[REWIEW] System76 Laptop

Serval WS [model: serw13]

This review may be useful if you are considering a System76 computer and/or using Linux as your primary OS. The laptop was purchased in late 2024 for personl use and without any solicitation for review or affiliated with System76.

For reference, I'm coming from a Mid 2014, 13 inch MacBook Pro with a 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM. It has dependably operated for 10 years, although there is screen damage. It was often dual booted with Windows and used to run SolidWorks, MatLab, Counter Strike, Half Life, Halo, many other applications, and edit videos. This is to give you an idea of use of the new System76 Serval WS, which has replaced the prior laptop.

Specifications

• Operating System: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS with full disk-encryption
• Display: 15.6" Matte 1080p FHD (165 Hz) Display
• CPU: 5.8 GHz i9-14900HX - up to 5.8 GHz - 36MB Cache - 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores)
• GPU: 8 GB GeForce RTX 4060 with 3072 CUDA Cores
• RAM: 64 GB DDR5 5200 MHz (2x 32GB)
• Memory: 2 TB PCIe4 M.2 SSD
• Wireless: WiFi 7 + Bluetooth 5.4
• Battery: 89Wh 15.12V PD50BAT-6-80

Linux [Pop!_OS]

"Pop OS (stylized as Pop!_OS) is a free and open-source Linux distribution, based on Ubuntu, and featuring a customized GNOME desktop environment known as COSMIC. The distribution is developed by American Linux computer manufacturer System76. Pop!_OS is primarily built to be bundled with the computers built by System76, but can also be downloaded and installed on most computers." "Unlike many other Linux distributions, it is not community-driven, although outside programmers can contribute, view and modify the source code. They can also build custom ISO images and redistribute them under another name." (Source: Wikipedia).

"Pop!_OS provides full out-of-the-box support for both AMD and Nvidia GPUs [and] provides default disk encryption, streamlined window and workspace management, keyboard shortcuts for navigation as well as built-in power management profiles." (Source: Wikipedia).

Review

Perhaps the greatest drawback to using Linux is the lack of technical support; this may be an issue for some users. Furthermore, certain software may not be available to run directly without use of a virtual machine or compatibility layer like Wine.

My experience with Linux/Pop!_OS has been excellent. Some notable features include:

• Pop!_Shop A convenient GUI for installing applications from apt repositories and flatpaks, as well as running updates.
• Launcher Makes searching for software easy (default Super key function). If you type "find" in the launcher, you can search files as well.
• Applications Linux has tons of free, open source software (FOSS). These include common browsers such as Firefox, TOR, FileZilla (FTP), code/text editors such as CudaText, office suite such as LibreOffice, luckyBackUp, ZuluCrypt (encryption solution), VNC media player, Kazam (screen capture), Sayonara (media player), Audacity (audio editing), GIMP (image manupulation), VirtualBox (virtual machine), TigerVNC viewer (remote machine), CHIRP (radio programming), Flrig (radio control), WSJTX (digital radio), Deluge (torrent client), and of course so many more.

Hardware

Touchpad

This was one of my greatest reservations about moving away from Apple, as their trackpads have long been superior on the market. The touchpad pad on the System76 was a pleasant surprise. It is glassy, smooth, and responsive. It has not felt like a downgrade.

Keyboard

The keyboard also functions well. The number pad offsets the remainder of the keyboard leftward, which was a slight adjustment from the centered MacBook keyboard. In my opinion, the number pad is a nice feature to have. The key stroke is more tactile than linear compared to the MacBook; it is very pleasant to use. Backlighting is easily adjustable via default function keys; colors include white, blue, red, purple, green, turquoise/cyan, and yellow. The keyboard color is constant accross the keyboard and not gradient or adjustable by key location by default.

Display

The 1080p FHD screen is clear and does not at all feel like a downgrade from the Retina display. As of writing, the screen refresh rate hasn't been thoroughly tested. Brightness is respectable. As for size, 15.6 inches maintains reasonable portability.

Fan

The laptop does occasionally sounds like it is ready to take off, but this seems to occur appropriately with processing demand/hardware temperature. On the plus side, it has capable cooling given its processor and graphics card.

Camera

The integrated camera does not have a physical on/off switch like some other System76 models have had. It has a function key that toggles the camera on and off, which is still a useful security feature. Of note, by default the camera is on at startup.

Speakers & Microphone

When researching System76 laptops, there were many comments about maladjusted speakers on earlier models. I have not experienced this. They are decent and of a quality I would expect for a laptop.

GPU

Pop!_OS is designed with NVIDIA graphics card support in mind and optimizes use of the NVIDIA GPU with Linux. It includes features such as GPU switching and power management. Pop!_OS also has a GPU support guide on their website.

Battery

The 89Wh 15.12V PD50BAT-6-80 battery lasts about 2.5 hours out of the box, while operating with the "balanced" power profile using integrated graphics while multitasking watching Netflix, web browsing, and coding. Note that this is a "workstation" model, which is meant to be a portable, desktop-like, more powerful machine in comparison to a lighter duty traveler. There are other System76 models, like the Pangolin, that are moarketed as the latter.

Charger

The charger is large, almost like a literal brick. Of course, it is 280W 20V.

Frame/Housing

The outer shell does feel like a metal alloy and the housing is plenty sturdy. The logo on the lid is a sticker, but well adhered. It might not be very difficult to remove if that is your preference.

Conclusion

I have not run into many difficulties with the transition to Linux on the System76 Serval WS. Battery life is what one would expect from a 'work station.' It is not thick or bulky, especially considering the contained hardware. The hardware components feel comparable in quality to the MacBook. In the spirit of System76, this computer uses open-source software amd firmware. The coreboot firmware (formerly called LinuxBIOS) replaces proprietary firmware (BIOS or UEFI) found in most other computers. If you value open source computing and customizability, System76 does appear to produce premium Linux machines. The user experience and capability rivals the best mainstream machines on the market, with the caveat of occasional self directed troubleshooting. This is espeically true concerning the NVIDIA GPU and driver compatibility with Linux, however this can largely be midigated if you stick with the functional verions of the Nvidia drivers.

Resources

[manual] Laptop System76 Serval WS [serw13].pdf