7 ms·

I strongly believe that being able to hire a top-notch industrial designer can change the entire course of the company. With Apple, it was Jony Ive and for Brau

I strongly believe that being able to hire a top-notch industrial designer can change the entire course of the company. With Apple, it was Jony Ive and for Braun it was Dieter Rams. With IBM, they were the executives that had an impeccable taste in design which propagated from top-down. System76 is well positioned to be in this space to shall I dare to say - compete with Apple? Only if they invest in design. It sounds like a stupid non essential thing but design sells. When it sells, boy it sells; it makes the backbone of a company. As it stands, System76 has mediocre branding and design in my personal opinion. Not great, but also not bad. I am not excited about the wooden trim approach integrated in the PC case. But, these things are subjective. If they nail ID, I believe they have a really bright future. When I say, hire a top notch designer - I mean, someone who can change the world type; not someone that they can just hire by posting a job ad. But, it has to start from the owners of the company. If they think Design as a cost center in marketing, forget about it.

outworlder 8y ago
> As it stands, System76 has mediocre branding and design in my personal opinion I don't know, it's looking better now than some generic boxes you see from big name companies.
cbsmith 8y ago
ID is one path to one kind of success. I dare say System76 is charting a very different path.
- fermienrico 8y ago
  I find this thought process unsettling. For one, ID is not a mutually exclusive endeavor. If a company has A, B, C and D. Adding E, in this case - ID, only adds to the value of the company. Good ID never diminishes it. I am comparing System76 with 70's IBM, Apple and Braun in my original comment. If IBM didn't pay attention to design - sure, they'd be successful probably. But ID has only added to their goodwill and brand name. Unfortunately, it is no longer true with IBM today. :-( Executives that pay attention to ID and its value create a direct unspoken visual link with their customers. Customers notice the smallest details, perfection in every aspect of the product and they realize & get the impression about company's dedication towards other non-ID related things. Stripe does this really well. It is even more critical for a physical product that you touch and feel. ID is sort of like a short-cut of communicating the abstract concept of quality to customers. It works brilliantly as a marketing tool as well as a tool to deliver actual measurable benefits to the customer (ease of use, clarity in operation, aesthetic appeal, etc.)
  - HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
    Minimalist ID is by far the cheapest way to achieve good details. Mixing 2 or 3 materials together and getting them right is even harder. ID has been done to death and has stopped amusing me for years now. This is why I think the direction s76 is going is much, much more interesting. Wood on a desktop computer is a good idea( ignoring the execution), but a laptop with 2 or 3 materials mixing would be even better.
  - cbsmith 8y ago
    Sigh. I guess I wasn't explicit enough. It turns out, if you are manufacturing original products for mass production, you are doing ID. So yes, there is no path to success manufacturing original products without doing ID. I wasn't implying one needn't have ID any more than your comment implies one needn't have engineering. What I was referring to your comment about "hire a top-notch industrial designer" to produce distinctive designs of impeccable taste. Yes, products with exceptional ID will sell in major ways. It turns out, that products that are exceptional in a lot of dimensions sell in major ways. Products that are exceptionally inexpensive sell in major ways. Products that are exceptionally marketed sell in major ways. Products that are exceptionally well engineered sell in major ways. ...and if everyone is employing exceptional ID, then doing so yourself doesn't actually make your product exceptional. And no, customers don't "notice the smallest details, perfection in every aspect of the product". There are some products that certain customers fetishize and absolutely do notice this stuff, but the vast majority of products people interact with on a daily basis barely register. I agree that ID is a short cut for communicating quality to customers. Sometimes you shouldn't take the shortcut. Sometimes it's better to take the long way around. Great ID can work brilliantly as a marketing tool as well as a tool to deliver actual measurable benefits to the consumer. Great engineering can do the same. Having a unique value proposition (which I'd argue is System76's case) can do the same. There's more than one kind of market success and more than one path to market success.
    - fermienrico 8y ago
      I think you have some valid points. There is a lot of crap out there today that doesn't have good ID and it sounds weird to say but doesn't need ID. If you're selling utilitarian objects, for example, construction materials: Nuts & Bolts, Screws, I-Beams, Dry wall, etc. None of that stuff needs any ID - as you said it would be all about whether the object functions or not. Good engineering is what it needs, I agree with you there. Don't you feel that there are a lot of products out there that are not designed well? They're just slapped together, molded shut and ready to mass market? ID would just be a one time NRE cost if they don't use expensive materials. If you get a chance, do catch the "Dieter Rams" documentary by Gary Hustwit. I thought it was amazing and you'd I think enjoy it.
- isantop 8y ago
  Industrial Design is the discipline within the design field that deals with the physical design of products/hardware. It's not a genre of design itself.
  - cbsmith 8y ago
    Yes.
swalsh 8y ago
Maybe because i'm a woodworker, but I LOVE the wood trim :D
- reaperducer 8y ago
  I'm not a fan of the dark wood; it makes me think of every piece of consumer electronics made in the 1970's. But I like the lighter wood. It feels almost midcentury modern. More importantly, someone's made a tower computer that doesn't look like something from a 10-year-old's comic book collection, or every Wintel box made since 1993.
  - jfoutz 8y ago
    sooo, the maple option?
- marssaxman 8y ago
  Yes, it's the first desktop PC I've seen in years that I wouldn't want to hide away in a cabinet.
  - isantop 8y ago
    That was quite literally the goal from the beginning. Make a computer that one would feel ashamed to hide in a cabinet.
nextos 8y ago
I agree, and it should be doable even for relatively small manufacturers. Just to quote two examples: https://streacom.com/products/db4-fanless-chassis/ https://streacom.com/products/db4-fanless-chassis/ https://www.cirrus7.com/produkte/cirrus7-nimbini-v2/overview https://www.cirrus7.com/produkte/cirrus7-nimbini-v2/overview
- leovander 8y ago
  I'm currently waiting for their first kickstarter batch to ship in the upcoming weeks. http://www.louqe.com/ http://www.louqe.com/
  - rawoke083600 8y ago
    looks good but the grate at the top... doesnt all the dust just fall in ? More so than on side grates
    - swozey 8y ago
      Not really, I've got my water cooler fan on the top grill of my case so the hot air flows up. What happens is the top gate gets covered in dust because it's blowing up and out of the case. I have to clean the top more often than anything else on my system.
DavidNielsen 8y ago
I like the wood, I think it is nice to see someone go a different route than copying Apple’s all metal, clean look. It’s a warm and organic look which feels fresh. I also suspect that the wood might help the machine dampen noise which would be welcome. They also copied a page from Apple’s eco playbook and will plant a tree for every machine sold which is nice to see. A solid move given the company’s size and reach. I wish more IT companies would use that as a marketing move, it has good signaling value and helps drive change. I’d like them to do even more with the wooden look and feel, but their cases are still not far removed from a typical desktop. I think it would be great to see them do something really small, in the Mac Mini style, but with that warm wood look. That would look great on any desk. I’d also like to see someone Hackintosh those machines just for fun.
- fermienrico 8y ago
  > I like the wood, I think it is nice to see someone go a different route than copying Apple’s all metal, clean look. It’s a warm and organic look which feels fresh. I also suspect that the wood might help the machine dampen noise which would be welcome. I disagree with the idea of creating "fresh" and "trendy" design. In all cases, except say Fashion, it creates substandard design to cater to originality & staying trendy. Timelessness cannot be realized if your design philosophy is to try to stay "fresh". What is fundamentally wrong with metal & clean design? The answer shouldn't come from the fact that "Oh shit, someone is already doing that, let's do something different. May be wood?". The answer should come from fundamental understanding of materials, their use, durability, haptics & touch, engineering needs (bend radius, coefficient of thermal conductivity, flextural ridigity, etc.) and DFM aspects. Everything else is decoration, not design. As Paul Rand said, "Don't try to be original. Just try to be good."
  - rileyphone 8y ago
    Given that the modern trend in desktop cases is slapping a piece of plexiglass on the side, I don't think materials engineering has much to do with this field. Anyways, they're trying to market to hip companies looking to buy workstations, for which this is a good design.
puranjay 8y ago
I was looking to build a computer recently and was disappointed to see that virtually every cabinet looked like a cabinet Not that there is anything wrong with it, but there has been so little innovation in PC design for so many years. Everything is still dominated by LEDs and sharp edges and some desire to appear "techy" It's like we're still living in an era where computers are a novelty, not just another thing in the house
- codetrotter 8y ago
  You might be interested to learn that there is a community of people creating unconventional cabinets. What they do is known as “case modding”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_modding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_modding As for why most cabinets look so similar outside of that, I’d say it is probably at least in part thanks to such designs being the best we have in terms of airflow and ease of access to components within.
- noir_lord 8y ago
  Agreed, I've always preferred the plain box approach to PC building but it's getting harder to just find one. Coolermaster served that role for years but seem to have vanished. Recently I ended up putting nearly £2K worth of equipment into one of these. https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Carbide-Series%E2%84%A2-100R-Silent-Edition-Mid-Tower-Case/p/CC-9011077-WW https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Carb... It's quiet, neat and doesn't have a glow in the dark multi colored LED anything anywhere.
  - distances 8y ago
    Antec has cases in this similar style, sleek plain black with good tech inside. Like the P110: https://antec.com/product/case/p110s.php https://antec.com/product/case/p110s.php
  - jnurmine 8y ago
    When I was shopping for a computer I was actually disturbed by all the LED-enabled boxes with pseudo-scifi-militaristic bulging edges with a "spaceship" look and especially that window on the side. Of course, some people like that kind of stuff, this is why they sell such things. And why not, it is a matter of aestethics, but it is just not for me. Eventually I decided on Fractal Design's Define series, they have variants with and without the windows. Now I have a Define RS 5 Black (without the window!) and it is a great quiet case with many details, such as keeping dust out with meshes and vacuumable mesh filters. The System76 case looks nice, my initial impression was that it looked almost like a quality speaker with a kind of walnut finish. On further examination, it did not look so great, unfortunately. I'd like to see that tree part replaced with a dark metal-bluegrayish matte metal or something.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
Many of Ive's early iconic designs were straight lifts from Dieter Rams. Ive wasn't even subtle about it. https://www.cultofmac.com/188753/the-braun-products-that-inspired-apples-iconic-designs-gallery/ https://www.cultofmac.com/188753/the-braun-products-that-ins...
dylan604 8y ago
As much as Jony Ive did for Apple, some of the things that I absolutely hate about where Apple is currently is all from how much control Ive has been given. The as it exists "current" MacPro. Current in quotes as it has not been updated in 5+ years. It is Ive's "revolutionary" design of the system that has trapped them into this state. The fact they did a mea culpa on it was quite shocking from Apple. Also, the current state of the MacBook Pro series. Yes, thin/light is a nice aspect in a laptop, but I personally feel they are making them too thing. Add a couple of extra millimeters to the thickness of the case, but keep the mainboard at it's current size. That now allows space for ports like an SD card reader or USB-A type plugs. In the extra space, add some extra battery space and/or allow for better cooling.
- camjohnson26 8y ago
  As a long time Mac user I agree. My 2011 MacBook Pro is nearing the end of its life, even after ssd and RAM upgrades. This month I’m buying a System76 Gazelle to replace it. Been waiting years for Apple to deliver a laptop that meets my needs but they’ve gone the opposite direction I wish they would.
deltron3030 8y ago
>System76 is well positioned to be in this space to shall I dare to say - compete with Apple? Only if they invest in design. It sounds like a stupid non essential thing but design sells. Going into an organic artsy & crafty direction vs. high-end industrial design like Apple is a good choice if you support the DIY spirit (e.g. Linux & open source), it's more authentic in that context, and you won't be compared to Apple or perceived as imitation of them. It's also a good alternative to the cyber futurist gamer look that dominates the PC industry.
allenbrunson 8y ago
strongly agree. i am looking at this laptop: https://system76.com/laptops/galago https://system76.com/laptops/galago it's obvious these guys took their design cues from apple's laptops, but they've paid about a tenth as much attention to the details as apple would. unnecessary bumps and blemishes, odd discolorations here and there, couldn't be bothered to do anything about that hideous rectangle at the top of the screen where the camera is located, etc. i am contemplating a career move (no more ios development) that would mean i am free to leave apple's ecosystem. if some other company could make laptops as beautiful as apple's, without duplicating the mistakes apple has been making over the last few years, it would really grease the skids for me.
- bunderbunder 8y ago
  The thing there is, a smaller company can't really afford to build things the way Apple does. The economies of scale just aren't there, so they often have to stick to cheaper ways of doing things.
- opencl 8y ago
  System76 does not even design any of their laptops, they are all (currently) rebadges of Clevo machines. They do plan on releasing original designs with in house manufacturing at some point.
  - camjohnson26 8y ago
    My understanding is they work with Clevo to design new machines and then both companies sell them.
    - HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
      They don't, at least based on their community manager's response to a comment of mine on reddit. They are the biggest clevo client so they get a say on putting linux-friendly parts in the mainboard but that's it. My understanding is that clevo machines are linux friendly mainly because of s76's influence on them.
- 8y ago
samstave 8y ago
Ive had quite a few of their laptops, still have two Gazelles. The physicality of these cleo oem boxes is really really bad. But the value of the compute power for the buck was top notch. Also, their support was always stellar. Ill certainly buy form them going forward, just wish the gazelles had more physically sound chassis. So, i would just want to get my hands on a thelio to test out. If System76 is listening, how bout getting a base model to me to review here on HN. :-)

outworlder 8y ago

> As it stands, System76 has mediocre branding and design in my personal opinion I don't know, it's looking better now than some generic boxes you see from big name companies.

cbsmith 8y ago

ID is one path to one kind of success. I dare say System76 is charting a very different path.

fermienrico 8y ago
I find this thought process unsettling. For one, ID is not a mutually exclusive endeavor. If a company has A, B, C and D. Adding E, in this case - ID, only adds to the value of the company. Good ID never diminishes it. I am comparing System76 with 70's IBM, Apple and Braun in my original comment. If IBM didn't pay attention to design - sure, they'd be successful probably. But ID has only added to their goodwill and brand name. Unfortunately, it is no longer true with IBM today. :-( Executives that pay attention to ID and its value create a direct unspoken visual link with their customers. Customers notice the smallest details, perfection in every aspect of the product and they realize & get the impression about company's dedication towards other non-ID related things. Stripe does this really well. It is even more critical for a physical product that you touch and feel. ID is sort of like a short-cut of communicating the abstract concept of quality to customers. It works brilliantly as a marketing tool as well as a tool to deliver actual measurable benefits to the customer (ease of use, clarity in operation, aesthetic appeal, etc.)
- HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
  Minimalist ID is by far the cheapest way to achieve good details. Mixing 2 or 3 materials together and getting them right is even harder. ID has been done to death and has stopped amusing me for years now. This is why I think the direction s76 is going is much, much more interesting. Wood on a desktop computer is a good idea( ignoring the execution), but a laptop with 2 or 3 materials mixing would be even better.
- cbsmith 8y ago
  Sigh. I guess I wasn't explicit enough. It turns out, if you are manufacturing original products for mass production, you are doing ID. So yes, there is no path to success manufacturing original products without doing ID. I wasn't implying one needn't have ID any more than your comment implies one needn't have engineering. What I was referring to your comment about "hire a top-notch industrial designer" to produce distinctive designs of impeccable taste. Yes, products with exceptional ID will sell in major ways. It turns out, that products that are exceptional in a lot of dimensions sell in major ways. Products that are exceptionally inexpensive sell in major ways. Products that are exceptionally marketed sell in major ways. Products that are exceptionally well engineered sell in major ways. ...and if everyone is employing exceptional ID, then doing so yourself doesn't actually make your product exceptional. And no, customers don't "notice the smallest details, perfection in every aspect of the product". There are some products that certain customers fetishize and absolutely do notice this stuff, but the vast majority of products people interact with on a daily basis barely register. I agree that ID is a short cut for communicating quality to customers. Sometimes you shouldn't take the shortcut. Sometimes it's better to take the long way around. Great ID can work brilliantly as a marketing tool as well as a tool to deliver actual measurable benefits to the consumer. Great engineering can do the same. Having a unique value proposition (which I'd argue is System76's case) can do the same. There's more than one kind of market success and more than one path to market success.
  - fermienrico 8y ago
    I think you have some valid points. There is a lot of crap out there today that doesn't have good ID and it sounds weird to say but doesn't need ID. If you're selling utilitarian objects, for example, construction materials: Nuts & Bolts, Screws, I-Beams, Dry wall, etc. None of that stuff needs any ID - as you said it would be all about whether the object functions or not. Good engineering is what it needs, I agree with you there. Don't you feel that there are a lot of products out there that are not designed well? They're just slapped together, molded shut and ready to mass market? ID would just be a one time NRE cost if they don't use expensive materials. If you get a chance, do catch the "Dieter Rams" documentary by Gary Hustwit. I thought it was amazing and you'd I think enjoy it.
isantop 8y ago
Industrial Design is the discipline within the design field that deals with the physical design of products/hardware. It's not a genre of design itself.
- cbsmith 8y ago
  Yes.

swalsh 8y ago

Maybe because i'm a woodworker, but I LOVE the wood trim :D

reaperducer 8y ago
I'm not a fan of the dark wood; it makes me think of every piece of consumer electronics made in the 1970's. But I like the lighter wood. It feels almost midcentury modern. More importantly, someone's made a tower computer that doesn't look like something from a 10-year-old's comic book collection, or every Wintel box made since 1993.
- jfoutz 8y ago
  sooo, the maple option?
marssaxman 8y ago
Yes, it's the first desktop PC I've seen in years that I wouldn't want to hide away in a cabinet.
- isantop 8y ago
  That was quite literally the goal from the beginning. Make a computer that one would feel ashamed to hide in a cabinet.

nextos 8y ago

I agree, and it should be doable even for relatively small manufacturers. Just to quote two examples: https://streacom.com/products/db4-fanless-chassis/ https://streacom.com/products/db4-fanless-chassis/ https://www.cirrus7.com/produkte/cirrus7-nimbini-v2/overview https://www.cirrus7.com/produkte/cirrus7-nimbini-v2/overview

leovander 8y ago
I'm currently waiting for their first kickstarter batch to ship in the upcoming weeks. http://www.louqe.com/ http://www.louqe.com/
- rawoke083600 8y ago
  looks good but the grate at the top... doesnt all the dust just fall in ? More so than on side grates
  - swozey 8y ago
    Not really, I've got my water cooler fan on the top grill of my case so the hot air flows up. What happens is the top gate gets covered in dust because it's blowing up and out of the case. I have to clean the top more often than anything else on my system.

DavidNielsen 8y ago

I like the wood, I think it is nice to see someone go a different route than copying Apple’s all metal, clean look. It’s a warm and organic look which feels fresh. I also suspect that the wood might help the machine dampen noise which would be welcome. They also copied a page from Apple’s eco playbook and will plant a tree for every machine sold which is nice to see. A solid move given the company’s size and reach. I wish more IT companies would use that as a marketing move, it has good signaling value and helps drive change. I’d like them to do even more with the wooden look and feel, but their cases are still not far removed from a typical desktop. I think it would be great to see them do something really small, in the Mac Mini style, but with that warm wood look. That would look great on any desk. I’d also like to see someone Hackintosh those machines just for fun.

fermienrico 8y ago
> I like the wood, I think it is nice to see someone go a different route than copying Apple’s all metal, clean look. It’s a warm and organic look which feels fresh. I also suspect that the wood might help the machine dampen noise which would be welcome. I disagree with the idea of creating "fresh" and "trendy" design. In all cases, except say Fashion, it creates substandard design to cater to originality & staying trendy. Timelessness cannot be realized if your design philosophy is to try to stay "fresh". What is fundamentally wrong with metal & clean design? The answer shouldn't come from the fact that "Oh shit, someone is already doing that, let's do something different. May be wood?". The answer should come from fundamental understanding of materials, their use, durability, haptics & touch, engineering needs (bend radius, coefficient of thermal conductivity, flextural ridigity, etc.) and DFM aspects. Everything else is decoration, not design. As Paul Rand said, "Don't try to be original. Just try to be good."
- rileyphone 8y ago
  Given that the modern trend in desktop cases is slapping a piece of plexiglass on the side, I don't think materials engineering has much to do with this field. Anyways, they're trying to market to hip companies looking to buy workstations, for which this is a good design.

puranjay 8y ago

I was looking to build a computer recently and was disappointed to see that virtually every cabinet looked like a cabinet Not that there is anything wrong with it, but there has been so little innovation in PC design for so many years. Everything is still dominated by LEDs and sharp edges and some desire to appear "techy" It's like we're still living in an era where computers are a novelty, not just another thing in the house

codetrotter 8y ago
You might be interested to learn that there is a community of people creating unconventional cabinets. What they do is known as “case modding”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_modding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_modding As for why most cabinets look so similar outside of that, I’d say it is probably at least in part thanks to such designs being the best we have in terms of airflow and ease of access to components within.
noir_lord 8y ago
Agreed, I've always preferred the plain box approach to PC building but it's getting harder to just find one. Coolermaster served that role for years but seem to have vanished. Recently I ended up putting nearly £2K worth of equipment into one of these. https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Carbide-Series%E2%84%A2-100R-Silent-Edition-Mid-Tower-Case/p/CC-9011077-WW https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Carb... It's quiet, neat and doesn't have a glow in the dark multi colored LED anything anywhere.
- distances 8y ago
  Antec has cases in this similar style, sleek plain black with good tech inside. Like the P110: https://antec.com/product/case/p110s.php https://antec.com/product/case/p110s.php
- jnurmine 8y ago
  When I was shopping for a computer I was actually disturbed by all the LED-enabled boxes with pseudo-scifi-militaristic bulging edges with a "spaceship" look and especially that window on the side. Of course, some people like that kind of stuff, this is why they sell such things. And why not, it is a matter of aestethics, but it is just not for me. Eventually I decided on Fractal Design's Define series, they have variants with and without the windows. Now I have a Define RS 5 Black (without the window!) and it is a great quiet case with many details, such as keeping dust out with meshes and vacuumable mesh filters. The System76 case looks nice, my initial impression was that it looked almost like a quality speaker with a kind of walnut finish. On further examination, it did not look so great, unfortunately. I'd like to see that tree part replaced with a dark metal-bluegrayish matte metal or something.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

Many of Ive's early iconic designs were straight lifts from Dieter Rams. Ive wasn't even subtle about it. https://www.cultofmac.com/188753/the-braun-products-that-inspired-apples-iconic-designs-gallery/ https://www.cultofmac.com/188753/the-braun-products-that-ins...

dylan604 8y ago

As much as Jony Ive did for Apple, some of the things that I absolutely hate about where Apple is currently is all from how much control Ive has been given. The as it exists "current" MacPro. Current in quotes as it has not been updated in 5+ years. It is Ive's "revolutionary" design of the system that has trapped them into this state. The fact they did a mea culpa on it was quite shocking from Apple. Also, the current state of the MacBook Pro series. Yes, thin/light is a nice aspect in a laptop, but I personally feel they are making them too thing. Add a couple of extra millimeters to the thickness of the case, but keep the mainboard at it's current size. That now allows space for ports like an SD card reader or USB-A type plugs. In the extra space, add some extra battery space and/or allow for better cooling.

camjohnson26 8y ago
As a long time Mac user I agree. My 2011 MacBook Pro is nearing the end of its life, even after ssd and RAM upgrades. This month I’m buying a System76 Gazelle to replace it. Been waiting years for Apple to deliver a laptop that meets my needs but they’ve gone the opposite direction I wish they would.

deltron3030 8y ago

>System76 is well positioned to be in this space to shall I dare to say - compete with Apple? Only if they invest in design. It sounds like a stupid non essential thing but design sells. Going into an organic artsy & crafty direction vs. high-end industrial design like Apple is a good choice if you support the DIY spirit (e.g. Linux & open source), it's more authentic in that context, and you won't be compared to Apple or perceived as imitation of them. It's also a good alternative to the cyber futurist gamer look that dominates the PC industry.

allenbrunson 8y ago

strongly agree. i am looking at this laptop: https://system76.com/laptops/galago https://system76.com/laptops/galago it's obvious these guys took their design cues from apple's laptops, but they've paid about a tenth as much attention to the details as apple would. unnecessary bumps and blemishes, odd discolorations here and there, couldn't be bothered to do anything about that hideous rectangle at the top of the screen where the camera is located, etc. i am contemplating a career move (no more ios development) that would mean i am free to leave apple's ecosystem. if some other company could make laptops as beautiful as apple's, without duplicating the mistakes apple has been making over the last few years, it would really grease the skids for me.

bunderbunder 8y ago
The thing there is, a smaller company can't really afford to build things the way Apple does. The economies of scale just aren't there, so they often have to stick to cheaper ways of doing things.
opencl 8y ago
System76 does not even design any of their laptops, they are all (currently) rebadges of Clevo machines. They do plan on releasing original designs with in house manufacturing at some point.
- camjohnson26 8y ago
  My understanding is they work with Clevo to design new machines and then both companies sell them.
  - HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
    They don't, at least based on their community manager's response to a comment of mine on reddit. They are the biggest clevo client so they get a say on putting linux-friendly parts in the mainboard but that's it. My understanding is that clevo machines are linux friendly mainly because of s76's influence on them.
8y ago

samstave 8y ago

Ive had quite a few of their laptops, still have two Gazelles. The physicality of these cleo oem boxes is really really bad. But the value of the compute power for the buck was top notch. Also, their support was always stellar. Ill certainly buy form them going forward, just wish the gazelles had more physically sound chassis. So, i would just want to get my hands on a thelio to test out. If System76 is listening, how bout getting a base model to me to review here on HN. :-)