Linux computer company System76 sells a range of laptops that come with a choice of Ubuntu Linux or the company’s own Pop!_OS operating systems. The latest addition is a 15.6 inch mobile workstation that will be the company’s first laptop with a 4K OLED display.
The System76 Adder WS is set to go on sale August 8th.
System76 says the laptop will be available feature NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics, a 15.6 inch, 3840 x 2160 pixel glossy OLED display, and support for:
- Up to 32GB of DDR4-3000 or 64GB of DDR4-2666 RAM
- Intel Core i7-9750H or Intel Core i9-9980HK processor
Other features include:
- 2.5″ drive bay
- 2 M.2 slots for SATA or PCIe NVMe drives
- Gigabit Ethernet
- 802.11ac WiFi
- Bluetooth 5.0
- HDMI
- Mini DisplayPort
- Mic and headphone jacks
- Stereo speakers
- 1MP webcam
- 1 x Thunderbolt 3
- 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C
- 3 x USB 3.0 Type-A
- SD card reader
- 62 Wh battery (removable)
Measuring 14.1″ x 10.2″ x 1.8″ and weighing about 5.5 pounds, the Adder WS is a bit larger than the laptops I usually write about. But it will be one of the most powerful laptops to ship with GNU/Linux software rather than Windows or macOS when it goes on sale later this week.
System76 hasn’t announced pricing yet, but if I had to guess I’d say “a lot.”
4K wouldn’t be my pick for a Linux laptop. Not very many Linux distros have proper UI scaling for 4K. Even if you sort that out, not very much software supports DPI scaling. I have a 27″ 4K monitor, and I had a really hard time using most of my favorite software.
“Intel Core i7-9750H or Intel Core i9-9980HK processor”
That i7 benchmarks as faster (by a little in single core, by a lot in multi-core) than the 65 watt i7-6700 on my work development desktop. The i9 benchmarks better than the 65W i7-8700. If the machine can handle the thermals (a big if, but not impossible on such a big machine) then it’s going to be an absolute beast. I look forward to buying one on eBay in 2026.
I don’t think they’re going to have a hard time getting the thermal solution correct with this laptop. These are probably made by a rather large laptop OEM that probably builds laptops for several major brands. I don’t think System76 has much involvement with the engineering side. They just picked the cooling solution out from a catalog.