System76 Lemur UltraThin (LemU2) Review
Here's my review of the new LemU2 Lemur UltraThin from System76. I have no pictures to share at the moment, but I tried to hit all of the major points.
Specs:
Intel Core i3-330UM processor (2 cores w/ hyperthreading = 4 virtual cores)
4GB DDR3 @ 800 MHz
500GB HDD @ 7200 RPM
13.3” display (1366 x 768 native), LED backlit
Intel HD Graphics (GMA 5700MHD)
Intel Centrino Advanced 6200 wireless A/B/G/N
w/ Bluetooth (Standard)
Battery life: 2 hours average, more with backlight down, wireless off, less with bluetooth, effects on, etc.
*Any other specs can be seen at the System76 website (http://www.system76.com)
Unpacking:
I have heard comments/ seen pictures showing a very poor quality of packing material, which was not the case for me. The computer came in a box marked generically as “notebook computer”, but it was a nice box, and really, I don't need the corporate logo plastered all over the place. Inside the box, the computer was suspended nicely in some foam blocks, looked very well-protected (even for a trip on the dreaded UPS truck). I have seen pictures of laptops packed in newspaper (really?), but I can happily report that my package was 100% newsprint-free.
The laptop was wrapped up nicely for transport, with plastic over all the shiny parts, and with the battery already installed (no the norm for other units I've gotten, but not a bad idea). The power brick was tucked nicely to the side in a separate cardboard tube.
The good:
Laptop was nicely protected, came through with no damage.
Case came through clean (no OS badges, no Intel badge, nothing). I like that.
Laptop shipped from CA (Read: USA, no international shipment. Always a plus.)
The bad (or less good):
Some of the protective sheets on the laptop were taped on, took some effort to remove.
Some slight surface brushes on the lid, but they came off with a lens-cleaning wipe.
Hardware:
From the get-go, I noticed that most of the components on the laptop are plastic, no aluminum or fancy pieces. The keyboard is fairly stock, nothing outstanding, no back-light or anything (although that's going out of style as people realize the battery-drain). The keyboard is chiclet-style, all flat keys, but a nice size (using it right now), doesn't feel cramped. Looking from the side, you can see that some of the keys sit at weird angles (up around the upper right-hand corner), but no issues with function (I've always been a form<function kind of guy).
The track pad is simple, clean, the left and right click buttons are under a single brushed-aluminum type bar. The pad itself blends in with the rest of the case, with just a clean edge to denote the track pad. It's responsive, my finger slides nicely, and overall, what more do you need from a track pad? (Multi-touch would be nice, but it's far from expected on most any computer except a mac.) The one aspect that took me a second to adjust to is the way to turn off the track pad, which is Fn+F1, rather than a dedicated button near the pad.
The screen is a nice size, I like the 16:9 widescreen ratio. The backlight is bright, and there's even an option to turn it off completely (haven't used it, may be nice for daylight viewing?). The webcam has a nice high resolution, haven't tried it with Skype yet. The microphone is embedded in the case just to the right of the keyboard.
The good:
Everything feels solid, the hinge is substantial.
Not too many distracting lights or fancy panels, goes back to the whole “clean” feel.
Hardware worked out of the box, 100%, no restricted drivers to install, no kludgy workarounds.
The bad:
The power button can be a little difficult to work consistently, but not a deal-breaker.
Not a lot of shiny buttons (maybe not a bad thing).
Hardware feels run-of-the-mill.
Graphics:
I have never had a computer with the integrated Intel HD graphics, so I had no idea what to expect. With ATI cards, I could never use the radeon driver, I always had to go to the (very buggy) fglrx driver to get any kind of 3d support. To really test things out, I turned the visual effects on high and went about my normal usage. On the low voltage processors (which this one is, only 18W TDP), the GPU frequency is lower than its equivalent on a full-voltage unit, but you wouldn't know it from this experience. The wobbly windows worked straight away, all of the fancy cube effects were smooth. There was no flickering, no tearing, nothing but pure graphics bliss, all with the default driver right form the Ubuntu repos.
I always use Metacity in my everyday life, so 3d is less of a concern. I only want to be able to run OpenGL games, Google Earth, and maybe a nice screensaver without chewing up processor time (Flurry is my favorite screensaver, ever since I first saw it on an iMac). This graphics card (or whatever you call an integrated package) is a slick machine. I got the same CPU usage with the effects on as off, no significant drop in battery time.
The good:
Worked without any tweaks.
Smooth OpenGL, slick on the applications. (GLX-dock is a must have for me.)
The bad:
The webcam refresh is pretty laggy, video doesn't come out very well, may be more hardware-related than graphics.
Wireless:
Not much to say, works as advertised.
The good:
Out of the box ready to go.
The bad:
N/A
Bluetooth:
I've never really used Bluetooth, but it came standard, so I gave it a shot. It took me a little to even see my bluetooth adapter (need to hit Fn+F12 to turn it on, unbeknownst to me), but it seems like it works alright. I used it to sync up to my cell phone (a personal first), with no issues.
The good:
It works!
The bad:
N/A
Overall:
I had read a lot of online forums and reviews before I decided on what to purchase for my new laptop. I had checked Lenovo, HP, Dell, Panasonic, Mac (why not?), ZaReason (the other key player in linux laptops), and probably some others that I can't recall. I was looking at price (lower is better), power (I loved the looks of the new Core i3/5/7 processors and really wanted to try one out), size (my old laptop was a monster, I wanted portable), and quality (I didn't want a rebranded ThinkPad).
I saw a post in one thread online, someone who had not ever touched the computer said “actually, it looks like cheap plastic crap. don't give them a pass just because they preinstall ubuntu...” “it looks very similar to some of the crappy generic oem rebrands that i used to sell. those things fell apart at the slightest touch. there's no way i would ever buy a laptop that wasn't from one of the big-name manufacturers.” I found that a valid point, and I would not give System76 a pass just because they preinstall Ubuntu. However, you can't give them a fail just because they're not a big-name manufacturer, either. If this (possibly troll) poster had actually bought one of these and used it (I've only had mine for a couple of weeks), I think he would change his tune. You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge a laptop by the online pictures.
Here's the big reasons I went with this laptop:
- I like the idea of supporting a vendor who is building laptops to work with FOSS. Ubuntu is not the only distro they could go with, but I can support the idea of getting behind one product that seems to be “for the people and by the people” in terms of usability (openSUSE is great, but let's face facts, it isn't the most user-friendly OS).
- I admit it: I was jealous of the mac-heads (and even a little bit of the windows users) when they could say their computers 'just work'. I always told myself the usual line, that getting the hardware to work was half of the fun, but fact is, I wanted a computer that would just work. With System76, the hardware was chosen specifically because it works with Ubuntu, and if it doesn't, I can e-mail their support crew, and I don't have to try and teach the person who answers what Ubuntu is. I wanted the full experience, and this delivers. I've already used their tech support a few times (mostly for little nothings, like when I couldn't figure out how to turn on the bluetooth), and they've been super-responsive, even before my laptop even arrived. They know their stuff, and they're still a small enough company to CARE about what your experience is like. All f my dealings with HP (not picking on them exclusively, but all of my laptops to now have been HP) have been drenched in the feeling that they could really not care less about how I feel about them in the end.
- The thing is sexy. Really, looking at the online pictures, seeing the dimensions, the thin screen, the simple layout, the thing just looks like it belongs with Ubuntu. Simple is beautiful.
Bottom Line:
I would buy this laptop again. I would recommend System76 to a friend. I'm happy with my entire experience so far. I like knowing that if I ever need to flash my BIOS, I don't have to hack a windows-only exe file to install it in a non-oem approved manor. I like that the manufacturer of my computer will support Ubuntu GNU/Linux, just like none of the big names will.
If you want top of the line hardware, go to Apple and drop your $2000.
If you want what everyone else has, go to Windows and be a sheep.
If you want a computer that is secure, simple, reasonably priced, and gives you the freedom to do what you want, then GNU/Linux is your OS, and System76 is well worth your consideration.
Once upon a time, nobody had heard of Dell either.
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Originally Posted by era86
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