3 16.00 GB 1,600 MHz SO-DIMM RAM, a Crucial M550 SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk, and a Transcend M.2 42 mm NGFF SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk. I use Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and it is 100.00 percent compatible including UEFI and Secure Boot.

I am in the market to get a second high end Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux certified gaming notebook PC and I am eyeing the System76 Bonobo Extreme. My custom configuration is roughly $4,000.00+ USD excluding shipping fee. I'm going to wait until April 2016 before I give serious consideration toward purchasing it. I want Intel Corporations 6th generation "Skylake" Core i7 quad-core with Hyper Threading Extreme Edition CPU and one nVidia Geforce GTX 1080M with 8.0 GB of GDDR5 video RAM GPU along with a 2.5" SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk, a 2.5" SATA-III 6 GB/s 2.0 TB 5,400 RPM hard disk drive, 32.00 GB of PC3L-12800 DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM, Intel 7260 dual-band 802.11 AC/B/G/N Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 4.0, a 17.3" Full HD 1920 X 1080P resolution screen, Intel's Thunderbolt, three Super Speed USB 3.0 and 3.1 Type-C ports, three year parts warranty, etc. In other words, this will be a monster Ubuntu GNU/Linux certified gaming notebook PC and it will become my primary PC. I plan to keep my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P.

System76 builds extraordinarily high quality Ubuntu GNU/Linux certified desktops, notebooks, and servers. They are competitive in terms of pricing compared to similarly configured PCs from major PC OEMs in terms of PC hardware components. Their customer service and technical support are the gold standard within the GNU/Linux ecosystem and I consider them to be tier one. You get what you pay for most of the time. Not fighting with specific PC hardware components and features commonly found with Microsoft Windows desktop or notebook PCs when using GNU/Linux is a real treat. It allows me the freedom to play with GNU/Linux without being stuck when technical support tells me that they don't support GNU/Linux and I have voided my PC warranty.

System76 plans to announce the release of a new notebook PC sometime later this year. If they release a 15.6" high end gaming notebook PC, then I'll choose that one instead of the Bonobo Extreme, but I'll choose second tier PC hardware components to save money while still getting an excellent product. System76 is one of the leading GNU/Linux certified PC ODMs and I strongly recommend them to others considering to switch to Ubuntu in particular. Highly recommended!

[user1397]

How so? Much easier to set up than dual boot and don't need to reboot.

Even though it is easier to setup than dualboot, theres a few problems with virtual machines for me. First of all, I don't just have a copy of windows lying around, I only have the factory backup I made from my windows 8.1 laptop that I have saved to a flash drive, so I can't really install windows in a virtual machine. Second, I don't like how slow virtual machines can be (plus I only have 4GB ram) and also how much of a pain it is to transfer files to/from guest and host OS. In the end, MS Office is really the only huge app that is forcing me to stay in windows land, which really sucks because I would definitely rather just run linux. I don't like messing with WINE either. If you want to know, I have Office 2013 right now (not even sure if it works with wine).

Then you can do it like me: Borrow your father's computer and remotely connect yours to it.
I'm doing that pretty frequently, since where I study we use C# and XNA that isn't supported on Linux due to Microsoft. With this technique, though, I can work on my regular Linux computer and do Windows homework on it.
If you can't borrow your father's computer, or a Windows computer in general, this is probably not an option for you.

And in case anyone asks, I use file sharing and NOT hacking.

Haha, I like your solution but definitely not very practical for me, since my dad lives in another continent and his computer's on/off many times through out the day.

[rewyllys]

Even though it is easier to setup than dualboot, theres a few problems with virtual machines for me. . . . Second, I don't like how . . . much of a pain it is to transfer files to/from guest and host OS. . . .

I have installed Dropbox in both my host OS, Linux Mint 17.1, and my copy of Windows 7 in VirtualBox. The transfer of files between host and guest OSes is thereby made painless.

[Dragonbite]

I have installed Dropbox in both my host OS, Linux Mint 17.1, and my copy of Windows 7 in VirtualBox. The transfer of files between host and guest OSes is thereby made painless.

Nice thing with Dropbox is "sync-over-lan" so once there is a change in one place, the other doesn't have to download from the Internet.. it will get it from the system on the LAN.

[rewyllys]

Nice thing with Dropbox is "sync-over-lan" so once there is a change in one place, the other doesn't have to download from the Internet.. it will get it from the system on the LAN.

Good point!

[user1397]

I have installed Dropbox in both my host OS, Linux Mint 17.1, and my copy of Windows 7 in VirtualBox. The transfer of files between host and guest OSes is thereby made painless.

I didn't really think about that before...

I actually forgot I do have a windows 7 iso but no optical drive on my computer, so I'm not sure I can install it inside virtualbox.

EDIT***: I'm dumb, of course you can install from an iso in virtualbox, gonna go fiddle around with it to see if I can make this work. Thanks.

[9nonnatus]

I just ordered a Bonobo Extreme this morning. First non-budget laptop I've ever bought. They seem to be of amazing quality even compared with others in that price range, and for my work I need a "portable desktop" more than a laptop. Hope my experience is as awesome as everyone else's. I'll review it after a few weeks or so.

[Welly Wu]

I plan to purchase my own System76 Bonobo Extreme gaming notebook PC sometime in the near future. I don't plan to play any 3D graphics PC games, but I will use it to play Arena Chess which is my favorite 2D PC game and for general purpose usage. I really like the idea of having nearly the power of a desktop PC in a portable notebook PC form factor and I don't mind the high price or the bulk and weight. I think that I will wait for nVidia Corporation to release their 1000M series GPUs with Pascall architecture sometime in 2016 along with Intel Corporation's 6th generation "Skylake" Core i7 quad-core with Hyper Threading mobile CPUs in Q4 2015. I'm saving up my money and my budget is roughly $4,300.00 USD including UPS overnight shipping.

[Dragonbite]

I really like the idea of having nearly the power of a desktop PC in a portable notebook PC form factor

"nearly"?

That thing is a monster to overshadow all of the computers I have in the house even if they were clustered!

Sadly, all of the laptops are more powerful than the family desktop and my laptop. Only my wife's laptop is something newer than a Dual Core (pre-i3, i5, i7 chips)!