I started from desktop machines, like everyone who was born in 1980’s. I was tired of desktop computers and Windows operating system, wanted to have small notebook with Linux. After many years my first laptop was, used Dell Vostro V131 with Intel Core i3, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD hard drive. It was my main machine for many years, with Xubuntu on board as main operating system. Today I am working on brand new, white Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1. Still with Xubuntu, but also with Windows as dual boot. My Dell have Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD hard drive. Switching from old Vostro to XPS was like changing old car to Ferrari. In addition, the XPSs are well made, they look very nice and are damn small.
Today the most important for me is the amount of RAM and disk capacity… and as a real alpha male befits, color, size and appearance (I am a girl inside - or better not to write like this, because it will offend someone’s religious or political feelings and will hurt someone’s gender affiliation. Strange and twisted times) Although Dell laptops are perfectly adapted to work with Linux (especially developer versions that can be purchased with Linux installed). Newer freaks like the one I have, with a touch screen and tablet function not always works well with Linux, and you have to work a bit to make everything work like it should. But this is also probably the standard form of using Linux, it doesn’t work and I have to read the internet for it to work. When it works, it turns out that something else doesn’t work and I have to read the internet again to find out after 3 hours that it won’t work because it won’t or because I fixed previous thing. If you want to learn anything, install Linux. You will no longer be a regular computer user.
Dell and IBM have always made hardware that works well with Linux. Practically any older hardware from these two companies that you buy, will be fully functional after installing Linux.
Now, after this lengthy introduction, I will finally tell you what’s going on. The point is that recently I was browsing the market of laptops dedicated to Linux and thus built with user privacy in mind. As I will probably be looking for a new laptop in the near future (shh don’t tell my wife, she will kill me), I decided to collect all my findings in one place. I will not list all that exist, it will be a list of devices that are visually and in size similar to Dell XPS, but would have the option of extending the RAM memory to 64 GB and a minimum disk of 1 TB. They were nice and at the same time small and made in recent years, let it be modern equipment. I will use functions like kill switch for camera, sound and WIFI as an additional advantage.
As a reminder, the dimensions of the DELL XPS 7390 laptop is 29,6 x 20,7 x 1,53 cm and weight 1,33 kg.
Can we call this list open source ultrabook’s? Sure we can.
Open Source Ultrabook’s
A list of powerful, light and small laptops with Linux and lots of everything else. In the order I like them best.
Librem 14
CPU: Intel Core i7-10710U
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620
RAM: from 8 to 64 GB
HDD: from 250 GB to 2 TB
Display: 14”
Weight: 1,4 kg
Size: 32,2 x 22 x 1,7 cm
Material: aluminum
Kill switches: camera, mic, headphones audio, Bluetooth, WIFI.
Official website: https://puri.sm/products/librem-14/
TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14
CPU: Intel Core i5-1135G7 or Intel Core i7-1165G7
GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics 80 or Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96
RAM: from 8 to 64 GB
HDD: from 250 GB to 2 TB
Display: 14”
Weight: 1 kg
Size: 30,88 x 21,5 x 1,56 cm
Material: magnesium alloy
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks/10-14-inch/TUXEDO-InfinityBook-Pro-14-Gen6.tuxedo
StarBook Mk V
CPU: Intel Core i3-1110G4 or i7-1165G7
GPU: Intel® UHD G4 Graphics or Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: from 8 to 64 GB
HDD: from 250 GB to 2 TB
Display: 14”
Weight: 1,4 kg
Size: 32,63 x 22,04 x 1,80 cm
Material: anodised aluminium
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://starlabs.systems/pages/starbook
Slimbook Pro X
CPU: Intel i7-10510U or AMD Ryzen 7 4800 H
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX250 2GB with Intel® UHD Graphics or AMD Radeon Graphics Vega 7
RAM: 8/16/32 GB in Intel version or in version with AMD 8/16/32/64 GB
HDD: from 250 GB to 2 TB
Display: 14”
Weight: 1,1 kg
Size: 32 x 21 x 1,68 cm
Material: magnesium Aluminum Alloy
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://slimbook.es/en/pro-x-en
Slimbook Executive
CPU: Intel Core i7-1165G7
GPU: Intel Iris X
RAM: 8/16/32/64 GB
HDD: from 250 GB to 4 TB
Display: 14”
Weight: 1 kg
Size: 30,8 x 21,5 x 1,5 cm
Material: Gray magnesium alloy
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://slimbook.es/en/executive-en
System 76 Lemur Pro
CPU: Intel Core i5-1135G7 or Intel Core i7-1165G7
GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: from 8 to 40 GB
HDD: from 256 GB to 4 TB
Display: 14,1”
Weight: 1,09 kg
Size: 32,1 × 21,6 × 1,55 cm
Material: plastic
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://system76.com/laptops/lemur
Juno Jupiter 14 Pro
CPU: Intel Core I5-1135G7 or Intel Core I7-1165G7
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650
**RAM: **from 16 to 64 GB
HDD: from 250 GB to 2 TB
**Display: **14”
Weight: 1,39 kg
Size: 32,49 x 22,5 x 1,76 cm
Material: plastic
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://junocomputers.com/product/jupiter-14-pro/
Entroware Apollo 14
CPU: i5-1135G7 or i7-1165G7
GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: from 8 to 64 GB
HDD: from 256 GB to 2 TB
Display: 14”
**Weight: **1,5 kg
Size: 32,49 x 22,5 x 1,7 cm
Material: plastic
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://www.entroware.com/store/apollo
Worth mentioning
Maybe not opensource or privacy orientated, but should work quite good with Linux (maybe some extra configuration is needed) and are quite slim and powerful.
Razer Blade Stealth 13
CPU: Intel Core i7-1165G7
GPU: GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
RAM: 16 GB
HDD: 512 GB
Display: 13.3”
Weight: 1,41 kg
Size: 30,46 x 21 x 1,53 cm
Material: CNC aluminum
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-blade-stealth
Razer Blade 14
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX
GPU: GeForce RTX 3060
RAM: 16 GB
HDD: 1 TB
Display: 14”
Weight: 1,78 kg
Size: 31,97 x 22 x 1,68 cm
Material: CNC aluminum
Kill switches: no
Official website: https://www.razer.com/gaming/laptops/razer-blade-14
Conclusion
Until recently, we could just dream about such a large set of interesting equipment. I like Librem 14 the most. I am still waiting for the perfect combination. In my opinion it would be something like Razer Blade Stealth 13, because it looks amazing with same CPU (Intel Core i7-1165G7) and GPU (GeForce GTX 1650 Ti) but 64 GB of RAM and 2 TB hard drive and kill switch for camera, mic, headphones audio, Bluetooth, WIFI the same from Librem 14 and open source Coreboot bios.
When I was buying my Dell, I had to import it from the USA, and I even managed it at a similar price. I wanted to buy the Razer Blade Stealth 13 then, but it would be a miracle to get it in Central Europe, and if someone would help me, the price would be increased by half. It is hard to live in a country in Europe that until recently was considered a third world country by Amazon and other large corporations :(
Do you know any other equipment and manufacturer that would fit into the above article? Let me know.