Serval vs Bonobo

Hi all,

Over the last three weeks, I have researched laptop after laptop, only to conclude that I can't get what I really want.. And even if I could get something to my spec needs, I would still have to strip that crap OS they call windows and install a real OS like Linux..

Now, after finding System 76, I have come to realize you can get a lot for your money in a laptop and it even has Linux on it..

So, my question to you is this: Do I choose Serval or the Bonobo??

The bonobo is $2614 - with the geforce 9800m gtx - 1 gb

The serval is $2093 - with the geforce 9800m gts - 512m

All the other specs are the same, with the exception of the screen size between the two..

Anybody out there got any good or bad reviews of either machine??

Cheers,

While I do not have either of the laptops you mention, I have purchased two others and have been impressed with the quality. I visit this site regularly and cannot recall any negative posts on either of the two laptops. Others are free to correct me.

In my opinion, the best choice needs to be based on what you plan to do with it. Is battery life important to you? Then you may want to contact System 76 customer support and find out the respective battery lives.

If you plan to carry the laptop around a lot, you may not appreciate the increased weight and bulk of the 17" model.

Or, if you plan for it to be largely a desktop replacement connected to the mains then the Bonobo makes a bit more sense.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the forum.

Joe

I have the bonobo. I use it as a desktop replacement and I carry it around everywhere with me. Get a good carrying case for it and the weight isn't that bad. The 17" WUXGA is AMAZING on this thing. I can't think of anything negative about it. Everything has worked out of the box, no issue. I went with the bonobo because of the larger screen over the serval, the extra weight didnt' matter much for me.

Thanks guys for your reply..

I really like both systems and will choose one soon..

Gpstar, how long did it take you to get your Bonobo once you ordered it??

I also notice on both systems that they only allow 4 gigs of RAM max.. Is that all the system can handle, or is the maximum 8 gigs and they aren't selling the 4 gig ddr3's because they are too expensive??

The specs for both machines specify 4GB. I've heard rumors of people using more, but we can't really recommend / sale more than 4GB.

cafuemerson said: Thanks guys for your reply..

I really like both systems and will choose one soon..

Gpstar, how long did it take you to get your Bonobo once you ordered it??

I ordered it the day they were first announced by system76 back in early october. I'm in Canada, took about 10-12 days if I recall.

Thomasaaron, the reason I ask about the ram is for scalability reasons.. 4 gigs of RAM is fine right now, but in the future would maybe like to add RAM by replacing the 2 gig dimms for 4 gig dimms.

Cheers,

according to intel's website, the mobile PM45 chipset supports 8gb of ram

http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=35515

cafuemerson said: Thomasaaron, the reason I ask about the ram is for scalability reasons.. 4 gigs of RAM is fine right now, but in the future would maybe like to add RAM by replacing the 2 gig dimms for 4 gig dimms.

Cheers,

That is true and I can only assume that if the bonobo has the Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset, the serval does also..

according to intel's website, the mobile PM45 chipset supports 8gb of ram

http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=35515

The *chipset* might support 8GB, but that doesn't mean that all of the motherboards engineered to incorporate that chipset do.

Here's how I answered a recent inquiry. I hope it helps...

The specs for both motherboards (Serval and Bonobo) state a maximum of 4GB or RAM. For this reason, I don't recommend installing more. While it is *possible* that it *could* run more than 4GB, I have no way of testing/knowing whether running more than the recommended maximum RAM could cause either hardware damage or a negative performance impact on the machine. I also can find no extra-specification information showing anything other than a 4GB total -- or feedback from customers saying they've tried it.

All of that said, I'm betting 4GB of RAM (given the processing speed of these computers) can handle just about anything you can throw at it. We've sold these computers to a number of engineers, researchers, programmers, etc... and I've not heard of 4GB of RAM ever being a performance barrier.