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The folks at Eurocom have released another monster 'mobile workstation'
This time around the company's released the Sky X9W complete with a quad-core, eight-thread, Intel Core i7 6700K capable of operating at 4.2GHz and nestled amidst an Intel Z170 Express (Skylake) chipset. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000M dwarfs the CPU for core count: it's got 1,536 of its own.
Pack in 64GB of DDR4-2133, 2400 or 2666 RAM, if you please, then throw in up to four NVME SSDs and give them the RAID 10 treatment for data protection.
There's also a 17.3 inch 4K screen at 3840 x 2160.
[... it also has] a single USB-C port, a pair of mini display ports capable of driving four monitors, an HDMI outlet, five USB 3.0 ports, a pair of RJ45s and Wi-Fi.
Configurations start at $2930 (and weigh in at 4.8 kg / 10.6 lbs — ouch!) , but you can configure it to a price well over $4000.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/05/eurcom_sky_x9w/
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 07 2016, @02:35PM
Which laptops do you guys use that work well with Linux? Important things to me include: matte screens, good keyboard, normal-sized track pads that are centered on the G/H keys rather than a giant pad centered on the palm rest, strong BIOS compatibility (no broken ACPI suspend/wake), fully functional with Linux, preferably under $1200. System 76 probably has the most complete offering but only gloss screens, terrible track pads, and the drivers are only guaranteed to work with Ubuntu (which I don't want). Asking on Reddit resulted in a bunch of advice to buy a used Thinkpad but I really shouldn't have to settle for old hardware just because I prefer Linux; it's not a second-class OS...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 07 2016, @04:47PM
Then buy a new ThinkPad, maybe?
Seriously, if you ever want to go the (Open)BSD route, ThinkPad is a very sensible choice (T450, this one).
(Score: 1) by mechanicjay on Sunday February 07 2016, @04:55PM
My primary 'desktop' at home is a Lenovo Thinkpad T400 running Gentoo. I had to swap out the wireless card because when I ordered the laptop I foolishly spec'ed the wrong card which was iffy with linux drivers. This things sits on a docking station most of the time.
The computer I take places with me is a Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet running OpenSuse 13.2 (Haven't yet upgraded it to 42.1) It's very light, convertible pen tablet. It's a little bit limited since it maxes out at 4GB of memory and I've been wanting for a bit more than the 2.5Ghz Core2 Duo. All the tablet stuff works, which is great.
I don't know what the current crop of Thinkpads are like, but they historically run *great* with Linux, the situation may have changed in the last few years though. That said, were I in the market for a brand new machine, I'd consider System76, since I can't justify the $5000 for one of the beasts in TFA.
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 07 2016, @10:01PM
Any Dell Latitude or Precision series machine will work without issue on Linux.
They have matte screens (well, on everything that isn't a touchscreen), they have both a trackpad and a trackpoint, magnesium alloy designs, strong hinges, and for the newer machines, you get the choice of having an off-centered keyboard with number pad (which is the thing to do these days), or a traditional centered keyboard WITHOUT the number pad (like the big Thinkpads used to have).
Personally, I carry a E7450 for travel. There is a new 15" Precision with Xeon processor and up to 64GB of ECC memory. It has a centered keyboard. I would get it if I didn't just throw down $1500 on this desktop build.
Oh, and the BIOS supports all of the battery-saving features that requires the tp_smapi module for Linux on Thinkpads. That means you get the same battery control features that tp _mapi provides regardless of preferred OS. And of course, things like the backlit keyboard, screen brightness, disabling touchpad, etc. are handled by the BIOS and do not need a special driver to run.
I used to recommend Thinkpads, but not anymore, after Lenovo shit all over its Linux users by not selling without Windows (a position they have since retracted from for now) and then separately bundled malware on its consumer-grade products. As an IT professional, carrying around a Thinkpad would be about as irresponsible as a medical doctor endorsing a certain brand of cigarettes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 07 2016, @10:08PM
Oh yeah, forgot to mention, my position on not using Thinkpads anymore is hardly unique. Visit the forums at Thinkpads.com. The old-timers fall into two camps: 1) Those who don't use anything newer than the W520 (most powerful machine with a proper centered 7-row keyboard), and 2) Those who have moved on to Dell Precision Series, HP Elitebook, Macbook Pro, and Panasonic Toughbooks. There's a reason the T61 Frankenpads still command $1000 from serious buyers.
The people who are just parroting the "Get a Thinkpad" line are out of touch with reality. Lenovo is an evil organization that still gets by because people heard at one time, "Lenova makes good computers." Their good will has a negative balance and their geek cred is gone. Fuck 'em.