laptop
Update: I didn't buy a new, powerful, laptop for my work, but a NUC. See curie for details. When my travel laptop finally died, I bought a X220, then a Purism Librem 13v4 as a replacement, see angela for details.
Reviewed models
Besoins
Base:
- CPU: Intel Dual-core E6500 @ 2.9GHz (marcos) ou mieux
- RAM: 16GB
- Disque: rien ou whatever standard
- 3xUSB, incluant 1xUSB3 au minimum, USB-C?
- layout clavier correct, incluant pavé
- 6-8h battery
Extras:
- HDMI? Display port?
- SD-card reader?
- wifi A?
- no binary blobs?
- coreboot?
- dock?
Modèles
Comparateur: https://www.thelaptoplist.com/
Framework
11th gen
Specs (Intel 11th gen, newer specs available, see below):
- 1300$USD for i5 with 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, Windows 10
- DIY kit: 1250$USD for i5 with 16GB RAM, 500GB NVMe, no OS (+100$ for 1TB)
- 3.5mm combo headphone jack
- 60W USB-C
- 55 Wh battery, between 2h and 10h battery
- 1080p 60fps camera
- backlit keyboard
- 1.3kg, 15.85mm x 296.63mm x 228.98mm
- 1 year warranty
- 13.5” 3:2, 2256x1504, 100% sRGB color gamut, and >400 nit
- Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210
- fingerprint reader
12th gen
Ordered a Framework 12th Gen intel DIY laptop in late August 2022, see detailed review in framework-12th-gen.
13th gen and AMD
There's now a third generation of Framework laptops, along with an AMD version. The AMD version is particularly interesting because AMD has been doing a lot of headway in the mobile space, with promising power savings and performance improvements.
Review:
- The Verge, AMD - "buy this one — if you can"
- The Verge, Intel - "a DIY dream come true", "short battery life and thin audio"
- PC Gamer, AMD - "finicky touch pad, loud when gaming", "ultimate hybrid gaming ultrabook"
- Ars Technica, AMD - "Passable-but-mediocre battery life, not as good as Intel, Less port flexibility, Plenty of heat and fan noise, long wait times"
- Notebookcheck, AMD - "remains one of the loudest subnotebooks when under load, long battery life, still no new display options"
- Tom's hardware, AMD - "Switching from one platform to the other was easy"
- Phoronix, AMD - "fantastic choice for Linux users"
- rtings
Framework 16
Another product in development is the Framework 16, currently in pre-order. It's a larger laptop than the "13" (which the 11th, 12th and 13th gen all fit into) with 6 expansion ports, hotswappable keyboard mods and a hotswappable GPU.
Reviews:
- Ars Technica: "unique, laudable, fascinating, and flawed"
- Upstream's review index
- ifixit teardown (10/10)
GPD pocket
native ubuntu
http://www.gpd.hk/pocket.asp
Gemini
Tiny - closer to a phone:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gemini-pda-android-linux-keyboard-mobile-device-phone#/
First impressions, from fellow Debian maintainer Brett Parker:
I look forward to seeing where it goes, I'm happy to have been an early backer, as I don't think I'd pay the current retail price for one. [...] not bad once you're on a call, but not great until you're on a call, and I certainly wouldn't use it to replace the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that I currently use as my full time phone. [...] really rather useful as a sysadmin tool when you don't want to be lugging a full laptop around with you, the keyboard is better than using the on screen keyboard on the phone.
Popcorn
https://pocket.popcorncomputer.com/
Cheaper than the Gemini (~200$), Lora instead of GSM.
- 1080p 4.95"
- shipped with Debian
- 4xUSB-C (1 power, 2 host, 1 serial)
- no headphone jack
- Wifi, Bluetooth
- LoRa
- GNSS (GPS)
- 3200mAh battery
- external microSD
- ARM 1.2GHz Cortex-A53
- 2GB ram
- 32GB eMMC
- Physical keyboard
In pre-order, expected in 2020.
Mnt reform
The reform is a DIY laptop that is pretty grassroots, somewhat "vintage" computing, reminescent of the Apple II or Comodore 64, but with a quad-core ARM CPU.
- upstream spec:
- CPU: NXP/Freescale i.MX8MQ with 4x ARM Cortex-A53 cores (1.5 GHz), 1x Cortex-M4F core. CPU and RAM are on exchangeable SO-DIMM sized module.
- RAM: 4 GB LPDDR4 memory
- GPU: Vivante GC7000Lite GPU with mainline Linux drivers and OpenGL 2.1, ES 2.0
- Display: Full HD (1920x1080 pixels) 12.5" IPS eDP display driven via MIPI-DSI. Optionally-enabled HDMI port. 128 x 32 pixel system control OLED
- USB: 3x USB 3.0 ports external (Type-A), 2x USB 2.0 internal (for input devices)
- Networking: Gigabit Ethernet port. miniPCIe Wi-Fi card included in Reform Max pledge level.
- Storage: Internal M.2 M-key socket for NVMe SSD. Full size SD card slot.
- PCIe: 1x miniPCIe socket (PCIe 2.0 1x), 1x M.2/NGFF socket M-key (PCIe 2.0 1x)
- Keyboard: Reform mechanical USB keyboard with Kailh Choc Brown Switches, dimmable backlight, open firmware
- Trackball (Option): Reform optical USB trackball with 5 mechanical switches (Kailh Choc Brown), open firmware
- Trackpad (Option): Reform capacitive USB trackpad, open firmware
- Enclosure: Modular case from CNC-milled, bead-blasted, black-anodized 6061 aluminum. Bottom cover milled from semi-transparent acrylic.
- Sound: Wolfson WM8960 ADC/DAC, stereo speakers, 3.5" headset/microphone jack (no internal microphone)
- Camera: No camera. Internal MIPI-CSI connector
- Battery: LiFePO4 battery technology - which is more fire-safe and has more charge-cycles than LiPo battieries. 8x owner-serviceable 18650 cells totalling 12 Ah/3.2 V. 5 h approximate battery life
- System Controller: NXP LPC11U24 ARM Cortex-M0 chip with open firmware and hackable expansion port
- Manual: Operator Manual incl. system schematics and full parts list
- Sources: KiCAD sources for motherboard, keyboard, trackball, trackpad, STEP/STL/FreeCAD files for case parts, C sources for all firmware (input devices and system controller), build scripts for boot & system image
- OS: Preloaded with Debian GNU/Linux 11, Linux 5.x mainline kernel
- Dimensions: 29 x 20.5 x 4 cm
- Weight: ~1.9 kg
- ships with a trackball!?
- no mic, no webcam!
- kind of really bulky, deliberately
- awesome batteries
- 24 V 2 A international power supply (110/230 V)
- aluminium and acrylic case
- MiniSD boot, SSD
- 1000$ kit, 1500$ built
- input mag review, which mentions some build issues and definitely sets expectations about performance
- another review
- could be used as a low-end audio recording/mixing station?
There was a possibility for an e-ink screen and hot-swappable keyboard, but that was scraped during production.
Update: I haven't bought a MNT reform, on two grounds:
- it's not very powerful, for the price
- it's bulky, so not ideal for a travel laptop (which is why I own a laptop in the first place)
That said, MNT now launched a new product called the MNT Pocket Reform. Now it all makes sense: the MNT Reform parts can be reused in the Pocket, and it seems the original Reform was a good prototype to the end goal, a pocketable computer. That, then, becomes really interesting as a travel laptop. Maybe.
Wootbook
KDE and others have started branding laptops and shipping them with Linux. KDE has the Slimbook 14 for example, and there's the Tuxedo Pulse 14. Both of those are actually rebranded Tongfang PF4NU1F laptops. Because of that stupidly hard name, many refer to them as the Wootbook.
The current DPL has a good review of the hardware, which looks like a nice cheap AMD laptop.
I like that it has many USB ports and a real ethernet port, even though it's slim and light...
See also the curie page for this, in particular this very negative review of a Tuxedo.
Novena
The Novena) laptop board is still on sale but it's showing its age now:
- ARM i.MX6
- 4GB max RAM
Could be possible to build a complete machine with ~1000$ in parts, but that's quite expensive for such old specs...
Olimex
They make a cheap DIY laptop called the teres, based on the allwinner chipset.
- 225EUR
- Quad Core Allwinner A64 64-bit Cortex-A53 processor
- LCD 11.6" 1366x768 pixels1GB DDR3L memory
- 4GB eMMC Flash
- WiFi 150Mb, BLE 4.0
- Camera
- Battery 7000mAh
- Weight 980 gr
Backordered, of course (2017-02-02). See also the announcement.
Pine64
https://www.pine64.org/?page_id=3707
- Quad-core ARM Cortex A53 1.2Ghz
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB flash storage
- Wifi bgn, BLE 4.0
- USB: 2
- MicroSD
- Mini-HDMI
- LCD 11.6"
- 1.04Kg
First version is apparently too slow for day-to-day usage (and RAM is just ludicrously small), but it's cheap. A new one should come out in 2019 but alas still with only 4GB RAM. Update: Pinebook 64 pro now pre-order (august 2019).
Star Lite
https://starlabs.systems/pages/star-lite
Netbook-style (11"), looks kind of neat.
Except for that horrible keyboard layout: backslash left of Z, StudlyEnter, tilde left of enter, no pgup, pgdown, insert, ptrscrn, scrlk, pause and whatever is going on left of 1 there...
Update: got a response (<24h) from their support: that's a UK layout. Doh! pgup, pgdown, end, and home are all on the arrow keys with "meta" which is annoying, but common. I asked about the other keys, to be continued.
The starbook also looks interesting, see this hackernews discussion which compare it to the Framework.
They do some things better than Framework such as supporting Ryzen processors, and seem a bit cheaper overall. The battery life seems like it would be better. They have a spare parts store as well and a full disassembly guide as well as an "open warranty". I was never a fan of Framework's swappable ports.
Pyra
https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/
Tiny computer, a cross between a laptop, a Nintendo DS and a phone.
- Dual-core ARM Cortex A15 1.5GHz
- 2/4GB RAM
- 32GB flash eMMC
- 2 SDXC slots + one internal MicroSDXC
- Wifi bgn, BT 4.1
- Sensors: gyro, accel, compass, humidity? temperature? pressure?
- Mini-HDMI
- Physical keyboard
- 2xUSB 2.0, 1xMicroUSB 3.0
- Optional GPS
- Optional GSM
- 720p 5" screen
- 139 x 87 x 32 mm, 400g
- non-free: GPU 3D driver + firmware, wifi + BT firmware
- 8h battery?
- 2GB no mobile: 595EUR (tx inc.), 4GB + mobile: 745EUR (tx inc.)
https://www.pyra-handheld.com/wiki/index.php?title=Comparison_Chart
x201
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X201 http://thinkwiki.de/X201
- 12.1" TFT
- i3-i7
- 8GB max
- sd card reader
- gbit
- 56kbps modem
- 2 minipci
- 2MP camera
- fprint reader
- BT: maybe
- coreboot: mostly
- no power on yellow port
- https://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x201
- IME, EC, VGA, CPU microcode proprietary
X220
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X220 http://thinkwiki.de/X220
- 12.5" TFT
- 305.0mm x 206.5mm x 19-34.6mm, 1.3kg
- i3-i7
- 16GB max
- 2 minipci (incl possible mSATA)
- gbit
- BT
- SD card
- 3xUSB, incl. 1 USB3 on i7
- 720p camera
- DisplayPort and VGA port
- combined audio jack
- fprint reader
- 65W AC
- coreboot: mostly
- no USB3 ("in some models, probably doesn't work")
- https://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x220
- IME, EC, VGA, CPU microcode proprietary
X230
has a similar chiclet keyboard than the x120e, missing critical keys like scroll-lock and sysrq/prtscr. can be replaced with the older model (~20-75$ in parts)
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X230 http://thinkwiki.de/X230
- 12.5" TFT or IPS 1366x768
- i3-i7 3320M-3520M
- 16GB max
- 2 minipci (incl possible mSATA)
- gbit
- BT
- SD card
- 3xUSB, incl. 2 USB3
- 720p camera
- mini displayport
- combined audio jack
- fprint reader
- 65W AC
- coreboot: mostly
- no power on yellow port
- https://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/x230
- IME, EC, VGA, CPU microcode proprietary
Chromebooks
RK3399-derived chromebooks run Coreboot out of the box and may have no binary blobs. Many are limited to 4GB however and run Google-droid by default.
Purism
https://puri.sm/products/
1500 - 1700$USD... trop cher. mais vraiment intéressant parce qu'ils semblent vraiment libérer le matériel.
Librem 13
https://puri.sm/products/librem-13/
- Operating system: PureOS
- TPM: Included
- Battery life: Roughly 7 to 9 hours
- Processor: Core i7 7500U (Kabylake)
- Display: 13.3"
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 620
- Memory: Up to 16GB, DDR4 at 2133 MHz
- Storage: 2.5" SATA + NVMe-capable M.2 slots
- Chassis: Black anodized aluminium
- Webcam: 720p 1.0 megapixel
- Dimensions: 325×219×18mm
- Weight: 1.4kg
- Wireless: Atheros 802.11n w/ Two Antenna
- Radio hardware killswitch: Yes
- Mic and cam killswitches: Yes
- Audio port: 1 headphone/line output jack
- USB ports: 2 USB 3.0 Ports (1 type C),
- External monitor output: 1 HDMI Port (4K capable)
- Card reader: Yes, 2-in-1 SD/MMC
- Backlit keyboard: Yes
- Touch interface: Elantech Multitouch Trackpad
- Thermal design: Low noise fan
Downside: no ethernet port (WTF seriously) and no power on USB-C.
Update: got the device, see purism-librem13v4 for details.
Dell
Heard lots of good things about the XPS13. First, it's small-ish (13"), then it has apparently great battery life and good Linux support. It's also well supported in linux for firmware updates. But might be too pricey.
Dell apparently ships some machines with Linux pre-installed, although I wasn't able to find such a machine on their website at the time of writing (summer 2018). They do support the standard firmware update service as well, which is quite nice.
System76
Ssytem76 is a strange shop: they say they are dedicated to Ubuntu and Debian and in general Linux support, yet what they do is basically resell cheap Chinese generic brands (see below). They say they do a vetting process on the hardware, and they do some software development: in fact they now have their own Linux distribution called Pop! OS. They are also seemingly refusing with standard firmware distribution tool that have been adopted, at least in part, by large vendors like Dell, Lenovo or HP. They also have a rather bad policy on returns: dead pixels and screen defects are not accepted, for example.
https://blogs.gnome.org/christopherdavis/2021/11/10/system76-how-not-to-collaborate/
Galago pro
https://system76.com/laptops/galago
- 13" HiDPI (3200x1800)
- i5-8250u, i7-8550u +219$
- 1x8GB, 16GB (+139$), 32GB (+359$)
- 150GB M.2 SSD
- 250GB +59$
- 500GB +169$
- room for another 2.5" drive
- 2xUSB3, 1xUSB-C
- SD reader
- Chiclet backlit
- Gbit, Wifi (+AC 20$), BT
- HDMI, MiniDP over USB-C?
- split headphones/mike jack
- 720p webcam
- 959$USD base price (+AC = 979$ / +16GB = ~1100$)
The Galaga is, according to HN, just a rebrand of the Clevo, which have questionable hardware quality. Clevo also for sale at Sager.
Lemur
https://system76.com/laptops/lemur
- 14"
- i3 2.4GHz, i7 3.5GHz +160$
- 4GB, 8GB + 49$, 16GB +114$
- disque 500GB HDD
- 250GB M.2 SSD + 99$
- 500GB M.2 SSD + 215$
- 256GB PCIe M.2 SSD + 189$
- M.2 means space for two HDDs!
- 1xUSB2, 1xUSB3, 1xUSB-C
- HDMI, VGA
- split headphones/mike jack
- Wifi AC +20$
- 699$ (+AC = 770$ / +M.2 +16GB = 877$)
Update: the new version of Lemur is coming out in April 2020, with pretty good specs:
- neutralized Intel ME
- coreboot
- open EC firmware
- <=40GB RAM
- great battery life
- USB-C charging (or regular barrel connector), a really neat idea (your regular barrel-connector-charger at home, freeing the USB-C port and when you take the laptop for a trip, you bring your universal usb-c charger and leave the barrel connector home)
- USB-C + DP, HDMI (with 4k)
- 1Kg
Meerkat
https://system76.com/desktops/meerkat
- tiny box, no screen
- i3 6100U 2.3GHz 3MB cache (i5 +125$)
- 4GB, 16GB +95$
- 64GB M.2, 250GB +95$
- 4x USB3 (one powered
- SD card reader
- HDMI, DP
- GBit
- Wifi AC
- BT
- mixed headphone/mike jack
- 473$ (+16GB, +250GB M.2 = 669$)
Holy crap, that's exactly like the Intel barebones computer for sale here:
http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-nuc-boxnuc6i3syh-i3-6100u-2xddr4-2133-af-122185.htm
$379.99 CAD (no ram, no disk)
I wrote an email to their sales team to get some advice, but didn't get a response yet:
Hi,
I am Debian Developer looking for a new laptop. I am currently using a Thinkpad x120e which is coming near the end of its useful lifespan. I am especially frustrated by the lack of expandability of the RAM (8GB max, would prefer 16GB) and the slowness of the CPU (AMD E-350, I'm used to at least core2 Duo E6500).
I looked at the Lemur, but it's larger than what I need (14", I'm used to 12" netbooks) and i'm worried about traveling with it. I also don't need a new 500GB spinning hard drive: i can just swap in my existing SSD, although I am curious about trying out the M.2 drives. So I built a 877$ system with 16GB of ram and a 250GB M.2 HD. that seems a bit too expensive to me. I am also concerned about the durability of the hardware - i am used to the extraordinary durability of thinkpads, how do system76 machines compare?
I also loked at the meerkat, which is a quite interesting machine! I ended up building a 669$ with similar specs (16GB + 250GB M.2). With that box my concern is different: how stable is it? Consider that I am a software developer and routinely punish all parts of my hardware: disk, CPU, network, memory. See this post for an example of the torture I put machines through:
https://blog.codinghorror.com/is-your-computer-stable/
I also wonder if you have any policies regarding labour practices with your providers. One of my key concerns in buying new hardware is the concern of contributing to e-waste and exploitation of "slaves but without the name" in other parts of the world.
Finally, you strongly promote Ubuntu and fully support it in your products, and I can certainly appreciate that: it's the main reason why I am looking (again) at buying from System76. However, how is Debian or other operating systems supported? How actually free is the hardware? Are there binary blobs in the wifi drivers, BIOS and so on?
I also want to note that an old friend of mine bought a computer from you a few years ago and had a bad experience. I don't remember the details, but it's the reason why I stayed away all this time...
I'd be happy to be sold to your platform, but it's more expensive than just staying with my current practice of "get a refurb thinkpad and cram it full of ram" from some random vendor, so I'll need some convincing.
cheers,
A.
This tweet generated more responses, fortunately, but nothing concrete.
Update: I got an answer from their staff, on the website (email didn't
get through @debian.org
). It boils down to:
- the lemur "holds up pretty well" to travel conditions
- the lemur is better value because it's a laptop and has a better CPU
- all parts assembled in the US and workers are happy, but parts come from intel, nvidia and samsung and they have no control over those
- emphasis on recycling, they take back old machines for free as well
- open source drivers available (ppa, docs for custom stuff
- some staff use debian, should work fine
Still waiting for feedback on more precise specifications and if the meerkat could fit in the back of my screen. unfortunate that binary blobs are needed for wifi card.
Balthazar
https://balthazar.space/
Zareason
Didn't know about Zareason until this comment in response to this Purism rant...
NUCs
Intel NUCs are interesting. They are small boxes that you can fix to the back of LCD screens through the VGA mounts and newer generations are powerful enough for my needs.
I could build a machine similar to the Meerkat for 642.27$CAD at Ncix.com. This includes:
- Intel NUC BOXNUC6I3SYH I3-6100U 2xDDR4-2133 SODIMM Slots 2.5&M.2 PCIEx4 Slot Mini-DP HDMI 6XUSB SDXC: $379.99
- Crucial 16GB DDR4 2133 SODIMM PC4-17000 CL15 Dual Ranked 1.2V Unbuffered 260PIN Memory $136.31
- SanDisk X400 256GB M.2 2280 SATA 3 Solid State Drive (SSD) $119.98
Compared to the 875.20$CAD (after exchange rate, but before customs fees), that's a steal.
Significant research to be done on M.2 pricing, there are 500GB drives for 189$! http://www.ncix.com/detail/wd-blue-500b-internal-ssd-5d-136743.htm?promoid=2205
Wifi card is soldered on, but i won't be using that much anyways.
CPU comparison
I compared the various CPUs available for the NUC (i3-6100U, i5-6260U, i7-5557u) and the i3 comes out much better in terms of quality vs price. The i5 is only marginally better than the i3 but adds 110$ to the price. The i7 may be worth it, but adds 210$ to the price and brings it too far beyond my budget. Compared to my current CPU (E6500), the i3 is good enough anyways: it has 4 cores instead of 2, takes up much less power (15W vs 65W) and has an integrated GPU, even though it has a lower actual clock speed (2.3GHz vs 2.93GHz).
Fournisseurs
- minifree make pre-flashed computers with coreboot, but mostly older ones: x200 t400
- dantech - local friendly folks
- toplaptop - local + cheap source of thinkpads
- Encan Dépôt - same, across the street
- mike's computer shop - cheap canada seller
- canada computers - famous toronto computer shop?
- CIPC - another local shop!