System76 Pangolin Review: the 15" all rounder AMD Linux laptop

I prefer intel.

512KB of ram is the most you ever need

I would like to see MX Linux installed on this laptop.

At soon I headed the ram is soldered you lost me

8 GB of RAM is more than enough for my Mac mini. Linux is unoptimized and wastes most of its resources. Sorry i had to rub it in. I am joking ofcourse. :)

Sounds like you would want the 16 inch Framework laptop so you can be sure to center the touchpad, lol.

Yes a linux laptop with a numerical keypad!

I love the subtle rickroll😂

The Framework laptop has great linux support and has a fingerprint reader

"""My laptop only has 32mb of ram and I don't have any problems!!!11""" /s

I mostly like what I see from System76, but the lack of high DPI displays is super disappointing. 1080p is passable at 14", but at 15.6" it should be 1440p. I'd like to see this exact hardware, but in a 14" package with a 1600p display. Without a discrete GPU, a high refresh rate is just a nice to have, not really a decision maker, and anything over 120Hz is completely pointless.

Does this work with Thunderbolt docks? I have a Dell WD19TB.

I have the MeerKat(ubuntu) and the Darter Pro(PopOS) and they are great!

I thought the Ryzen 7 doesn't have virtualization?

Looks good besides the soldered ram thing. I don't understand why (besides planned obsolescence) companies refuse to add even a single sodimm slot for future upgrades. Annoying, especially from a company like System76 where you'd assume they're more for the user, but apparently not.

I'm very excited about the AMD laptop. I only wish it had 90 watt battery

The ports are atrocious. Needs at least 4 Type C ports with USB4. Not whatever this bs is!
It's 2023 not 2019!

There is 2 real problem with these reviews I would like to point you at
1) You are not anonymized. They take extra care for you. My (german) slimbook executive came preinstalled, but the keys were mapped to spanish. Horrible, unprofesional blunder

2) There is no daily use information. No matter which laptop I picked so far, the system was unstable out of the box. As in store stops loading after closing and opening the lid and sometimes the whole system outright crashes, which did not happen on other hardware/windows.

I am really looking for a linux laptop, and trying again and again, but no review I looked at so far even adressed the second issue

a 3:2 screen would be so good on one of these. 16:9 laptops are a tough sell for me these days.

wait the hinge is actually good on it?

I just looked at the thumbnail, saw the chonker bezel under the screen and I was out. 16:9 is a big fat no 👎

numblock.. i can't eat enough raquefour as i want to throw up

You should do a review of the framwork laptop if you have not yet.

isn't centering the track pad based on where the right arm is for right handed people. for myself if the track pad was centered then it would be extra annoying because i rest my palm there and it just enough off center that its easier to go from typing to moving the mouse cursor with out moving my palm too much and losing my point of reference with the keyboard.

Have you thought about revising Juno laptops?

Tip: When comparing laptop CPUs you should also mention the TDP of the CPU/GPU as the same CPU/GPU could run at completely different TDP, practicly capping the performance.
Tip2: would be nice to show 2 different laptops in paralel on some comparisons, for instance web cams and sound quality.

I am waiting for my bonobo ws with 4090 to be delivered from system76!

It always depends on what you're trying to do with the device. 8GBs of RAM for a laptop for "daily normal use" and on top of that runs Linux instead of Windows... it's gonna be fine. I think of 8GBs today as the lowest standard for people like my mom, or administrative office usage.

How many external displays can it support?

The power button IS a fingerprint reader. But the manufacturer provides no Linux drivers.

I hate when manufacturers do this. You can make the most advanced widget in the world, but if you crap out on the drivers, it's landfill stuffing. At the very least, just open source your drivers, and let the community clean up your mess for you.

Barrel charging no USB c charging? Thats ridiculous

LOL. Linux laptop with soldered RAM. NICE JOB, System 76

You guys use bytes? My computer runs using a carrier pigeon and it works fine!

Reading the spec sheet and pointing at the laptop is not a review.

PC good price is high 😮😮

Imagine buying this, and installing Windows 😂😂
I have cousins and friends who buy cheap linux laptops with celeron processor and then they ask me to install Windows 10 on that. So at least this System76 can run it hahaha

Keep in mind that there is no intel me or amd psp.

No, having a barrel charger is nice - in case you want to run an eGPU from the USB-C TB4 port.

My laptop only has 500 mb of ram and has been running perfectly fine

AMD gaming laptops is new

It's kind of stupid that System 76 don't have a distribution center in India & China. The two countries account for more than 30% population of the world and have a lot of computer enthusiasts.

Would you guys prefer a system76 or a tuxedo ?

Fuk soldered ram, SSD, and cpu

My laptop only has 500 MB of RAM and its been running fine!

Anyone else have a Pangolin with a stuttery, laggy, touchpad, registering false clicks?

The PC case and frame is Magnesium alloy not aluminun according to system 76.

Very informatve video thanks.... oh... my PC has 4 GB of Ram and it dont run fine. 😂

I only use registers for memory. Doing just fine.

For reviews of any kind on Linux when talking about iGPUs; always use gamescope -h 720 -f to compare the 780m and newer generations of iGPUs with the previous ones and advertise the proper way to game on Linux with a lower end iGPU vs proper full size GPUs. There are so many people especially doing the resting on Windows where they dont even notice the negative side of DX12 only allowing borderless-window so that FSR2 and XeSS are required to hit any good FPS numbers. Back in da day lads, with CRTs, we had exclusive fullscreen and flat screens had the issue of long resolution-hand-shaking times. My LG C1 is rather quick. I assume modern gaming monitors are fast too. So no need to complain about but many of the past's issues are still a common myth nowadays sadly.

The new pangolins now have a better cpu+igpu combo, but are 16 in and the display is 1080 60hz. I'd honestly prefer the one on this videos