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View Full Version : Buying a System76 laptop?



wburton72-a
July 1st, 2015, 09:00 PM
I'm really interested in the System76 laptops and the payment plan they have going on. I would consider getting a galago ultrapro or a lemur because they both look like really solid computers. Is System76 computers and payment plans any good? If so which computer would be a better deal?

jeffrey11
July 1st, 2015, 10:59 PM
I bought a Gazelle Pro last month to use at home and this is my second laptop from System76. My first was a Pangolin P7 purchased in 2011 which has been under constant use at home and work and it has performed flawlessly. It is now work only. So far the Gazelle has been without issues of any kind.

I can't offer any info on the payment plans but I do consider System76 products to be of very high quality.

contraversy
July 2nd, 2015, 06:03 AM
Linux action show speaks highly of them. They look like nice machines especially since they use current hardware. My buddy was not happy with his laptop from them, but to each their own! Good luck!

QIII
July 2nd, 2015, 06:06 AM
Moved to The Cafe.

Not a support request.

Welly Wu
July 2nd, 2015, 10:00 AM
I used to own a 2012 System76 Lemur notebook PC and it worked perfectly for the most part. The great thing is that the warranty allows you to download and install virtually any GNU/Linux desktop operating system and most of them will be 100% compatible so you are not obligated to use Ubuntu. However, if you wish to receive technical support, then you must be using Ubuntu. They do not support Microsoft Windows. I recommend System76 as well. They do make high quality products that are reliable. Next year, I can see myself getting a top of the line System76 Serval WS mobile workstation as my gaming notebook PC. It's costly, but it has the kind of PC hardware components and performance that I desire to own.

Kale_Freemon
July 9th, 2015, 05:34 PM
I recently purchased the 2015 Lemur using their payment plan. Now, the notebook isn't something to necessarily write home about. It has a few bugs here and there, and it kind of feels a bit cheap to me. However, it is the lowest end of their notebook offerings, so insane quality is not expected. This isn't to say that I'm not happy with it. It works very well and does what I need it to do.

The payment plan, however, if you can avoid it, then do so. The interest rate is so flipping high that I'm going to wind up paying ~$100 more than what System76 sells the notebook for. I just went this route because I really wanted a newer notebook (my newest one was five years old up to this point and was kinda broken) with Ubuntu preloaded (screw the Windows tax and bloatware), but I don't have a lot of money on hand at any one given time (I work at WalMart).

In the end, it's really up to you. Depending on what you get, you might not have to pay more than about $65/month. And yes, the payment plan covers shipping costs as well.

mips
July 9th, 2015, 09:23 PM
You can do so much better at the same price (or less) if you shop around.

user1397
July 10th, 2015, 11:50 AM
I've never owned (or even seen) a system76 computer, and they look like they are good quality and the company seems reputable and all that jazz, but I just don't get why you wouldn't just buy a cheaper windows laptop and dualboot. I would understand that if it's really important for you to support a company like system76 from an ideological perspective, that it would make sense for you to spend extra money on it. Or if you have the money and you like the quality of their products, and simply want an ubuntu computer that has actual technical support for ubuntu, that would also be a good reason.

But for most people (I would think), the most important factor usually is price, and you're not getting the best bang for your buck with system76. It's completely understandable as they can't possibly compete with the major manufacturers like Acer or Dell. I'm not blaming system76 for their higher prices. In fact, I think they do a very good job to keep their prices as competitive as possible.

Just as an example, you can buy their cheapest laptop, the Lemur, for a minimum of $599. It's core specs at that price are:

5th gen core i3 5010u
4GB ram
500GB HD
integrated intel graphics

whereas for example, this acer laptop (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314822) has practically the same specs except an even better processor (the i5 5200u) and it only costs $349

Just doesn't seem worth the extra $250 right?

Skaperen
July 10th, 2015, 11:57 AM
Just as an example, you can buy their cheapest laptop, the Lemur, for a minimum of $599. It's core specs at that price are:

5th gen core i3 5010u
4GB ram
500GB HD
integrated intel graphics

whereas for example, this acer laptop (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314822) has practically the same specs except an even better processor (the i5 5200u) and it only costs $349

Just doesn't seem worth the extra $250 right?
if you can get that other os off there

user1397
July 10th, 2015, 12:20 PM
if you can get that other os off there
You can if you want to. I just dualboot and rarely boot into windows just to update it and run maintenance mostly.

MoebusNet
July 10th, 2015, 03:58 PM
I'm happy with my Serval Pro 7. What your money buys in addition to the hardware is OS support; you won't get that from a Windows machine that you install Ubuntu to in a dual-boot situation. Another nice thing is that the hardware System76 selects is compatible with Linux; that isn't guaranteed when you buy a new Windows machine - witness the Optimus series of video cards. People still have problems with them in Linux. System 76 was able to get all of my hardware working, even the problematic fingerprint reader that wasn't released with a Linux driver.

I believe that generally it's a good idea to support the OS you are using, don't you think?

Welly Wu
July 10th, 2015, 10:08 PM
I am thinking about purchasing a 2015 System76 Serval WS mobile workstation:

2015 System76 Serval WS:


Base Price $1,799.00
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS (64-bit)
15.6″ Matte 1080p IPS LED Backlit Display
8 GB GeForce GTX 980M – 1536 CUDA Cores $300.00
4 GHz i7-4790K (8MB Cache – 4 Cores – 8 Threads) $60.00
16 GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2× 8GB) $99.00
United States Keyboard
512 GB PCIe Sequential Read: 2150 MB/s, Write: 1500 MB/s $459.00
No Additional M.2 Drive
No Additional 2.5″ Drive
No Additional 2.5″ Drive
WiFi up to 867 Mbps + Bluetooth $30.00
1 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty
Normal Assembly Service Product total: $2,747.00
UPS Ground shipping: $57.01 USD

Grand Total: $2,804.01 USD

This would become my secondary PC. There is nothing wrong with my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC, but it is starting to get long in the tooth. I have seen comparisons between nVidia's G-SYNC and VSYNC and I did not notice a huge difference between the two so I don't plan to get the 2015 System76 Serval WS 17.3" with nVidia G-SYNC technology for an additional $99.00 USD. Later on, I plan to upgrade it by purchasing additional internal storage drives. I have two 8.0 GB DDR3L 1,600 MHz SO-DIMM RAM sticks so I could install them into my new 2015 System76 Serval WS which will give me up to 32.00 GB of DDR3L 1,600 MHz SO-DIMM RAM which is quite a lot. I should have the cash to pay for it outright by the end of December 2015 and I will have a few thousands of dollars left over in my PNC Bank checking account.

I would like to own a second System76 notebook PC again. I'm definitely an Ubuntu GNU/Linux supporter. I think that the price is a bit high, but the PC performance should be outstanding. I'm thinking about saving up my money and getting it at the end of this year.

monkeybrain20122
July 10th, 2015, 10:21 PM
I am thinking about purchasing a 2015 System76 Serval WS mobile workstation:

2015 System76 Serval WS:


Base Price $1,799.00
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS (64-bit)
15.6″ Matte 1080p IPS LED Backlit Display
8 GB GeForce GTX 980M – 1536 CUDA Cores $300.00
4 GHz i7-4790K (8MB Cache – 4 Cores – 8 Threads) $60.00
16 GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2× 8GB) $99.00
United States Keyboard
512 GB PCIe Sequential Read: 2150 MB/s, Write: 1500 MB/s $459.00
No Additional M.2 Drive
No Additional 2.5″ Drive
No Additional 2.5″ Drive
WiFi up to 867 Mbps + Bluetooth $30.00
1 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty
Normal Assembly Service Product total: $2,747.00
UPS Ground shipping: $57.01 USD

Grand Total: $2,804.01 USD

This would become my secondary PC. There is nothing wrong with my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC, but it is starting to get long in the tooth. I have seen comparisons between nVidia's G-SYNC and VSYNC and I did not notice a huge difference between the two so I don't plan to get the 2015 System76 Serval WS 17.3" with nVidia G-SYNC technology for an additional $99.00 USD. Later on, I plan to upgrade it by purchasing additional internal storage drives. I have two 8.0 GB DDR3L 1,600 MHz SO-DIMM RAM sticks so I could install them into my new 2015 System76 Serval WS which will give me up to 32.00 GB of DDR3L 1,600 MHz SO-DIMM RAM which is quite a lot. I should have the cash to pay for it outright by the end of December 2015 and I will have a few thousands of dollars left over in my PNC Bank checking account.

I would like to own a second System76 notebook PC again. I'm definitely an Ubuntu GNU/Linux supporter. I think that the price is a bit high, but the PC performance should be outstanding. I'm thinking about saving up my money and getting it at the end of this year.

Man didn't you just spend > $2000 on a Zareason??? If I have so much $$ I would spend it on a vacation and donate some to charities and there is probably still enough changes left for a few fun nights out. :)

Welly Wu
July 10th, 2015, 10:34 PM
Yes, I did spend nearly $2,000.00 USD for my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system recently. However, I find that playing SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games a little underwhelming on my 2013 Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC especially AAA titles like Dying Light, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, etc. It's time to upgrade to a new, modern, and much more powerful Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux certified high end gaming mobile workstation. The nVidia Geforce GTX 980M with 8.0 GB of GDDR5 video RAM GPU is competitive with my nVidia Geforce GTX 970 with 4.0 GB of GDDR5 video RAM GPU. So, both are modern and powerful enough to play the latest SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games. I bought Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition for $89.99 USD and I would like to be able to play it for SteamOS + GNU/Linux on both PCs at ultra and 60.00 frames per second or faster later this year. I also am waiting for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor to ship for SteamOS + GNU/Linux as I bought the premium edition with the season pass on both PCs at ultra at 60.00 frames per second or faster. Right now, I have 592.00 Steam PC games in total of which 292.00 are available for SteamOS + GNU/Linux which is roughly 49.40% which is decent.

I think that the 2015 System76 Serval WS mobile workstation is a bit pricey compared to a similar Sager notebook PC, but I want to show my support for a GNU/Linux certified PC OEM or ODM and I want to support Ubuntu hardware and software. I think that this product will be worth its high price tag. I think that I will pay for it and own it early in January 2016.

obake2
July 26th, 2015, 05:47 AM
Or you can buy a laptop/notebook computers from ThinkPenguin.com (https://www.thinkpenguin.com/)

Bucky Ball
July 26th, 2015, 06:10 AM
Just a note: if you are outside the US, don't go System76. International support is pretty well non-existent (well, they have a warranty but you pay for all postage to and from the states ... I am in Australia and System76 is not considered as a viable option here).

Geoffrey_Arndt
July 28th, 2015, 04:23 AM
Am presently running a Galago Ultra Pro Laptop with mostly top tier components - in short, it runs great, everything works out of the box. There are two main reasons I think it's worth the price:

1). NO hassles re installing single or dual boots & fighting variable designs of UEFI and motherboard chipsets re wireless, bluetooth, gpu setup, yada, yada, yada. The System76 drivers ppa and updates handle those issues (in conjunction with standard ubuntu provided apps & configs). MANY casual PC users today, including power users have a hellish time trying to install Ubuntu. Others read various forum horror stories and just say . . . no thanks, I'll stay with the Devil I know.

2). The user support from System76 has been better than any other vendor I've experienced. Email has been the main tool for that support. Hardware support may be more convenient with a local/regional vendor.

So, in my view, the internal components and setup of this Laptop is excellent. The Galago's exterior or case has a decent design, but is 100% plastic (no metal at all). Good trackpad, decent working chicklet style keyboard. Very thin monitor panel.

But in summary, the system runs extremely well, fast, and ZERO issues in 8 months of heavy use (4 to 12 hrs daily).

List of vendors that pre-install Linux: http://linuxpreloaded.com/

guine42
July 28th, 2015, 05:34 AM
I've had a gazelle for nearly 2 years and have been fairly happy with it. It runs quickly and has a beautiful monitor(big plus for me for photography). Customer service was good most of the time, not so good once. The only major problem that I had was the blower stopped working for a little and overheated the motherboard so I had to replace it and since it doesn't use common parts I had to ship it in for a new motherboard rather than being able to get it repaired quickly at a local shop which was a major annoyance for me since it happened at a bad time to be without a computer for a couple of weeks.