While I think the unbridled hyperbole on the StationX website is absurd, I will say that when it comes to Linux laptops, having all the components work correctly with Linux (and it be stable!) is probably the hard thing to make.
I don't know if these guys do that part well, but if they actually make it work flawlessly (and if their competitors don't do as well), then the cost difference might be worth it.
Frankly, I haven't found any new laptop of any OS to work great all the time. It's like we've moved back in time about 15 years. Everything sucks in some way.
>I will say that when it comes to Linux laptops, having all the components work correctly with Linux (and it be stable!) is probably the hard thing to make.
Not really that hard in 2017, just go all Intel (CPU/GPU/WiFi/etc), and you're pretty much set.
I've got an HP that works more reliably and completely under Linux than under Windows 7 (granted, it was shipped with Windows 10). It was a pain to get the proper versions of Intel drivers and Mesa working together for optimal GPU capabilities, though.
The touchpad is stupidly large, and I suppose it took some tweaking to get that working comfortably, too.
My previous laptop was a custom build, but last time I just did some searches, confirmed that a HP Pavillion works fine (at least this model does) with Ubuntu, and went to my local PC store and picked one up.
It's not like I can just pick up any random model and expect it to work, but the process is a lot better than it used to be.
I don't know if these guys do that part well, but if they actually make it work flawlessly (and if their competitors don't do as well), then the cost difference might be worth it.
Frankly, I haven't found any new laptop of any OS to work great all the time. It's like we've moved back in time about 15 years. Everything sucks in some way.