System 76 Darter Pro with Coreboot review- My Opinion
by murphcid from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5771T)
I have after a long time wanting one, finally purchased a System 76 Darter Pro with the Coreboot function. I scrimped and saved to get this laptop and when it arrived I was thrilled. So after having it for a few months what do I think?
This is the first and last System 76 system I will purchase.
So why do I say this, well, let us go through the pro's and con's of this laptop:
PRO:
Absolutely wonderful keyboard. One of the best I have ever used on a laptop. It has excellent key travel, it is comfortable, and just works well.
Very nice screen, nice, bright, and clear. No complaints at all.
Upgradeability: A mixed bag. The first thing I did when I got this laptop was install 32 gb of ram, and a Samsung 500gb NVMe drive. I LOVE that you can upgrade both the ram and the drive. See more below on the downside.
It only has the i5, but it is fast! Really fast. Boots really quickly which is great.
Build quality is excellent, no complaints at all. Not too heavy despite the really solid build quality.
PORTS! YES! Lots of ports! This is a massive thumbs up! A real Ethernet port! The ports are one of the reasons I purchased this laptop. Now there are some negatives, so see below:
Packaging: Amazing, how all laptops should be packaged.
Headphone AND microphone jack: This is great, and I love it. All laptops should have this.
CONS:
Upgrading anything is a PITA! You have to take the keyboard off the laptop to get to three screws to remove the back! Unacceptable, especially a fumble fingered klutz like me. In this day, this is completely unacceptable.
USB issues: If I install a USB drive in a USB A drive it works, but if I eject it, then later re-insert it, the laptop refuses to see the drive and I have to insert it in another USB port! Not acceptable. This behavior was under both POP OS and Linux Mint. It is a common issue under both on this laptop. This USB issue might be Clevo related, or System 76 I do not know, but it is annoying as all get out.
POP O/S: Not my cup of tea, my wife tried to use it and gave up in frustration. The Gnome desktop and its hiding everything is just too different (Admitted that this is a personal issue). I know, I know you can install other DE's, but out of the box Pop OS is unusable for newbies from Windows.
Installing different versions of Linux: One phrase: Vendor lock in. When I first installed Mint 19.3, I had no keyboard lights, and NO WIFI! None. I had to install the System 76 PPA to get WiFi and keyboard lights. This is unacceptable. Later with Mint 20, I was able to get WiFi working, but still no keyboard lights. I never had this issue with my HP Spectre and Envy laptops, so I cannot understand it here. I spent hours attempting to get the WiFi working but apparently coreboot or something else decided that unless I was using POP OS or their PPAs, I did not deserve to have WiFi.
Battery Life: Poor. I Installed TLP, thinking I would get more battery life, and with brightness at 26%, and keyboard light at minimum, I get between 3-5 hours MAX. Turning off Bluetooth (which I have to do each time I reboot the laptop) garnered me an extra 30 -60 minutes. And this is just surfing the net, some minimal typing, and the occasional video on YouTube. Maybe if I used System 76 Pop OS I might get more, but I am a Mint Linux user. Again Vendor lock-in is what it appears to me.
Tech Support: Meh. Got told to use Pop OS.
So in conclusion, I bought it, I have used it, and while the 15.6 size is ok, I want a smaller 13.3/14" laptop, and will most likely go back to HP for my next Linux machine. Plus HP does not require me to install their PPAs to get basic functionality for lights and wifi.
This is the first and last System 76 system I will purchase.
So why do I say this, well, let us go through the pro's and con's of this laptop:
PRO:
Absolutely wonderful keyboard. One of the best I have ever used on a laptop. It has excellent key travel, it is comfortable, and just works well.
Very nice screen, nice, bright, and clear. No complaints at all.
Upgradeability: A mixed bag. The first thing I did when I got this laptop was install 32 gb of ram, and a Samsung 500gb NVMe drive. I LOVE that you can upgrade both the ram and the drive. See more below on the downside.
It only has the i5, but it is fast! Really fast. Boots really quickly which is great.
Build quality is excellent, no complaints at all. Not too heavy despite the really solid build quality.
PORTS! YES! Lots of ports! This is a massive thumbs up! A real Ethernet port! The ports are one of the reasons I purchased this laptop. Now there are some negatives, so see below:
Packaging: Amazing, how all laptops should be packaged.
Headphone AND microphone jack: This is great, and I love it. All laptops should have this.
CONS:
Upgrading anything is a PITA! You have to take the keyboard off the laptop to get to three screws to remove the back! Unacceptable, especially a fumble fingered klutz like me. In this day, this is completely unacceptable.
USB issues: If I install a USB drive in a USB A drive it works, but if I eject it, then later re-insert it, the laptop refuses to see the drive and I have to insert it in another USB port! Not acceptable. This behavior was under both POP OS and Linux Mint. It is a common issue under both on this laptop. This USB issue might be Clevo related, or System 76 I do not know, but it is annoying as all get out.
POP O/S: Not my cup of tea, my wife tried to use it and gave up in frustration. The Gnome desktop and its hiding everything is just too different (Admitted that this is a personal issue). I know, I know you can install other DE's, but out of the box Pop OS is unusable for newbies from Windows.
Installing different versions of Linux: One phrase: Vendor lock in. When I first installed Mint 19.3, I had no keyboard lights, and NO WIFI! None. I had to install the System 76 PPA to get WiFi and keyboard lights. This is unacceptable. Later with Mint 20, I was able to get WiFi working, but still no keyboard lights. I never had this issue with my HP Spectre and Envy laptops, so I cannot understand it here. I spent hours attempting to get the WiFi working but apparently coreboot or something else decided that unless I was using POP OS or their PPAs, I did not deserve to have WiFi.
Battery Life: Poor. I Installed TLP, thinking I would get more battery life, and with brightness at 26%, and keyboard light at minimum, I get between 3-5 hours MAX. Turning off Bluetooth (which I have to do each time I reboot the laptop) garnered me an extra 30 -60 minutes. And this is just surfing the net, some minimal typing, and the occasional video on YouTube. Maybe if I used System 76 Pop OS I might get more, but I am a Mint Linux user. Again Vendor lock-in is what it appears to me.
Tech Support: Meh. Got told to use Pop OS.
So in conclusion, I bought it, I have used it, and while the 15.6 size is ok, I want a smaller 13.3/14" laptop, and will most likely go back to HP for my next Linux machine. Plus HP does not require me to install their PPAs to get basic functionality for lights and wifi.