Enlarge / The Pangolin has a somewhat plain, practical all-black look. It gets a little wilder when you start plugging things into its gracious array of ports. (credit: Kevin Purdy)

After using System76’s Pangolin as my primary work laptop for nearly six weeks, I can tell you this: If you need a 15-inch Linux-focused laptop, this is the one to get.

The Pangolin is a solid device, designed more for dependability and convenience than ultrabook portability or cutting-edge parts, but it still has reasonably modern hardware (especially its 144 Hz screen). The Pangolin and its native Pop!_OS are a showcase for how remarkably normal Linux can feel as a daily driver in 2023. Normal, and with lots of ports.

It’s hard to do a nuts-and-bolts comparison of the Pangolin to most other laptops, due largely to benchmark comparability between Linux and most laptops running Windows or macOS. But it’s also not entirely necessary. There’s only one real version of the Pangolin available—one processor, one amount of RAM, then variable, user-expandable storage.

Enlarge (credit: System76 )

Prebuilt mechanical keyboards often neglect Linux support. Users frequently report success in getting a mechanical keyboard's basic functions to work, but many of these peripherals don't accommodate software for controlling advanced features, like macros, with Linux. Since last year, System76's Launch keyboard has been trying to address that problem. But number crunchers will be much more interested in the new Launch Heavy.

Released this week, the Launch Heavy is a numpad-equipped version of the 84-key Launch. As detailed in our System76 Launch review , the keyboard is one of the most customizable Linux-focused mechanical keyboards one can find. However, an absent numpad made the Launch an immediate 'no' for many. Now, the newly released Launch Heavy is addressing many, but not all, of its smaller counterpart's shortcomings.

The full-size Launch Heavy makes up for some of the Launch's (pictured) shortcomings. (credit: Scharon Harding)

As you can see, the Launch Heavy's 105 keys aren't a traditional layout. System76 had its way with the keys to the left of the numpad, getting rid of some completely. But compared to the Launch, the Launch Heavy adds keys above the numpad for media control. Unfortunately, there are still no buttons for controlling the volume out of the box.

Enlarge / System76 Lemur Pro. (credit: System76 )

System76 has refreshed its thin-and-light take on Linux laptops, the company announced Tuesday, as spotted by Tom's Hardware . The revamped 14-inch Lemur Pro , like its predecessors, prioritizes a longer battery life, with the latest model claiming up to 14 hours of use.

Backlit keyboard. (credit: System76 )

System76 didn't detail how it tested the laptop's battery life (we've asked and will update this article if we hear back). But the Lemur Pro has a proven reputation for solid battery life. In our Lemur Pro review in 2020, when the machine was offered with an Intel Core i7-10510U, it lasted at least 1 hour longer than any other laptop we reviewed around that time when playing BBC's " 10 Hours of Relaxing Oceanscapes" at 1080p resolution and max brightness.

The PC has a 180-degree hinge. (credit: System76 )

It was clear that System76 had fine-tuned the machine more for longevity between charges than productivity performance.

Enlarge (credit: System76)

HP released its Dev One Linux laptop today. Aimed at coders, the 14-inch clamshell comes at a lower price than previous Ubuntu-based HP clamshells.

Starting at $1,099, the Dev One begins to keep costs low by opting for an AMD, rather than Intel, CPU and skipping the discrete graphics card. HP's last Linux laptops, part of its ZBook workstation lineup, went well over $2,000 and offered up to Intel Xeon processors and Nvidia RTX GPUs.

The 14-incher weighs 3.24 lbs. (credit: System76)

Linux roots

The previous workstations used Ubuntu 20.04 preloaded with software packages aimed at data scientists . However, the Dev One runs Pop!_OS, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution from System76.

System76 unveiled its first keyboard, which also happens to be the first open-source configurable mechanical keyboard. It is easy to swap out the keys, choose the type of switches (Royals which offer a muted clack, and Jades which produce an addictive click sound), can fully remap the key layout in software, it has RGB lighting, as well as it acts as a high-speed USB hub to plug additional USB devices into it.

That said it is fairly pricey at $285 and may lack the additional keys that gamers like to have (media control keys with volume, macro program keys, and number pad), and in my case I like the actual keycap lettering to be lit through the keys (that allows the RGB lighting in effect to change the "colour of the key" and can be quickly changed per game without mechanically removing the keycaps. It is possible though that in future, transparent keycaps could be available that will anyway achieve this, so it may not be a big drawback.

It is well-built though and has certainly packed some requested features in, and the split spacebar makes better use of space. Being open source hardware there is also a good chance of 3rd party support for keycaps and other features. My Redragon Yama mechanical keyboard for example has limited Linux support for the customisation side and I had to use Windows to program it.

See https://news.itsfoss.com/system76-launch-mechanical-keyboard/

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