I'm typing this on my 1 year old Tuxedo InfinityBook (S 14 Gen6, not the Pro).
Now I'm definitely spoiled by the Lenovo X1 series, but I'm not happy.
The hardware is a rebrand from clevo-computer.com - some minor spare parts can be had from there.
The system is VERY prone to overheating, the fan is noisy. They claim the fan noise is "not annoying" which is only true in the short term. I have opened up the bottom shell and I believe the fan recirculates a bit of hot air back into the case. This really is a limiting factor for me, I'm considering an alternate cooling solution.
The case had a minor chip in it within the first ten minutes out of the box (I don't know how that happened, I think it just pinged off by itself!). The palm-rests are starting to show dark spots.
My barrel jack power connector is loose, I have to hold it in with a rubber band. (I still have the usb-c port)
All the rubber feet at the bottom fell off quite some time ago, superglued them back on.
The (super compact) PSU started to whine, that was replaced under warranty - but is stated to be a consumable item!
Out of the box they have their own OS, which is a somewhat modified Ubuntu. My main driver is Debian and almost everything worked right out of the box - sometimes I got back (usb-boot) to their distro to validate things (see: support).
The firmware is more than okay for me; I managed to cross-compile their "control centre" to allow me to change performance/fan characteristics on the fly. The uefi updates work fine (boot from a stick), but they are undocumented.
The support is ... rigid. The first response is to boot their own distro and kernel. This is fair for a mass market product I guess, but I somehow hoped that specific questions would find their way proper Linux Gurus (tm).
There is a very cute penguin instead of a windows logo on the keyboard :-)
Not having owned one personally, the questionable quality of the engineering and QC of Clevo-based laptops has what has kept me away from them. Reviews for them are almost always some shade of "this is mediocre" or "this would be nice if not for X, Y, and Z".
While they still have a ways to go, I'm more hopeful for Framework since they do their own engineering, and I'm interested to see what system76 does in the self-designed laptop they're reportedly working on.
I've owned 2. One for 4+ years the other is 3 months old. They've been fine for me and I move them around a lot. the only issue is junk getting stuck in the fan and replacement was fairly easy. The hinged chipped when it hit the floor once (the plastic surrounding the hinge part.) Spare parts are readily available. I like Mat screens and they tend to have them.
The AMD cpu model I'm using for work is really quite good on power and fast (Ryzen 7 5700u).
One more nit-pick: the screen is polarised the wrong way. You can't see anything when wearing polarised sunglasses (those are always oriented so they filter out the polarisation of water puddles).
One of the things I really considered is that if nobody gives these "independent" Linux-focussed vendors a chance, then Linux-on-the-desktop will forever remain a non-factory option and a second-class citizen in support manners.
That's not the way the market works. How about vendors focus on delivering a quality product, with good hardware and software, proper QA and support, and fair prices? Hell, I'm sure many Linux users would be willing to pay a premium if all the other aspects are there.
Linux will never be a mainstream option with these low effort products.
What evidence? I don't think there's a machine that delivers on all those aspects, and makes Linux a first-class citizen.
Dell and Lenovo generally do a pretty good job, and those machines sell well, but I think the quality is still below what, say, Apple can deliver. Judging by the push to get Linux to run on Apple hardware, I'd say Linux enthusiasts are not only willing to pay a premium for a quality product, but willing to invest time and effort getting it to run well in a hostile and closed ecosystem.
So I think there's a big market opportunity for someone to deliver Apple quality hardware, that integrates well with open source software. Framework is probably at the frontlines in this regard.
> Judging by the push to get Linux to run on Apple hardware
.
That's still a very small subset of a very small market. I highly doubt it would be even remotely viable to develop a product comparable to M1/M2 Macs if you're targeting the Linux market. Even if you can get decent margins the scale is just no there. At best you can get some rebadged Windows laptops like HP Dev One.
Framework is probably an exception but I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of those who bought it still use Windows
I have seen a lot of complaining sand saying that the Linux kit is too expensive. Even the stuff that is actually Linux kit (System76, maybe Tux). I'd be glad to be wrong, but I'd be surprised.
I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: the smartest thing Apple ever did was keeping you from running OSX on Windows computers. Nobody buys a commodity PC, slaps OSX on it, and expects it to work as well or better than Windows. Yet this is how many do Linux.
Agree. For my software products, Linux was always the OS where people complain the most and then expect to pay the least. Mac users, on the other hand, tend to be much more willing to pay for a good experience.
Now I'm definitely spoiled by the Lenovo X1 series, but I'm not happy.
The hardware is a rebrand from clevo-computer.com - some minor spare parts can be had from there.
The system is VERY prone to overheating, the fan is noisy. They claim the fan noise is "not annoying" which is only true in the short term. I have opened up the bottom shell and I believe the fan recirculates a bit of hot air back into the case. This really is a limiting factor for me, I'm considering an alternate cooling solution.
The case had a minor chip in it within the first ten minutes out of the box (I don't know how that happened, I think it just pinged off by itself!). The palm-rests are starting to show dark spots. My barrel jack power connector is loose, I have to hold it in with a rubber band. (I still have the usb-c port) All the rubber feet at the bottom fell off quite some time ago, superglued them back on. The (super compact) PSU started to whine, that was replaced under warranty - but is stated to be a consumable item!
Out of the box they have their own OS, which is a somewhat modified Ubuntu. My main driver is Debian and almost everything worked right out of the box - sometimes I got back (usb-boot) to their distro to validate things (see: support).
The firmware is more than okay for me; I managed to cross-compile their "control centre" to allow me to change performance/fan characteristics on the fly. The uefi updates work fine (boot from a stick), but they are undocumented.
The support is ... rigid. The first response is to boot their own distro and kernel. This is fair for a mass market product I guess, but I somehow hoped that specific questions would find their way proper Linux Gurus (tm).
There is a very cute penguin instead of a windows logo on the keyboard :-)