Archived thread 1045622 from System76 Support. Markdown source: System76_Support/thread_1045622_Dell_keeps_delaying_my_laptop_delivery,_I'm_thinki.md
I'd like to hear from some people who have purchased system76 laptops. Does it typically work out of the box? What have been your support experiences?
I plan on using my laptop to learn software and web development, drawing with my old wacom tablet on Gimp, learning blender, and fiddling around with any 2D animation, audio and video editing software that's out there.
Also playing diablo and starcraft on winex and linux games like freedroid. :)
System 76 is a great company.
The support on these forums is fantastic. All questions I have had are answered within a few hours. The driver updates are great and if you just saw my thread on Jaunty support it seems like updated versions of Ubuntu are a near seamless transition.
You might want to go with one of the machines that has Nvidia over the Intel card if you are into gaming and graphic design. There are just a lot of open source graphic issues with Intel it seems. Word is that Jaunty may be solving those problems, but Nvidia works now. I'm running an Intel integrated card and getting Diablo and WoW have been less than simplistic.
Out of the box there were no problems for me. When I did encounter issues it was due to my own ignorance of Ubuntu and System 76 helped me via the forums.
You should buy one. Scratch that..... buy two.
I did just a smidgen of internet research (or as I like to call it webernet-stuff-looking-ination for short :p ) and I had a look at the forums and the system76 site and I think I'll go for it.
It can't be worse than Dell. :D
I have a good feeling about this.
I agree with EnderEcho. I have purchased two laptops from System76 and have been completely satisfied with the company. I was most impressed with their customer support. I contacted them via e-mail with questions prior to my purchase. They answered within 48 hours. Even over a weekend.
I have also been very impressed with the quality of the laptops I ordered. Everything "just worked" I think you will be very satisfied.
I am not a Dell Basher, but if you read the Dell sub-forum of this site, I think you will see a higher percentage of people dissatisfied with their purchases.
Joe
I totally agree: go with an Nvidia card, it will blow your brains out! :-)
Another note, Starcraft and Diablo 1 and 2 both work out of the box with wine, No regedit tweeking.
Blender is a Great program, I'm really excited to see where to blender game engine goes. Just think, games that are supported on every platform!
Also go with an nvidia card. More powerful and better support. No problems for me on a Pangolin Performance.
I just got a Pangolin at christmas not really intending to use it for gaming, but there are a ton of great games out in the repositories and the Pangolin runs them well.
System76 will not do you wrong, and the Pangolin is an awesome laptop.
I got a Pangolin last fall and I've been very happy with it. The support is great, and everything works (note: if you have a home file server, use NFS instead of Samba to connect to it...)
Note that this machine runs WoW splendidly thru WINE
I recommend System76 ... I'm a UNIX programmer (20 years) that has never liked using Windows ... my first venture in Linux was a System76 laptop 6 months ago ... the Support form Carl and Tom have been awesome, the System76 knowledge base and activity on the Ubuntu forms can not be beat by Dell or anybody else.
I'm definitely getting one now. Thanks everybody for letting me know what you think of System76. They looked good, but I wanted to know if they were more than just a pretty site on the internet, and that people were happy with their products.
I'm going to wait until the beginning of next month. (for payday ;) ) Then I'm getting a Pangolin Performance.
Good decision. I also got a Pangolin Performance and it works very well. It just worked out-of-the-box and the nVidia graphic card performance is more than good for the average user or even for those who like 3D games, at least some 3D games that I have tried from the repositories work very well. Besides, my opinion about the support from System76 is even better than what I think of the Pangolin Performance. Guille.
I have a Gazelle Ultra. I looked at prices, configurations, and options with many resellers for over a year before purchasing, and System 76 came out the best for me.
I am pleased with the hardware; that is always important. However, I am much more pleased dealing with System 76. They have the ability to sell competitively, like a large company, but they also have the feel of a corner store that you trust. I obviously could not walk around the corner to Colorado, but it almost feels that way.
Every one of my questions, no matter how small, has been answered. It has been easy to deal with them on configuration, payment, and shipping, and -- very important -- after the sale.
Don't really want to paint the lilly, but don't think twice. Support is great. Software is great. Hardware is great (DARU1). The Forum is great. Problems are typically solved quickly and right. For a Linux box, don't look anywhere else.
I bought my Pangolin in November and I am nothing but delighted with it. Worked out of the box and gorgeous looking as well. Amarok is a wonderful alternative to iTunes and I use VirtualBox so that I can run legacy stuff in a Windows XP virtual machine. Cannot say how good System 76 support is because I have not had a single problem with it. The missus has a Dell XPS M1330 with Vista on it and I have lost count of how many times I have had to rescue it for her.
I bought the Serval Pro. 4GB Ram, 320 GB HDD, nVidia 9800M GTS with 512MB, and WUXGA screen. When it came, I didn't sleep for 2 days. Oh wow! What a machine! The WUXGA screen is unbelievable. I thought that 1900x1200 would be too fine a resolution to work with, so phoned up System76 to investigate further. I was considering the 1680x1050, but really wanted the higher resolution. The guys allayed my concerns, and I am so glad I went all in for it. It does HDMI and DVI out. I hooked up my HD projector to it via the HDMI interface and we watched Indiana Jones in glorious wide screen splendor - and I was also surfing the IMDB database for additional information on the movie. Didn't skip or drop a frame. Later my son and I played nexuiz on the screen. It was the only time he'll ever get to touch this, but it was fantastic. The Serval Pro is a beautiful machine. It's based on the Clevo M860TU, one of the fastest 15.4 laptops on the market, and used by the most discerning custom builders for their top of the line gaming systems. It's a head turner. When it arrived, I turned it on, created my account, and got to work. It booted in no time, and was about 5 times easier than my wife's Windows XP system was to set up. Even my son's Macbook was way more complicated to set up. Of course, with Ubuntu, you have to set up extra repositories to get the codec goodies. I suppose you could put on Linux Mint, which in my mind is a prettier interface than Ubuntu and comes with all the goodies. I thought about that, except that the Mint 6 64 bit version is not ready yet. Besides it was a snap to hook up the requisite repositories and load up the additional stuff I wanted. As you've heard, System76 really comes through with the customer support. I've had no problems, but they were exceedingly helpful when I made my purchase. I will definitely buy from them again, but I am hoping this nitro-powered beast will get me through the next couple of years, at least! Summary - 1 very happy Serval Pro user.
order a dell xps....the hardware is top notch.
I apologize, but what is with this guy ^ |
I was sold on the Dell laptops. Maybe they are good computers. They just didn't want to sell me one. A month delay is just too long for me to wait. :(
Thanks again for all the input everyone. I'm planning on purchasing a System76 laptop this Friday. :)
I thought Dells were good, too. Especially the Precision laptops. I was down to the Precision M4400, Lenovo W500 or the System76 Serp5. I wanted WUXGA, 4GB, and at least 250GB disk. They were all close in price. I went with the Serp5 because of the System76 service reputation and the fact that they only support Linux. You really have to dig to get the other 2 ordered with Linux. I don't regret my choice.
Just received my Darter 3 wks ago. Like it LOTS! Fast, everything worked till I broke some stuff. Its all working again. What little support I have asked for has been very good. I deal with Dell a lot also and they are not the co they were 3-4 yrs ago. Their support used to be pretty responsive and right on. Not so anymore.
I have been beating on my Darter pretty hard and its still tickin.
I would recommend again in a min. :p
It's not a deal breaker for me if my old 2004 Intuous Wacom tablet doesn't work on the Pangolin, but I hope it will. Has anyone had any experience with System76 and Wacom tablets?
I can't speak for their hardware, but System 76 customer's support is awesome. I am retired and have been working toward getting a Ubuntu computer for almost two years. System 76 has been answering my emails on tech details all during that time and I had not purchased anything yet. Wonderful gentlemen. It sounds like your order and mine will going through the same week. I'm getting a Pangolin.
NerdcoreSteve said: It's not a deal breaker for me if my old 2004 Intuous Wacom tablet doesn't work on the Pangolin, but I hope it will. Has anyone had any experience with System76 and Wacom tablets?
Have you followed the advice under here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wacom ?
I don't have an Intuous, I have a Bamboo. It took some work before 8.10 to get working, now it pretty much works out of the box.
I don't have the machine yet, but I will soon.
<Zim>Soon!</Zim>
:p
NerdcoreSteve said: I don't have the machine yet, but I will soon.
<Zim>Soon!</Zim>
:p
Not soon enough!:D I knew I wanted an Ubuntu laptop and last summer my decision also came down to Dell and System76. In the end I decided that if I wanted a Linux computer I wanted to support a Linux computer company. These boards made the final decision easy. I've been enjoying my System76 Pangolin since last August. Outstanding machine, outstaning company! 8)
If you have problems with the Wacom tablet, post up, my wife has one, I'll just steal it and see if I can get it working on my Pangolin.
Just ordered it. I'd like to say again how much I appreciate everybody's input. I feel a lot better about my purchase.
You'll love it. :D And now I'm going to make you more antsy, I'm sure.
I ordered a Pangolin Performance last week, and it arrived yesterday. It is absolutely beautiful. Nice looking, solid, I am just so in love with the LCD display (the default choice)... I actually have it turned down to 75-80% brightness, just to conserve battery life (which is pretty short, but not a real issue for me) and it's still so bright and clear. Keyboard and touchpad are responsive and give nice "feedback" when you type (though I need to mess with the settings on the touchpad a bit) and just seems so far like a solid, good machine.
No stranger to Linux, but I hit a bit of a snag when I did some system updates the first time around (it was an odd error that dpkg --configure -a couldn't set right, but a reboot, and a stab at repeating the update settled things down). I think it was an Ubuntu/kernel upgrade issue moreso than a S76 problem, though, and everything else has been smooth as silk. Webcam works well (well, okay, better than I've had any webcam work with Linux)...
Really happy with it thus far... and y'know, had I known... I would have been more itchy to get in my hands. :D I was told there would be a slight delay with the shipment, but it really only shipped a day later than I would have expected (and days before they told me they thought it might) and they kindly upgraded my shipping method. Good service, and the hardware seems good quality... well worth the price (and yes, even the wait!):p
shoe
I upgraded to the nVidia 180 drivers, everything is so much smoother. Even tested in WoW, was much faster than last time I test ran it. Going to test out more later.
linuxlibrarian said: You'll love it. :D And now I'm going to make you more antsy, I'm sure.
I ordered a Pangolin Performance last week, and it arrived yesterday. It is absolutely beautiful. Nice looking, solid, I am just so in love with the LCD display (the default choice)... I actually have it turned down to 75-80% brightness, just to conserve battery life (which is pretty short, but not a real issue for me) and it's still so bright and clear. Keyboard and touchpad are responsive and give nice "feedback" when you type (though I need to mess with the settings on the touchpad a bit) and just seems so far like a solid, good machine.
No stranger to Linux, but I hit a bit of a snag when I did some system updates the first time around (it was an odd error that dpkg --configure -a couldn't set right, but a reboot, and a stab at repeating the update settled things down). I think it was an Ubuntu/kernel upgrade issue moreso than a S76 problem, though, and everything else has been smooth as silk. Webcam works well (well, okay, better than I've had any webcam work with Linux)...
Really happy with it thus far... and y'know, had I known... I would have been more itchy to get in my hands. :D I was told there would be a slight delay with the shipment, but it really only shipped a day later than I would have expected (and days before they told me they thought it might) and they kindly upgraded my shipping method. Good service, and the hardware seems good quality... well worth the price (and yes, even the wait!):p
shoe
That kind of stuff doesn't worry me. I expect problems. I just don't want big, long, or insoluble problems. I work in tech support so I'm fairly confident I can figure stuff out.
NerdcoreSteve said: Just ordered it. I'd like to say again how much I appreciate everybody's input. I feel a lot better about my purchase.
Let us know how you like it once you get it. I'm considering ordering one of these myself so I'd be interested to see what you have to say about it.
I just got it! I am typing on it right now! It looks great! I am so excited! Wheeeeeee! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
Update on my new Pangolin.
It's working great so far. My tablet works fine in Gimp. It doesn't work quite right in Pencil yet, but I'm sure I can figure it out. I've played lots of free games and used a few cool math programs like Genius. I tried to get my Dark Knight DVD to play but it didn't work immediately, but I'm sure I'll figure that out as well.
I installed Compiz and now my windows wiggle when I move them.
I love this thing so far.
To play DVDs, you need to install the restricted codecs...
http://knowledge76.com/index.php/Installing_Restricted_Formats
Tom is absolutely right. Once you install the restricted codecs from the Medibuntu repository you will be able to play encrypted DVD's, work with MP3's if you want, and view most on-line video clips. Enjoy your new toy,....errrr tool. ;-)
Joe
Yeah - same thing happened to me.
Dell couldn't ship on time and we recently received out new Pangolin laptop from System76.
I'll never go back to Dell again.
System76 has my business from now on.
Thanks! I can play DVD's now!
Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!:popcorn: