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Recently, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth made a very bold statement when he said: “We expect to ship close to 20 million PCs in the next year.” Sounds like wishful thinking to us, but Linux system builder System76 would love nothing more than to see Shuttleworth’s prediction come true, as its entire business is dedicated to making Ubuntu-based servers, desktops and laptops. Its latest offering is a 17.3-inch laptop with “extreme components.”
Preloaded with Ubuntu 12.10, the Bonobo Extreme starts at $1,599. The base model features a glossy full HD LED, a 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor (2.2GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.2GHz), an Nvidia GeForce GTX 670MX GPU with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive, an 8X DVD drive, 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, a backlit keyboard, and an 8-cell battery.
If you think that the base model is missing something, there is a very good chance that you will find it among the panoply of configuration options that System76 is offering. These include everything from an Intel Core i7-3940XM Extreme Processor (3.0Ghz with Turbo Boost 2.0 with up to 3.9Ghz) to an Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M GPU with 4GB GDDR5 VRAM to up to 3TB hard drive storage. For good measure, the company is currently offering a $100 holiday discount on the Bonobo Extreme.
With Valve bringing its Steam client to Linux (currently in limited beta), this 8.6-lb beast seems like a good device for blowing off some steam.
Image Credit: System76
Comments are closed on this article
PCWolf
November 22, 2012 at 6:35am
Considering that Most PC games are made for Windows, why would anybody want to get a Linux powered PC for gaming? That's as pointless as Gaming on a MAC. You can't even play World of Warcraft on Linux unless you use WINE.
H1N1theI
November 22, 2012 at 7:49am
WINE is fine... Mostly.
The only reason games are based on windows is because of DirectX, and also because Microsoft wanted to impose themselves on the market, being completely POSIX rejecting.
If windows was POSIX based, we would most likely see software become more universal, as all other OSes utilize a POSIX compliant kernel.
TrollBot5000
November 22, 2012 at 7:46am
well no shit you can't play win executable games without wine. just like you can't run a .deb or .rpm file from windows. Before I quit that awful sickness that is WOW it runs just fine under wine so a gaming laptop like this could easly do 25 mans on ultra.
SAND_CREATURE
November 22, 2012 at 1:36am
I don't know if this is any better, but I know someone who bought a system76 laptop relatively recently and they don't really like it. They said the build quality was subpar and the support was downright awful.
TrollBot5000
November 22, 2012 at 1:11am
Yeah so as far as their laptops go they do seem to be priced about right. . I found this on newegg for 100 dollars less even with a windows license. slightly weaker processor but more ram.
ASUS G75 Series G75VW-NS71 Intel Core i7 3610QM(2.30GHz) 17.3" 12GB Memory 500GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M Notebook
TrollBot5000
November 21, 2012 at 8:37pm
I guess system76 always has to put the latest release on their bleeding edge pcs but it would make more sense to put 12.04 since it's a LTS release and is supported for 5 years instead of 3 like 10.04 was. Then again MOST people that know of system76 know how to install an OS or know someone who does. System76 makes some great machines but theyre not really any cheaper than just buying something and reformatting to linux. To address the driver issues theyre getting better and better especially the drivers for the gtx 600 series. Hell even my old amd laptop doesn't have any tearing issues anymore since I installed the latest driver from amd's site instead of the shit driver thats baked into the kernel. When it comes to steam for linux yes it's great seeing this come to fruition but it's going to be a slow process to roll out the same amount of titles. as of right now Valve only has a small percentage of games ported to linux so it's not time to ditch that windows 7 dualboot just yet. Yes we all know what WINE is but it's a crapshoot. It's not like WINE can run every single pc game flawlessly. thats why winehq(dot) com has the rating system from Platinum to Garbage. Lightworks is in its alpha stage so a pro grade video editor is right around the corner. What I'm waiting for is something equivalent of pro tools for my music. Yeah so fundamentally under the hood linux is superior to windows but it's all about software and linux is still lacking in some respects on the professional level. so yeah just dual boot have the best of both worlds. :P
superfly1031
November 21, 2012 at 5:01pm
You two above me are both wrong! Drivers are wonderful on ubuntu based systems (I prefer Mint over ubutnu) Gaming is a hair away from linux via Steam, and if thats not good enough you can use regular steam wonderfuly on wine with wine tricks. Dont ditch Ubuntu/Mint, They kick windows in the balls!
Ubunterooster
November 21, 2012 at 4:51pm
As a certified computer-repair technician, one of the things I do for people who are click-happy is get them to use Linux. The vast majority of games can be set up to run in Linux and often with better results
Hey.That_Dude
November 21, 2012 at 4:50pm
It's so pretty(components). But I think I'd rather take a GTX660M or GT650M instead and have it a half inch thinner. Plus they have that IPS option with the 90% color field option, which is kind of sexy.
TrollBot5000
November 21, 2012 at 8:34pm
herpptyderpprpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp.
Warrior247
November 21, 2012 at 1:43pm
As soon as Linux users get this thing they'll load Windows right onto it!!
H1N1theI
November 21, 2012 at 2:03pm
I'd like to say otherwise, seeing as linux distros are generally very nice OSes, I'd say that most linux users will use WINE or PlayOnLinux to run windows programs. I will admit that linux drivers are hell sometimes and the graphics drivers are horrible, but that's completely missing the point. Linux is a free OS that is faster, more open, and more secure (well, it *is* a monolithic kernel) than many of its competitors.
The problem is that linux is not a gaming platform, monolithic kernels and the user-kernel space swapping drags down drivers (there are methods of reducing the time from 100ms to 10ms or lower though). Linux is a great productivity or general usage (web browsing, watching a movie, screwing around), but not exactly optimize for gaming.
profdlp
November 21, 2012 at 10:57pm
" I will admit that linux drivers are hell sometimes and the graphics drivers are horrible, but that's completely missing the point..."
So you save $60-100 on the OS and have your $400 gaming graphics card look "horrible"?
If that is ""completely missing the point", then what exactly "is" the point?
H1N1theI
November 22, 2012 at 6:25am
Oh, I was talking about the Opensourced drivers that most distros have in their repos, but apparently you've never seen the abilities of the closed-source GL drivers...
I'll leave you with a few words. Steam. Left 4 Dead (3 words, but oh well). Faster. Linux.
Remember that a while ago?
davelray
November 23, 2012 at 8:10am
And what about those of us that don't play Left 4 Dead? And just because they managed to get it to run faster what makes you think they didn't stack the deck as it were. When all my games can be played on Linux, then I'll switch. But right now, they don't. WoW under wine crashed left and right and the fonts were barely legible. SWTOR wouldn't even start under WINE. The only game I could get running without any hassles was Torchlight. And I wasn't about to tempt the fates and possibly get account banned trying to play Diablo 3. It's a good thing that Valve is doing what they are doing, but it's far from being time to switch from Windows. Maybe in another 5 to 10 years.
H1N1theI
November 23, 2012 at 10:02am
It was an example that proved that linux can be faster than windows.
I don't blame you for not wanting to switch to linux, that's understandable.
The main problem with linux is that developers don't develop for it. Not that it can't run them. Some of the problems with deving for linux is that GL is not as widely supported as DirectX, just look at intel, they have their tiny integrated GPUs running DirectX 11, but supports only OpenGL 2.1, which is 2 revisions behind, and missing out on all the GL 4.x features. (Which is actually similar to DirectX 11's feature set, although slightly more fleshed out)
Perhaps this is due to MS screwing with the GL performance under windows until it doesn't want to run at max capacity...
Anyways, people need to realize that you can't toss aside linux, especially now when it's gaining more market share.
davelray
November 23, 2012 at 3:14pm
It's not a toss aside, just not a gaming platform. Yet. Server system, definitely. I run a SQL server off a small linux box. Actual use for standard tasks? Sure why not. Oh that's right, because my gaming rig does all the standard tasks and runs my games all under Windows all just fine. My point is this. Linux has been and continues to be far too fragmented for anyone to really take it seriously as a true desktop replacement. Too many hurdles when something doesn't work properly or breaks. And I hate these "I loaded it for Grandma and she runs just fine." stories. Yeah and who does Grandma call when X loads up halfway off the screen? Had that happen to me a few years ago on an nVidia card, took over a week till someone finally got back to me with instructions on what to do. Until someone comes along and puts as much time as Microsoft did, getting standards for drivers in place and getting everyone on board ie "Made for Windows," Linux is going to continue to grow in only one area, servers. Linux is great for throwing on servers for large scale, cheap, datahosting. And it does that job fairly well.
H1N1theI
November 24, 2012 at 10:09am
FYI: The "fragmented" argument doesn't really work, it's just more flavors to pick from.
Linux is a perfectly fine replacement for windows, you'll just have to stick to indie titles a lot more (fine for me, half the stuff I own are indie titles).
Also, I also hate the loaded it for grandma argument, but quite frankly, linux is getting to the point when there's no more need for 3rd party fixes for some misc driver.
You're forgetting that most drivers come from the manufacture, not MS. MS was just in the position of jumping off of OS2 and screwing quite a few of their "friends" in their ventures.
Linux excels not only as a server platform, it also is a great thinclient as well as highly scalable, from the 800 MHz RPi to The 8*8 SPARC T4. Something that windows will never achieve. And not to mention that software can be easily port to and from different archs, something that windows can't... Oh wait, windows isn't even portable enough to move to ARM (without trashing all legacy and screwing over the "standardized" windows APIs).
Quite frankly, linux will grow, it has grown and will continue to grow. Windows will still be king for the forseeable future, but perhaps it'll fall out of favor.
Please stop using arguments from 2008, the same bad/no drivers, doesn't work, linux will never go beyond servers (well, it has already completely take over the server market), and doesn't game well crap I've been listening to for the longest time.
Linux is going to play a larger role in the computer market, and that's what might drive it from obscurity.
davelray
November 24, 2012 at 4:30pm
Possibly. As I said, maybe in 5 to 10 years. Maybe. But right now, Windows is where it's at. Both on the corporate business level, and in the home. As for the server market, again, most of those numbers come from data hosting centers where cost is what counts. When you look at companies like the one I support, 90% or better of all the servers are Windows. I've heard the same rhetoric about Linux for nearly two decades now. And for nearly two decades, as far as the home desktop and laptop market are concerned, it's nothing more than a hobbyist platform. I think it's great that you like your Indie titles. Someone's got to buy them. I think I'll stick with the games I like. When I can run them on Linux just as well as I can run them on Windows, then I'll consider it. Not to mention doing things like watching Netflix or Hulu.
And3rs0nTX
November 21, 2012 at 5:57pm
One of the reasons I don't use Linux is because I have honestly never had more problems with anything than trying to get graphics drivers to work.
H1N1theI
November 22, 2012 at 6:29am
Meh, I've never had problems with the graphics drivers... (X.Org and multi-button mouses on the other hand...) It's usually wifi/printer divers that are screwy, unless you mean by trying to swap out linux drivers, then I'd have to agree, that's horrible.
Which distro anyways? I've used arch for quite a while and I've never gotten into any driver issues... Except the aforementioned mouse.
TrollBot5000
November 21, 2012 at 8:36pm
A word of advice install the drivers from the website instead of the one from additional drivers.
