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PayPalSummer is getting hot and perhaps you want a new laptop to take somewhere cooler to do a little work and light gaming? Slimbook recently upgraded a bunch of their machines. This is all in addition to the recently announced KDE Slimbook 4 laptop.
The latest is the Executive model which comes with an Intel Core i7-12700H and there's two different models with a 14" and a 16" screen. The smaller of the two comes packed with Intel Irix Xe 4K while the bigger model sports an NVIDIA RTX 3050Ti. That's not the only difference, you also either get the 14" with 2880 x 1800 or 16" with 2560 x 1600 although both are 90 Hz panels with anti-glare included. You also get a minimum of 16GB RAM and a 500GB SSD NVMe drive included.
As for ports there's plenty including 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen1, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen2 w/video output (DisplayPort 1.4), 1x Thunderbolt 4 w/video output (DisplayPort 1.4a) and PD charge (90W) and 1x HDMI 2.0.
Pricing starts at €1,299 for the 14" model and €1,599 for the 16".
Slimbook also recently upgraded the lower-end but still powerful Pro X which is an AMD model with the Ryzen 7 5700U that you can get as either a 14" or a 15.6" model both with a 1080p IPS screen. With this you get Radeon Vega 8 Graphics, 8GB RAM on the base model, 250GB SSD NVMe minimum.
For the ports you get 2 x USB 3.1, 1 x USB 3.1 Type C (video out 1.4 & PD Charge), 1 x USB 2.0 and 1 x HDMI 2.0.
On the Pro X, Slimbook say they include their own AMD Controller which enables you to get "full control over your AMD's processor performance and power consumption" along with a "firmware level performance profile (disguised as a BIOS switch) built-in that will let this power efficient U series processor reach the same performance levels from the top tier H series processors".
Pricing for the Pro X starts at €999.95 for 14" and €1,049 for the 15.6".
Looks like there's plenty of options nowadays for people after a new laptop that fully supports Linux!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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13 comments
A 16” 16:10 screen, huh. That’s pretty cool. Shame about the res, I wonder what type of fractional scaling it needs to be useable.
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A 16” 16:10 screen, huh. That’s pretty cool. Shame about the res, I wonder what type of fractional scaling it needs to be useable.Seriously? How did you survive back just a few years ago when everything was lower res than that?
Edit: Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, here.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 15 July 2022 at 12:05 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
A 16” 16:10 screen, huh. That’s pretty cool. Shame about the res, I wonder what type of fractional scaling it needs to be useable.
2560×1600 on 16" should be usable with 150% scaling (not too bad on KDE X11 or Wayland), which gives you a screen real estate of 1706×1066 (but with improved text clarity over 100% scaling).
You could also try 130% or 140% scaling in KDE (as KDE doesn't seem to offer 125% scaling, unlike Windows).
Last edited by Calinou on 14 July 2022 at 11:02 pm UTC
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A 16” 16:10 screen, huh. That’s pretty cool. Shame about the res, I wonder what type of fractional scaling it needs to be useable.Yes, that 16:10 screen on the Executive 14 has me seriously drooling, and Liam didn't mention that the 14 comes with a 99 whr battery!! Finally, a Linux laptop with a 16:10 screen with true all day AM to PM battery life... This is absolutely the laptop I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for S76 to make. Two big downsides for me: 1) Seemingly no US keyboard, 2) As you point out, the resolution will almost certainly require fractional scaling, probably 175% for the 14? My understanding from what I read is that fractional scaling in Gnome kind of breaks xwayland in Wayland, and X apps end up a bit blurry. In X11, fractional scaling is apparently choppy. That may be fixed in 6 months or so, but not yet. Supposedly the Executive is on-sale in August.
My hope is that Tuxedo and Schenker, who use the same hardware OEM as Simbook and made lower resolution 1920 X 1200 16:10 screens available in the prior generation, emulate the 99 whr battery move with the 1920 x 1200 screens. That kind of arrangement would likely get monster crazy battery life, as I read those screens in the prior generation with the 53 whr battery could hit 9-10 hours. Those two makers are expected to unveil their next generations of the same hardware within the next 1-2 mo.
Last edited by iiari on 15 July 2022 at 4:13 am UTC
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Perhaps you are? He's saying the resolution is so high it results in the OS and text elements being so small and hard to read that fractionally magnifying their size is needed to make the OS elements and text larger and legible. This is while maintaining the same screen resolution, so the magnified OS elements and text have an increased pixel density that also makes the elements and text "crisper" in addition to being easier to read since they're larger, pioneered from a marketing standpoint by Apple's Retina displays.A 16” 16:10 screen, huh. That’s pretty cool. Shame about the res, I wonder what type of fractional scaling it needs to be useable.Seriously? How did you survive back just a few years ago when everything was lower res than that?
Edit: Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, here.
Most Linux (and even Windows and Mac) OS's do well with whole scaling of 200, 300, etc percent, but "fractional" scaling like 125% or 140%, etc on almost all OS's (but especially Linux) tend to have technical problem or display issues. It's being actively worked on but is likely a ways off from being perfect, if ever...
For the highly desirable Executive line above, a whole scaling of 200% would actually make the OS and text elements too large to be desirable for that native display, so something fractional will likely be needed... I have an Asus Zenbook S from 2020/21 and its 3:2 screen has a 3300x2200 display, and I use 200% fractional scaling there, and it's a *tad* bigger than I'd like (but works especially nicely and is perfect with the smaller fonts and buttons on the websites that my employer uses, so it's all good for me). The problem with the Zenbook is without tweaking its battery life is 5-6 hours, and with the (excellent) CPU throttling Gnome extension I can eek out 8 or so. The Executive is looking REALLY good right now.
Last edited by iiari on 16 July 2022 at 1:47 am UTC
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Yeah, fractional scaling is still less than desirable in Linux. Blurry windows, performance problems, shorter battery life.
The 14” is designed for 200% scaling and that is fine. The 16” however, is not and will require it as far as I can tell.
The 14” is designed for 200% scaling and that is fine. The 16” however, is not and will require it as far as I can tell.
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The 14” is designed for 200% scaling and that is fine.No way, that would be the equivalent of 1440 x 900. Display and text on that screen would be huge....
175% fractional I believe would be 1646 x 1030 equivalent, and 150% would be the standard 1920 x 1200. Rather than scale, I'd rather have the screen in that resolution and save a ton of battery life that wouldn't be used pushing all those extra pixels into display and text elements that are the same size.
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Yeah, 1440x900 on a 14” screen is fine. Enabling fractional is just making your life miserable.
It’s the fault of 13-15” 1080p screens that have become so prevalent in laptops in recent years. Everyone is used to stuff being tiny. It’s not a good direction.
It’s the fault of 13-15” 1080p screens that have become so prevalent in laptops in recent years. Everyone is used to stuff being tiny. It’s not a good direction.
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Para-Gliding Jul 15, 2022
A 16” 16:10 screen, huh. That’s pretty cool. Shame about the res, I wonder what type of fractional scaling it needs to be useable.Yes, that 16:10 screen on the Executive 14 has me seriously drooling, and Liam didn't mention that the 14 comes with a 99 whr battery!! Finally, a Linux laptop with a 16:10 screen with true all day AM to PM battery life...
Nope, 14 --> 47WHr battery
15 --> 92WHr battery (not 99)
They are the same base-laptop as the tuxedo pulse v2, Schenker Via Pro 15 updated (M22), Mechrevo, etc.
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Actually, no, for the Executive look here and multiple articles:A 16” 16:10 screen, huh. That’s pretty cool. Shame about the res, I wonder what type of fractional scaling it needs to be useable.Yes, that 16:10 screen on the Executive 14 has me seriously drooling, and Liam didn't mention that the 14 comes with a 99 whr battery!! Finally, a Linux laptop with a 16:10 screen with true all day AM to PM battery life...
Nope, 14 --> 47WHr battery
15 --> 92WHr battery (not 99)
They are the same base-laptop as the tuxedo pulse v2, Schenker Via Pro 15 updated (M22), Mechrevo, etc.
Our new 14" model gets a battery boost from 53WHr to 99WHr thanks to the removal of a single M.2. port. If a second M.2 drive is a concern for you, the 16" model gets all your needs covered. With a huge 82WHr battery and two M.2. ports, the 16" Executive will last you a complete workday.
Last edited by iiari on 15 July 2022 at 10:44 am UTC
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much more annoying than the scaling discussion is that the 16" executive is always bundled with a dGPU...Besides that (and the battery that is smaller, probably as a result of the dGPU i would assume?) it really looks like a nice piece of kit.
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much more annoying than the scaling discussion is that the 16" executive is always bundled with a dGPU...Besides that (and the battery that is smaller, probably as a result of the dGPU i would assume?) it really looks like a nice piece of kit.One of the companies selling this hardware (I forget if it was Slimbook, Tuxedo, or Schenker) did let you delete the dGPU if you wished...
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Scratching my head about all this 'scaling' discussions. I must be doing something wrong. I use (since 6 years) a 14" 2560x1440 Lenovo laptop. No scaling, I just changed the default font sizes. And I absolutely do not have 'eagle eyes'....Yes, that's one of the other approaches, but it doesn't change the size of various OS elements, but a total valid and common approach as well...
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