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Entroware, the UK-based Linux hardware vendor have released two newer laptops and one of them could be a reasonable gaming unit.

First up, is the new Hybris:
image
It's powered by Intel’s Kaby Lake, which can be configured as either an i5-7300HQ or i7-7700HQ, so it's certainly not short on CPU power.

Like before though, my shock here comes in the form in the stupidly low RAM which starts at 4GB. I don't know why lots of laptop vendors keep having such a low starting amount of RAM, but it can be configured up to 32GB DDR4. I really don't think 4GB RAM goes far at all now, so it's a bit crazy.

They key thing about the Hybris is that you can go with the cheaper Intel HD graphics, or configure it with an NVIDIA GTX 1050 4GB. For a laptop, that's not half-bad and could run a reasonable amount of games on the go, or if you can't fit a tower unit it might be quite handy.

When it comes to hard drives, it starts with a single 500GB standard HDD, but you can have two drives and the second drive can be configured with PCIe/NVME options. There's quite lot of variety on offer when it comes to storage space on this little powerhouse.

All Entroware units can be configured with Ubuntu, Ubuntu MATE or no operating system. They are able to ship to England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.

It does still make me chuckle that they have an Ubuntu sticker over the Windows key, instead of a key replacement, but it's obviously a lot cheaper. Probably the only bad thing I have to say about Entroware.

They also released a refreshed Apollo laptop, but it's much a more of a work unit than a gaming unit. Might be interesting for those of you working on the go though!

Could an Entroware device be your next purchase? Let us know! If I actually had the money for a good laptop, the Entroware Hybris is quite possibly the one I would go for. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Hardware
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19 comments

pete910 Jun 28, 2017
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One with a ryzen 1700 in it with a rx580 would be sweet .
Guppy Jun 28, 2017
I assume it's paid promotion ( no problem with that, except please state it ) but shouldn't the links have referer?

I've looked at them before what ends up putting me off it is - no option for Danish or Nordic keyboard, and no option to have it pre-installed with LMDE- I mean I know I can just install that my self, but if I'm buying a Linux laptop I want it ready to go while it still have that freshly unboxed smell, otherwise it just another laptop that need to be installed
crt0mega Jun 28, 2017
One with a ryzen 1700 in it with a rx580 would be sweet .
Asus ROG Strix GL702ZC?
Liam Dawe Jun 28, 2017
I assume it's paid promotion ( no problem with that, except please state it ) but shouldn't the links have referer?
We do not take payment for articles, ever.

Edit: See our Ethics page, if it's unclear at any time.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 28 June 2017 at 11:47 am UTC
chuzzle44 Jun 28, 2017
no option to have it pre-installed with LMDE- I mean I know I can just install that my self, but if I'm buying a Linux laptop I want it ready to go while it still have that freshly unboxed smell, otherwise it just another laptop that need to be installed
I too dream of the day when I can buy a PC with any Distro pr-installed. But I have to concede that there are a lot of Distros and they couldn't possibly support them all.
soulsource Jun 28, 2017
One thing to consider: Switchable graphics support is basically broken with the proprietary nVidia driver. One is therefore either required to restart X11 whenever one wants to switch graphics chip between the dedicated and the integrated one, or one has to use the open source drivers.
That's why I'd very much prefer an AMD graphics chip: Good performance with open source drivers, and working switchable graphics support...
razing32 Jun 28, 2017
Mate , you should make a disclosure they only ship to a few countries :
UK , Ireland , France , Spain , Italy and Germany.

Seems fairly limited considering how many countries there are in Europe.
Liam Dawe Jun 28, 2017
Mate , you should make a disclosure they only ship to a few countries :
UK , Ireland , France , Spain , Italy and Germany.

Seems fairly limited considering how many countries there are in Europe.
I actually looked at their delivery info page, where that's not mentioned. I see now it's mentioned in their slider, bit of a nuisance.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 28 June 2017 at 1:18 pm UTC
razing32 Jun 28, 2017
Mate , you should make a disclosure they only ship to a few countries :
UK , Ireland , France , Spain , Italy and Germany.

Seems fairly limited considering how many countries there are in Europe.
I actually looked at their delivery info page, where that's not mentioned. I see now it's mentioned in their slider, but of a nuisance.

Thinking to shoot them a mail. Curios if they can somehow use a third party for countries they don't ship directly too.

Or I can have it sent to some friend and have them send it to me. :P
M@GOid Jun 28, 2017
A laptop with that kind of hardware is as good as his cooling capacity. Too bad they didn't have more photos of the back of the unity or the internals.
Since this must be a OEM part, it must not have to be too hard to find a review of a Windows machine from another vendor.
tmtvl Jun 28, 2017
Like before though, my shock here comes in the form in the stupidly low RAM which starts at 4GB. I don't know why lots of laptop vendors keep having such a low starting amount of RAM, but it can be configured up to 32GB DDR4. I really don't think 4GB RAM goes far at all now, so it's a bit crazy.

4GB RAM with a 4GB swap partition will get you a long way, especially if you using something a bit more lightweight like Xfce, MATE, or (heavenly glory) LXQt.

It's not like everyone plays Xonotic at Ultra quality.
rodvil Jun 28, 2017
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I'm thinking of getting a new top performance laptop on the 15' size. Any of you tried an Entroware before? I'm thinking of a System76, but it's quite far to ship to Portugal and it only has US keyboard. Since they are all Clevo computers, it should be possible to change the keyboard though.
Any thoughts on these "Linux" brands regarding hardware compatibility?
Liam Dawe Jun 28, 2017
Like before though, my shock here comes in the form in the stupidly low RAM which starts at 4GB. I don't know why lots of laptop vendors keep having such a low starting amount of RAM, but it can be configured up to 32GB DDR4. I really don't think 4GB RAM goes far at all now, so it's a bit crazy.

4GB RAM with a 4GB swap partition will get you a long way, especially if you using something a bit more lightweight like Xfce, MATE, or (heavenly glory) LXQt.

It's not like everyone plays Xonotic at Ultra quality.
I wouldn't risk it myself, even with 2 chat applications open and 8 firefox tabs i'm sat over 4GB RAM already.
Samsai Jun 28, 2017
4GB RAM with a 4GB swap partition will get you a long way, especially if you using something a bit more lightweight like Xfce, MATE, or (heavenly glory) LXQt.

It's not like everyone plays Xonotic at Ultra quality.
You might be able to do basic stuff with 4GB but if you have a browser running while you are gaming and maybe if you add just a couple more random background processes like VOIP you'll start to get starved for memory. It's also worth keeping in mind that the iGPU will share main system memory, so that gaming load will also eat your RAM in a way that a dGPU might not. And I don't think it will make any sense to go for the dGPU and not upgrade the RAM at the same time. :P

Basically, 4GB will be enough for light workloads but if you are only going to do that you are probably better served by a cheaper laptop. I suppose you could buy this with 4GB of RAM and upgrade it yourself but I'm not sure if you'd get any real benefit from that.
pete910 Jun 28, 2017
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One with a ryzen 1700 in it with a rx580 would be sweet .
Asus ROG Strix GL702ZC?

Have seen it, It's what prompted my post :P

One with a ryzen 1700 in it with a rx580 would be sweet .
Or Ryzen + Nvidia.

Quicker I get off this 1080 back to AMD/Mesa the better . Can't say I've been impressed by NV tbh
MineElectricity Jun 28, 2017
Well, It's not that bad for the price (still higher than msi ones but really good in comparion of the market).
But damn the coices are pretty rude .. Either a little intel or a Big NVIDIA !
The casing seem good an this is only good components :)
I'm also sad for not seeing an amd cpu ^ .^

This is a anither small step going towards linux ! :D
demencia89 Jun 28, 2017
One thing to consider: Switchable graphics support is basically broken with the proprietary nVidia driver. One is therefore either required to restart X11 whenever one wants to switch graphics chip between the dedicated and the integrated one, or one has to use the open source drivers.
That's why I'd very much prefer an AMD graphics chip: Good performance with open source drivers, and working switchable graphics support...

What do you mean? It works perfectly for me. I have a laptop with nvidia 1050Ti and run everything on the integrated intel graphic card and games on the nvidia using primus.
demencia89 Jun 28, 2017
I'm thinking of getting a new top performance laptop on the 15' size. Any of you tried an Entroware before? I'm thinking of a System76, but it's quite far to ship to Portugal and it only has US keyboard. Since they are all Clevo computers, it should be possible to change the keyboard though.
Any thoughts on these "Linux" brands regarding hardware compatibility?

I got an acer vx5 (i7 7700, 16gb ram, nVidia 1050Ti & 256gb ssd) for 1000 u$d. I run Manjaro on it and couldn't be happier with it. It was great price : power ratio. 10/10. I've recommended it on reddit a few times and others have been quite happy with it. I know this sounds like advertising, but since it's a great product and I'm happy with it I don't mind doing this.
lvlark Jun 29, 2017
Wake me up when someone sells a Linux laptop with AMD hardware..

To be honest though, I'm not looking for a gaming laptop atm. Will probably upgrade my desktop this summer, but that's offtopic. A very portable thin 13" laptop with long battery life is more my cuppa. Let's wait and see what Raven Ridge is gonna bring.
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