On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 1:22 PM, Mark Phillips <[email protected]> wrote:
> Jason, > > Not to hijack your thread, but how do you like your Bonobo Extreme? I am > thinking of getting new System 76, and I am deciding between the Gazelle > Pro or maybe the Bonobo Extreme. However, the Bononbo Extreme looks like a > beast, and may not be that portable. Is this your first System 76, or have > you used them in the past? I have been happy with lots of Dell laptops and > servers, but the new XPS 15 is a nice system, but has a real heat problem, > and I don't need another space heater in the house. > > Thanks! > > Mark > > > On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 1:04 PM, John Jason Jordan <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > I can't believe that this all worked. > > > Hi Mark: I bought my wife a netbook from System76 about five years ago. The price was OK, hardware build quality is what i expected for the price and form factor, and it's handled several Ubuntu dist-upgrades. The support has been very good (they spent a bunch of time helping me with a wireless problem that we eventually diagnosed as a flaky, dying DSL modem, god bless 'em). Check this thread for background on the Bonobo Extreme: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/16se83/anyone_have_any_reviewsexperience_with_the/ I've owned 2 Clevo machines (from the days when Sager resold them without an OS, which no longer seems to be an option they offer), both in the class of the Clevo repackaged as Bonobo Extreme (e.g. mobile workstation/desktop-replacement, 17" screen behemoths). They're rock-solid, and high performance - one of mine is still chugging away after 12 years, the other is 7 yrs old and never had any trouble, i've used both primarily for software development. Both have been easily user-upgradeable (ram & disk). Although i've been mostly statisfied with them, I have a few complaints: 1) At > 6 lbs (*without* the heavy power brick) they're really not very portable. 2) The batteries just don't last. I spent $100 on spare batteries, and they wore down in a couple of years. The machines are tethered to AC, reducing their portability further. 3) The fans keep the box cool, at the expense of sounding like a hovercraft preparing for takeoff. The noise hasn't gotten worse, but it's gottten subjectively more annoying over the years (I'm spoiled by the MacBookPros my employer provides in that regard). I'm in the market for a nice 15" Linux-friendly laptop in the 5 lb range. I found a few reviews of the System76 Gazelle Pro, they were lukewarm/critical. I really like the specs and price of the ThinkPad t540p, but people have had UEFI problems with bricking the motherboard that, while avoidable, have me a little gun-shy. In comparison-shopping the Linux laptop VARs, it looks like the premium for a pre-loaded, vendor-supported machine is in the hundreds of dollars. Bare metal whitebox machines seem harder to come by than ever. Not sure what i'll do, except wait a bit. HTH, Joe _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
