This is a list of reviews of System76 laptop and desktop computers by various authors for five years from 2015 to 2019. This continues the 1st part we published last February. We hope this helps you choose the best branded GNU/Linux workstation for your daily life. Enjoy!
2015
Meerkat by Betanews
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This review is written by Brian Fagioli. Meerkat is not a laptop but a mini PC, that is, just a small desktop computer without monitor, mouse and keyboard. It is an i3 8GB 32GB-SSD with Intel HD 55000 Graphics and Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" preinstalled. He stated that " Out of the box, all of the hardware works -- including Wi-Fi -- making it a superb Linux experience."
*) Note that the name meerkat coincidentally was the same as Ubuntu 10.10 codename "Maverick Meerkat".
Oryx Pro by Beta News
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This review is also written by Brian. Oryx Pro is a gaming model of System76 laptops. It is an i7 32GB 256GB-SSD with NVIDIA 980M and preinstalled with Ubuntu 15.10 "Wily Werewolf". The author stated the battery life is about 2 hours. He concluded "if you crave raw power and beautiful design -- portability be damned -- this is the Linux laptop for you. Very much recommended."
2016
Lemur by Wired
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This review is written by Scott Gilbertson. Lemur is a portable workstation model (low-end) of System76 laptops (however, it is still very configurable). It was an i7 8GB 120GB-SSD with Intel 520 Graphics. The author stated that the battery life was almost 5 hours. He concluded "Despite the dismal battery life, the Lemur is a solid laptop, [...] it's plenty powerful enough for the average Linux user."
This review is also written by Scott Gilbertson (he wrote for both Wired and Ars Technica, see above). Oryx Pro is the powerful model of System76 laptops. It was an i7 32GB-RAM 256GB-SSD with NVIDIA GTX 1060 GPU preinstalled with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus". The author did not state clearly about battery life in general, but specifically stated "about 1.5 hours" when running a video editor.vHe concluded that "Excellent hardware support for Linux" but "It's big and it's heavy".
Oryx Pro
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This review is written by Swapnil Bhartiya. It was an i7 8GB (he didn't state the SSD capacity) with NVIDIA 970M. He stated it was preinstalled with Ubuntu but unfortunately the photos were already lost. He concluded "This is a perfect laptop for those who want a powerhouse computer []...at home, office or in a small businesses without having to deal with a bulky and messy desktop.[] Oryx Pro comes with Ubuntu, [...] If you are looking for a decent laptop that has desktop grade power then Oryx Pro is a great contender. "
2017
Galago Pro by Ars Technica
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This review is written by Scott Gilbertson again. Galago Pro is a lightweight powerful model of System76 laptops with similarity to MacBook Pro. It was an i7 8GB 250GB-SSD with Intel HD Graphics 620 preinstalled with 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus". He stated the battery life was about 3.5 hours. He concluded "Trouble-free Linux on good, lightweight hardware" but "Battery life could be better, much better".
Galago Pro by TechRadar
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This article is written by Chris Thornett. The same Galago Pro here was an i7 8GB 250GB-SSD with Intel HD Graphics 620 preinstalled with Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus". He confirmed the battery life was about 3:58 hours. He concluded "A high-end laptop that offers a stylish all-aluminium design, lots of processing power [...] Battery life is disappointing".
Galago Pro by CIO
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This article is written by Swapnil too. The same Galago Pro here was an i7 8GB 250GB-SSD (NVMe) with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus". The author once again didn't specify any battery life. He concluded "Galago Pro is a great option for a wide range of users [...] also a great choice for IT shops that offer Linux laptops to their developers".
This article is written by Brian Fagioli. The same Galago pro here was an i7 8GB 250GB-SSD (NVMe) with Intel HD Graphics 620 but the author didn't state clearly which version of Ubuntu preinstalled in it. He stated the battery life was 5 hours "between charges". He concluded "Ultimately, the System76 Galago Pro is an excellent portable computer that Ubuntu Linux users will love" but "this is not a gaming machine" and "truly is the MacBook Pro alternative that the Linux community has been waiting for."
2018
Oryx Pro by Memin
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This review is Part 1 written by Memin.tk (it is still incomplete, with no Part 2 available until today). In this part, he reviewed about the physical aspects of the laptop. It was an i7 32GB 500GB-SSD (NVMe) with Pop!_Os 18.04 LTS. The author provided several photos comparing Oryx Pro with MacBook Pro and Dell Latitute physically. He did not state about the battery life, but initially conclude "It’s a supreme computer even by only its hardware and probably one of the best choice if you are looking for a GNU/Linux laptop.".
Oryx Pro by Linux Journal
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This review is written by Robert J. Hansen. Oryx Pro is the powerful, high-end model of System76 laptops (with dimensions very similar to MacBook Pro, that's why many reviewers often compare Oryx to that Apple model). It was an i7 32GB 500GB-SSD with dual-gpu NVIDIA GTX 1070 and Intel HD Graphics preinstalled with Pop!_Os 18.04 LTS. He stated the batter life lasted for about 3.5 hours. He concluded "If you've got the money, this is the best thing I've found for dedicated Linux laptops."
Galago Pro by Josh Tronic
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This review is written by Josh Sherman. Galago Pro is a lightweight model of System76 laptops (and is comparable to Apple MacBook Air). The author did not state the specifications of the laptop except the memory being 32GB, but he did state the battery life 5-6 hours. He concluded "So yeah, the System76 Galago Pro 14” model has been a great machine thus far. It looks sharp, runs quick and I can feel like I’ve done my part in helping to perpetuate Linux on the desktop by supporting a company that is putting Linux first."
Galago Pro by Linux Attorney
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This article is written by vforberger. The Galago Pro here was an i5 8GB 500GB-SSD 1TB-SSHD with Intel UHD Graphics 620 preinstalled with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" but tweaked internally to be Xubuntu (Xfce desktop) instead (the first and only review of such in this list). The author stated the battery life lasted for about 4 hours. He concluded "The Galago Pro is getting better and better the more I use it. After a couple of months now, my fingers are moving along the keyboard and the track-pad just like they used to with my MacBook Pro. [...] And, Xubuntu 18.04 on this device has been stellar."
Wild Dog Pro (PC) by Home Tech Hacker
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This article is written by HomeTechHacker. Wild Dog Pro is a desktop PC of System76 and not a laptop. It was an i7 24GB 250-SSD 2TB-HDD with Intel UHD Graphics 630. He concluded "The computer is blazing fast. I’ve had no lag in doing anything, and so I am extremely happy. [...] If you’re looking for a Linux laptop, desktop or server, I highly recommend you give System76 a try."
Serval WS by Adventures in Open Source
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This article is written by Tarus. The author is a computer training teacher. Serval WS is a large, high-end performance model of System76 laptops. It was an Intel Core i9 64GB (SSD capacity unspecified) with NVIDIA 1080 preinstalled with Ubuntu (with version number unspecified, too) but he did say it was post-Unity one. The experience and the customer service was not good and he concluded "When I found myself in the market for a beefy laptop, I immediately ordered the Serval WS from System76. I had always had a great experience dealing with them, but times have changed. It has been sent back."
2019
Thelio (PC)
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This review is written by Leonora Tindall. Thelio is a desktop PC of System76 and not a laptop. No detailed information about the specifications, but the author did state it was an AMD (model unclear) with Radeon RX580 16GB SSD (capacity unclear) preinstalled with Pop!_OS (version unclear). The author concluded "Thelio, System76’s new “open hardware” desktop, is a small, beautiful, and powerful desktop computer that hits every high point anyone could have expected, faltering only in the inherent limitations of its small size."
Darter Pro by OpenSource.com
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This review is written by Don Watkins, a well-known author of Red Hat's OpenSource.com news blog. Darter Pro is a lightweight model of System76 laptops which weighs 3.6 pounds (1.6 kg) and the author compared it with MacBook Pro. Darter Pro here was an i7 16GB 250GB-SSD with Intel HD Graphics. He benchmarked the performance and stated that it was "extremely well and outperformed the [Dell] XPS 13". He didn't state clearly about battery life but did say in the comments that " in my experience has been as advertised" of which System76 claimed by 10 hours. He concluded "If you are looking for a light laptop that's powerful enough to handle the challenges of your day-to-day operations, and you want it to come pre-installed with Linux, I recommend you consider the Darter Pro."
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You've reached the end of this big list 2015-2019. Look forward for the next collection lists here at
Ubuntu Buzz. We hope this big list will help everybody choose the best laptop preinstalled with
Free Libre Open Source Software (FOSS). Happy reading!
