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 / Working outside like this isn't so easy on an OLED laptop with limited brightness. (credit: Maria Korneeva/Getty)

If I could have any type of display panel in my laptop, it would be Mini LED.

Sure, OLED is best at producing deep blacks and high contrast, but Mini LED is a powerful substitute. The potential for blooming still exists, but it's not a huge deal on a small laptop screen. Meanwhile, there's no burn-in risk, and I'd likely get better full-screen brightness when I want to take my laptop outside. Plus, the battery life of Mini LED screens is superior to that of OLED panels.

For the things I do most frequently on my laptop—working on Word documents and spreadsheets, reading, editing photos, and streaming video—the highest contrast ratio isn't imperative. I'd settle for second-best if it meant other gains.

Enlarge / US PIRG's "Chromebook Churn" report casts a harsh spotlight on flaws in Chromebook repairability and longevity. (credit: Scharon Harding)

Google is in the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) hot seat. This week, the nonprofit published its "Chromebook Churn" [ PDF ] report, pointing a finger at Google for enabling Chromebooks that “aren’t designed to last.” It highlighted Chromebook quirks, like seemingly pointless hardware tweaks across models that challenge parts-sourcing and automatic update expiration (AUE) dates, as examples of the repair-averse Chromebook culture Google has enabled. For target Chromebook markets, like schools, that opt for Chromebooks to save money, long-term costs may outweigh the immediate savings, PIRG’s analysis concluded.

The report focuses on Chromebooks in schools and is based on an unspecified number (we've reached out to PIRG for a firm head count) of interviews with "school IT directors, technicians, journalists, repair shop owners, parts suppliers, and teachers," as well as a "five-question survey with 13 school IT administrators and technicians." The sample size could be much larger, but the details in the report are also based on undisputed characteristics of ChromeOS devices. And while PIRG's paper emphasizes the impact this all has for schools, especially considering the influx of Chromebooks purchased for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic's height and beyond, it's food for thought for any current or prospective Chromebook owners or people who like to vote with their dollar.

Sneaky design changes hinder repairs

The report, written by PIRG's Designed to Last Campaign director, Lucas Rockett Gutterman, argues that because Chromebooks are largely web-based and don't vary in power as much as other laptops, it should be "easy" to offer modular designs that allow for parts to be shared across Chromebook models. Indeed, Framework's modular Chromebook proves this is possible. But in its "Failing the Fix" [ PDF ] report from February, PIRG reported that Chromebooks have an average French repairability index score of 5.8 out of 10, compared to 6.9 for all non-Chromebook laptops.

Enlarge (credit: Getty )

If you’re looking for a new thin-and-light Windows PC this year, the latest and greatest processors may not be all that necessary. Unlike with previous mobile chip releases, the 2023 options for ultralights from Intel and AMD are mostly similar to their predecessors. In the case of premium ultralights and 2-in-1s relying on integrated graphics, the gains are small enough that budget shoppers should consider a last-gen model, assuming all other things are equal, and save hundreds with a negligible loss in performance.

When Intel announced its 13th Gen mobile lineup in January, we called the chip “mildly improved .” The new chips are pretty boring compared to the 12th Gen release, when Intel brought its hybrid Alder Lake architectures to laptops and introduced the P-series. 13th Gen brings such minimal changes, as our testing will illustrate, that ultralights featuring 12th Gen systems are still worth serious consideration comparatively. And a specs comparison suggests a similar story with AMD Ryzen 6000 versus 7000.

As Ars' Andrew Cunningham wrote upon Intel's announcement of 13th Gen mobile, the lineup is "mostly identical to the 12th Generation CPUs they're replacing." 13th Gen brings notable updates to HX chips, including more E-cores than before and, with some of the chips, support for speedier RAM. But when it comes to the chips you'll likely find employed in thin-and-light laptops—the P and U series—there's far less of that "new and shiny" feel.

Enlarge / Logitech really wants you to know that its Brio 500 webcam works with Meet, Teams, Zoom, and Chromebooks. (credit: Logitech/Amazon )

Logitech made a peculiar announcement in January.

It proudly declared that its MX Master 3S wireless mouse, along with some of its other peripherals, had been certified to work with Intel Evo laptops. (Evo laptops are Intel-certified premium ultralights meeting certain criteria , like providing at least eight hours of battery life with a QHD display.) Imagine my shock when I realized I had been using that very mouse with a Dell XPS 13 (an Evo laptop) for almost eight months without Intel's blessing.

Of course, even before the mouse gained Intel's stamp of approval, I had enjoyed hours of problem-free use. The same can be said of every functioning USB webcam I'm ever plugged into a computer. But that hasn't stopped countless peripheral makers from touting that their devices have been certified for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

Enlarge / Dell's 2023 XPS desktop. (credit: Dell)

Dell has begun refreshing its popular XPS lineup of desktops and laptops with the latest mobile processors and GPUs. These updates mostly focus on chip upgrades, suggesting only mild improvements to the series that shouldn't make owners of last year's models very envious.

Dell's XPS 17 and 15 laptops will be available on March 2, a Dell rep confirmed to Ars Technica. Dell will offer each with up to an Intel Core i9-13900H but also support i5 and i7 options.

Intel's 13th Gen H-series mobile chips don't bring massive upgrades over their 12th Gen counterparts. The i9-13900H has six Performance cores, eight Efficient cores, 20 threads, and 24MB of cache. It supports clock speeds of 1.9-5.4 GHz. The i9-12900H we tested in last year's Dell XPS 15 has similar specs but clock speeds of 1.8-5 GHz.

Enlarge / A 12.7-inch screen unrolls from under the keyboard to grow to 15.3 inches. (credit: Lenovo/YouTube )

Lenovo's laptop with a screen that can roll from 12.7 inches to 15.3 inches is just a proof of concept, but it looks like a pretty serious one. The company first teased the versatile OLED laptop online in October but showed it off in person before the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona this week. Marked by an OLED screen usable in two different sizes and resolutions, it's described as subtle looking and decently polished.

As a proof of concept, Lenovo may never release a rollable screen PC like this. However, the company told Windows Central that it prefers developing "concepts that we have a hope of selling." Plus, Lenovo is no stranger to releasing laptops with alternative screen designs. Its 2020 ThinkPad X1 Fold was the first to attempt the foldable PC and will be succeeded by the 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold this year. This year should also see the release of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i , which connects two 13.3-inch OLED screens by a hinge.

The Yoga Book 9i is an actual product set to come out this year. (credit: Scharon Harding)

In its current form, the rollable-screen laptop prototype "looks and feels like a regular laptop," Android Authority reported. The publication also backed Lenovo and called the prototype "polished" enough to show off in person. It even thought the system looked less clunky than Asus' ZenBook 17 Fold , a 12th-gen Intel-based foldable PC currently going for $3,500 .

Enlarge / A concept laptop with Samsung Display's new 16-inch OLED touchscreen. (credit: Samsung Display )

As plenty of laptop makers proved at CES earlier this month, there will be plenty of OLED laptops to choose from in 2023. The technology's high-contrast, rich image quality has tempted creatives and power users alike. A new year means new ways to entice shoppers, though, so one approach Samsung plans to take with its next series of Galaxy Books concerns the screen's physical build.

On Tuesday, Samsung Display, which makes display panels for various companies, including parent company Samsung Electronics, announced that it started mass production of a new touch-capable OLED laptop screen. Samsung Display is calling it the first On Cell Touch AMOLED (OCTA) screen for laptops. Per a Google translation of the South Korea-based company's announcement, these screens use embedded touch sensors, whereas other OLED laptop panels use adhesive to apply a film screen with touch sensors.

According to Samsung Display, skipping the film results in a panel that's 6 to 11 percent thinner and lighter in weight. Because it uses fewer materials, Samsung Display also claims the technology is more environmentally friendly than the preceding design.

Enlarge / HDMI cable. (credit: Getty )

If you're using a USB-C port to connect a computer to a display, you're most likely using DisplayPort Alternate Mode (Alt Mode). Some less-intensive uses might opt for DisplayLink to connect to a dock or adapter and eventually output to a screen. But due to non-existent adoption, we can pretty much guarantee you're not using HDMI Alt Mode. And according to the HDMI Licensing Administrator (HDMI LA), you never will because the feature is dead.

NotebookCheck spoke with HDMI LA, which is responsible for licensing the HDMI Forum's HDMI specs, at CES 2023 in Las Vegas last week and learned that there won't be any certified adapters supporting HDMI Alt Mode over USB.

"According to HDMI LA, there are simply no more uses for Alt Mode," the publication reported on Wednesday. "One of the reasons is that companies like Apple have begun putting HDMI ports on their products again. HDMI Alt Mode also no longer offers any advantages. As a result, the specification will not receive any further updates."