this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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System76

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A community for the System76 company, a manufacturer of laptops, desktops, and server computers that are both affordable and powered by Linux.

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Aside from the lousy speakers and the occasional bounce keys, I have to say the Lemur Pro may be my favorite laptop I have owned (I used MacBook Pros for a long time).

I ended up switching to Arch with KDE, but hardware-wise it's a solid machine. And I appreciate the technical support I've received (minor issues). I love the battery life on this thing.

I also appreciate: easy to swap SSDs, easily replaced battery, a keyboard and track pad that work just fine, and again: tech support. I know some people who have issues with sleep on Lenovo laptops running Linux; this has absolutely never been an issue on the Lemur Pro. Works perfectly for me.

I'll probably run this thing for another three years.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lemp9 here; still going strong as well. Love it except for the speakers and touchpad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't have an issue with the touchpad. What is it you don't like?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm fine with the touch pad. But yes, the speakers are kinda awful.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

About moving to Arch, I have a Mira on order and I'm strongly considering not using Pop for very long after playing it in a VM for a week or so. I don't care for the “bubble gum” look and feel, and this will be my work machine so I'm looking elsewhere.

I don't think Arch would be good for a work machine, although I enjoy using Arch on my personal gear.

Was it something about Pop that made you switch?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Was it something about Pop that made you switch?

No, I just wanted something that was closer to the philosophy of FreeBSD. I consider FreeBSD the OS that god uses. 😄

I could just as easily have installed Arch with GNOME.

I really don't have issues with Pop_OS. It's fine. I just prefer KDE. And I wanted an OS that wasn't based on Ubuntu. (I know people who have worked at Canonical and just ... I have heard horror stories). I don't trust Canonical.

I think for a newbie to Linux there is nothing to complain about with Pop_OS. It worked just fine for me for about two years. I just wanted to move to Arch and it has been pretty much painless.

Gotta love the freedom of choice in the Linux world.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Love my lemur12 i7, looking forward to Virgo.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wired agrees.

I'm finding myself wishing I had gone that route instead of the Kudu.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I saw that article. And that's for the more recent Lemur Pro.

It isn't perfect (I have the Lemur Pro 9) but it works very well if you're not a gamer, you just want to write code, you want to run whatever Linux distro, you're not expecting a "boom box", etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same experience, love it. Got an i5 lemp9, only upgraded the ssd. I still get 10+ hours on the battery

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes. And you can find the battery a bit cheaper on ebay, but I dearly love the battery life I get off this thing.

I just hate the speakers. Meh .... not a big deal.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Mine has lousy speakers, awful click action on the touch pad, doesn't close up neatly, runs warm, doesn't have the greatest battery life. I installed Mint because Pop!_OS drives me up the wall too much.

The touch pad is the worst, as I fumble trying to find the exact spot to press for a click to be recognized, and try to operate it without making the pointer jump off the item I was trying to click on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Odd. I find this very odd. I have had none of the issues you mention.

Touch pad is fine, the machine does not run warm, but I can't comment on Pop_OS as I moved to Arch.

Have you reached out to S76? The few times I have, they have been very responsive.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

If your laptop isn't closing, you may want to check your battery. With laptop this thin, a spicy pillow will keep it from closing and will affect your keyboard and touchpad. I have a lemp10 and like it, but I've replaced the battery twice now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My only, slight apprehension before getting S76 laptops is that I'm based in Europe, and I'm not sure what sort of support I'll get if I needed one.

On the other hand, support for 'commercial' laptops is already pretty lousy where I live (apart form Macs I suppose, but I'll never buy a Mac), so maybe I should just buy it and not worry about support much.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I can't comment on that at all. I am in the US.

All I can say is that System 76 support for me has been very good. Never need to use a phone; just use their support web site and they have been on top of every (minor) issue I have had. And I mean minor: wifi card went south, needed a new battery, and I need to stop opening this thing in my living room: I've lost screws. Also, the left CTRL key cracked. They addressed all that silliness rather quickly.

I very very much appreciate their support of right-to-repair. I look forward to the day System76 releases their own laptop (the laptops they sell are essentially Clevo. I won't complain, tho, because this thing works very well)

I ended up switching to Arch with KDE. But I think out-of-the-box a System76 laptop running their customized GNOME is just fine.

I have not tried to run Linux on a lot of laptops, but it seems to me the most common complaint is suspend. I have never, ever had an issue with suspend on the Lemur Pro. I close the laptop, and it suspends. Every single time.

And I love the battery life.

My only complaint: the speakers are atrocious. But I don't much care as I use bluetooth or I Chromecast. Not a big deal.

I just think the company does a good job. Perfect? Nah, nobody is perfect. But I think they have a vision and I'm happy with what that vision is.