With the new year coming up and my old System 76 Oryx Pro from 2017 not keeping up with some GPU needs, I decided it was time to buy something new. I shopped around a bit, but in the U.S. we are in a situation that made my choices somewhat limited, at least in my mind. Thanks to the tariff mess I decided to go with System 76 again and got the Serval WS. I know these are Clevo machines that many Linux hardware providers sell, but I looked at a few factors in making my decision, plus the other Clevo (System 76 Oryx Pro) I currently have has been a solid machine.
Concerns
My first thought was, if there is a problem with the device shipping to and from Europe or Taiwan seemed problematic. The Tariff cost was another factor, even though that was likely reflected in the cost from System 76 – better than a surprise. I also like that System 76 employs U.S. citizens in the states and contributes to open source. With all that, I got a little less than I wanted and paid a little more than I would have liked. I could have went for an IBM, Dell, etc. but I am not a fan of the bigger corporations. Hell, are IBMs still the beasts they used to be? I love the ThinkPad from back in the day.
Timeliness and Support
I got the laptop within a week and after tuning it on briefly to make sure it was working then back off to set it up the next day, I was surprised to find it completely dead. I am glad about my first thought. After a few back and forth messages with technical support I shipped it back and got a replacement within another week. The new laptop works fine and is happily running CachyOS.
System 76 technical support is top notch, I think. They had me do a couple things but soon realized that I was not new to computers and had me complete the RMA. I had read some bad reviews about their support and I have to disagree. Two laptops from System 76 that both required support after purchase and both times I had zero issues getting things settled. I imagine if you are in another country trouble may be easier to come by, but if you are in Asia or Europe, you have more choices closer to home.
The support person in both cases was knowledgeable and friendly. I also contacted them last year to get a replacement cooling system for the original laptop. It was a pricey part, but I had it in my hands in less than a week and it has been solid ever since. I am keeping the Oryx pro as a backup so I may replace the battery at some point. That laptop is still a beast and even runs newer games fairly well. Blender was another matter.
In different times…
Who would I have bought from if things were different? Well, I think I might have gone with Tuxedo. Their laptop with 17 inch QHD and the same specs was $1,000.00 cheaper. I got a 16 inch 2k display on the System 76. That was something I wish I could have upgraded without moving to the next laptop model, which was a grand more. I am certain the Tuxedo Gemini 17 is a Clevo also, sure looks the same. We will see where I go the next time I decide to upgrade hardware. I might just look at more mainstream products since I have had little problems running Linux on just about everything these days.
If you are curious about my previous issue with System 76 hardware.
The laptop was actually fine, it was the SSD that failed. I do not remember the manufacturer, but it was not System 76’s fault. I wish they could have just swapped the storage rather than shipping the laptop back. It would have been easier in my mind, but the turn around was quick regardless. If i had been using it for months, or was wealthy, I would have just bought another storage device myself considering I crammed it full of extra storage anyway.
Why CachyOS and not Pop! OS with Cosmic?
I had installed and used Cosmic on a Dell and the Oryx pro, both running Arch. It was fine and actually ran very well for beta, but seemed too much like Gnome with less features. After getting the new System 76 machine I did install Pop! OS 24.04 with Cosmic. It’s really good, although, the tiling is likely the best feature if you ask me. My problem is, if I want Gnome-like on Ubuntu based LTS, I would just run Gnome on Ubuntu. I am okay with Ubuntu and Pop! OS, but I want bleeding edge and I really like Arch and Arch based distros.
I installed CachyOS on my Oryx pro right before buying the new laptop deciding to go with KDE, which I hadn’t really used in years. I found this to be one of the best experiences I have had with Linux in a while so when I got the new laptop, and after playing around with Pop! OS 24.04 for a day or two, it was already decided. CachyOS just works with minimal setup for all the things I do and the System 76 drivers and software have had zero issues, even after many updates to the OS and software.
Gaming pretty much worked out of the box with a couple base installs provided in their setup section, like Wine and Lutris. Audio has been amazing. If you create music on Linux, this is a great distro to do it on. The best part, every software application I use are there in the repos or AUR. I don’t have to search for them.
Conclusion
Would I recommend System 76? Yes and no. If you live in the U.S., want to support their open source projects, and like what they stand for, yes. If you don’t care about those things or want to save money, a mainstream product might be perfect. If you don’t mind waiting, want to save a little money compared to System 76, and go with a company that supports open source, Tuxedo might be a good fit.
