Linux Computer Manufacturer Moving to U.S

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rgMekanic

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Manufacturer of Linux based PCs, System76, has announced that it will be moving its manufacturing from China to the United States according to a report from OpenSource.com . OpenSource interviewed the company's marketing director, Louisa Bisio about the move to the U.S. Carl Richell, founder and CEO of System76 said on Twitter that they anticipate shipping products from the new factory by the end of the year.

Great news in my opinion, and fantastic for the new jobs that are coming thanks to the move. Browsing the systems they have on their website, the lineup seems pretty nice, albeit a little expensive to me. Thanks to cageymaru for the story.

Creating a computer that is open source from the physical design to the OS is the next step in our mission to empower our customers and the community. We believe that by leading with open source design, the rest of the industry will have to follow. The open source model leads to improved quality and greater experimentation through peer review and expert analysis. It also guarantees users' freedom to own the product they've purchased, down to the design and how it was manufactured.
 
Curious as well, has anyone tried their flavor of Linux before? Curious to see what an OEMs idea of an OS would be
 
Looks like she has my kind of sense of humor too.



"Do you think when Vin Diesel gets asked for his VIN number he gets confused and writes his age?" -Louisa Bisio
 
rgMekanic said:
Curious as well, has anyone tried their flavor of Linux before? Curious to see what an OEMs idea of an OS would be
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Despite their claims that it isn't just another Ubuntu distro.... it really is just another ubuntu distro. lol

http://pop.system76.com/docs/difference-between-pop-ubuntu/ My favorite part is where they claim to be using custom shortcuts yet I swear to my eye their list is just default Gnome. (but perhaps they did change a few to better fit their laptop layouts that I am not noticing)

If you really want a distro with a second layer of curation after Ubuntus run mint. :)

I'm sure their distro is just fine and if I bought a S76 machine I would leave it on if it was preinstalled. I can't see myself ever installing it over Ubuntu-Gnome if I wanted Ubuntu on a non S76 machine. It isn't hard to add themes you like and head over to https://fonts.google.com/ and tweak out your system with pretty system fonts.
 
I think that's great news! They've been saying they want to actually design and create their own laptops vs selling customized Clevos. I'm glad to see that moving forward!
The fact they're planning to open source their designs is the second big story here as well. Could be big!
 
panhead said:
System76, has announced that it will be moving its assembly from China to the United States

I am almost positive every single part in their computer is made in China.
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Notice it states assembly. In other words, just putting the parts together, much like the Ford Mustang where 90% of it's parts were made over seas and only assembled here in the States, that has changed BTW, a good bit has been moved back to the US for the Mustang, just using it as an example as they still pushed the "Made in USA" mantra back then when it was more of an import than a Toyota.

"Current products are produced from a global supply chain with much of the manufacturing concentrated in China. Final assembly, OS imaging, and QC testing are in Colorado and California."

However it does look like they plan on making their own chassis etc in house at some point.
 
Looking at the 15" model, it doesn't seem terribly expensive compared to other offerings I'm looking at. i7 with 16GB RAM, 512GB NVME SSD, 15" 1080P screen for $1436. A comparable Dell Latitude (8th gen processor instead of S76's 7th Gen) is pricing out at $1789. I don't like the way the ports on the side stick out from the chassis, maybe if they do get to design their own casings, they can remedy that situation. The 14", 13" and WS laptops don't have the ports sticking out either.
 
I have to admit that I'm a little surprised at the price points in regards to the stories I've heard over the years at how much cheaper a linux laptop would be compared to MS/Apple. It almost seems like they're trying to use the Linux name as bait to lure people into their own branding model. Nice looking laptops and the various tier specs don't look bad but not enough to get me to try one. It seems like someone with average knowledge could just buy a more affordable, comparable, laptop and install Linux themselves for cheaper but I do get you're buying an OEM along with warranty, support, etc.
 
I considered a System76 laptop before I bought a Lonovo but they were just too expensive.
I'm not a bit interested in Microsoft, windows anything but I wanted one that was Linux friendly.
 
lostin3d said:
I have to admit that I'm a little surprised at the price points in regards to the stories I've heard over the years at how much cheaper a linux laptop would be compared to MS/Apple. It almost seems like they're trying to use the Linux name as bait to lure people into their own branding model. Nice looking laptops and the various tier specs don't look bad but not enough to get me to try one. It seems like someone with average knowledge could just buy a more affordable, comparable, laptop and install Linux themselves for cheaper but I do get you're buying an OEM along with warranty, support, etc.
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The "Windows Tax" for large OEM systems is rather exaggerated. Sure, for small OEMs and DIY systems, you have to pay ~$100 on top of the hardware costs for the Windows license, but companies that are moving millions of units a year pay a far, far, lower rate. When dealing with $1000+ machines, that ends up being a very small percentage of the total cost.

However, what might we say about the markup? For instance, HP sells some customizable Probooks that give the option to have the system shipped with FreeDOS instead of Windows. That option takes $223 or $226 off the cost of the laptop. Here's one for example: https://store.hp.com/us/en/Configur...0151&urlLangId=&catEntryId=1620651&quantity=1
 
For those who are unaware, System76 is one of the best (and only Linux focused; installing and shipping with Linux) OEMs for notebooks, but like the vast majority of companies not large enough to produce their own hardware like the Dells and HPs (which are often made in Chian as well), they used whitebox and custom-friendly Clevo-made ODM chassis. Clevo is the base for a wide variety of other branded notebooks, notably Sager, and they make reasonably powerful - if often plastic-y and clunky , though less so in recent years - laptops. System76 has been talking about getting away from having Clevo-based designs, with their Galago Pro being the first metal chassis notebook and not based on a standard Clevo platform, if I recall. However, I am very pleased they're moving forward and planning to do it right, not just having their own designs manufactured but having them fabricated and assembled here in the US, while open-sourcing them! To

I really look forward to seeing what kinds of laptops they offer and hope they offer a wide lineup o (preferably luxury laptops. After all, the price premium for a smaller company with US fabrication means that its pointless to compete on the budget side and not worth losing sales because you won't commit to the high end features your buyers are most likely to appreciate Even more important is that serviceability being built in means they may be a rare laptop that is willing to do away with soldered components when alternatives exist and build the whole design with accessibility and upgrades in mind. Definitely sounds like it could be promising!
 
Xaeos said:
For those who are unaware, System76 is one of the best (and only Linux focused; installing and shipping with Linux) OEMs for notebooks, but like the vast majority of companies not large enough to produce their own hardware like the Dells and HPs (which are often made in Chian as well), they used whitebox and custom-friendly Clevo-made ODM chassis. Clevo is the base for a wide variety of other branded notebooks, notably Sager, and they make reasonably powerful - if often plastic-y and clunky , though less so in recent years - laptops. System76 has been talking about getting away from having Clevo-based designs, with their Galago Pro being the first metal chassis notebook and not based on a standard Clevo platform, if I recall. However, I am very pleased they're moving forward and planning to do it right, not just having their own designs manufactured but having them fabricated and assembled here in the US, while open-sourcing them! To

I really look forward to seeing what kinds of laptops they offer and hope they offer a wide lineup o (preferably luxury laptops. After all, the price premium for a smaller company with US fabrication means that its pointless to compete on the budget side and not worth losing sales because you won't commit to the high end features your buyers are most likely to appreciate Even more important is that serviceability being built in means they may be a rare laptop that is willing to do away with soldered components when alternatives exist and build the whole design with accessibility and upgrades in mind. Definitely sounds like it could be promising!
Click to expand...
No sarcasm here, thanks for the background on them!
 
lostin3d said:
No sarcasm here, thanks for the background on them!
Click to expand...

Happy to help! Oh rereading I could have selected a few words better - they're not the only commercial Linux laptop companies, but of all the modern-generation Clevo rebrandings, they're the only one that focus on Linux.
 
Xaeos said:
Happy to help! Oh rereading I could have selected a few words better - they're not the only commercial Linux laptop companies, but of all the modern-generation Clevo rebrandings, they're the only one that focus on Linux.
Click to expand...
ALL good. My 1st(and last) laptop from MSI was a GT80 Titan(980m SLI) that my family bought as a graduation gift after I went back to school. It was Clevo based too. I keep an eye on Linux. I could easily build/convert to it, but I'd like someday to try a store bought OEM just for the experience. You know, support the new(old) comer to the table.
 
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