Bought: September 2013
I meant to review this product when it
first arrived, but I'm glad I waited. Tech reviews about products
that have only been used for a week are never accurate. It's better
to know how the product lives up to months of use.
It's been over 3 months of my having
and using the Bonobo Extreme from system76 and I have some very mixed
feelings about the device and company.
My main reason for choosing system76 is
I wanted a company that was dedicated to linux. When my windows
laptop broke I promised myself not to opt for another windows
machine. But I knew that coming from windows to linux would not be
easy and thus wanted a laptop from a company that could offer good
customer service and answer all my questions.
I also wanted a laptop that had unbuntu
or another linux distro pre-installed. One can download linux onto
almost any computer but I had never used the operating system before,
and I know next to nothing about computers. I felt it would be less
of a hassle to simply get a laptop that was pre-installed. My original
laptop had died, and I'm a student that does courses via correspondence. I'm also a writer that had clients waiting on their
work so I needed a new laptop asap. If I had more time to browse, I
would have looked into things more carefully.
The ordering process from system76 was
easy enough. I chose my specs and they 'built' it. One of the things
I wished I had known was that System76 outsources some of the work.
Most people don't care if their laptops are outsourced. But I do,
especially after seeing how under paid and under valued outsourced
workers are. Long before my laptop broke, I was researching for a
company that built the parts and devices themselves. There aren't
many, but system76 claimed to be one such company. Turns out this
claim is false and had I known, I would have just bought a macbook.
The reason I was miffed about the false
claim is that “home sourced” products are always more expensive.
I could have bought an “out sourced” laptop for $800 that had the
features I like instead of the nearly $2000 I spent on my bonobo
extreme!
But sourcing aside, here are some pros
and cons I have with this product.
PROS
1. Sturdy. I never buy consumer laptops
because most of them are built too cheap to last more than a couple
years. I prefer business or even gaming laptops since they often have
great features and durability. The bonobo extreme is a very sturdy,
very heavy laptop. It's 8.60lbs and is rightly dubbed “a beast of a
machine.” It's a gaming laptop and has the weight and durability
that I like in my laptops. It makes me somewhat confident that the
body will hold up to daily use.
The parts also seem of good quality. My
previous dell felt and looked cheap right out of the box, but this
one looked rather luxe.
2. Great sound/video quality. I'm not a
gammer so I wasn't too concerned about video and sound at first but
when I played a video on the bonobo extreme I was impressed with the
sound quality! It makes watching video a far more enjoyable
experience than on my previous laptops. The videos are crisp and
smooth and even normal pics look nice. Things just look better on the
bonobo extreme, which really pleased me.
3. Practically worked out of the box.
Now, before I rave about how this was a simple set it and go process
I want to mention that not everything worked out of the box with this
device and I talk more about that in the cons sections. That said, I
was able to turn on the laptop and have it do basic laptop things. I
surfed the net, wrote up some assignments and projects, watched a
video, listened to music, and checked my email all out of the box.
Coming from windows, I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to
type a simple document without first programming and tinkering with
it but I was able to do some serious work the very first day.
4. Good forum and service. I had some
issues with the laptop when it first came and was able to talk to
some one online who was patient with me as they tried to help me. I
haven't had too many gripes with System76's customer service. Most
people are very friendly and helpful.
CONS
Some of the below cons may be linux
related, so keep that in mind as you read on.
1. Some parts did not work. When I got
my laptop, I was really excited to try out the webcam. None of my
past built in webcams worked so I was beginning to think I was
cursed. It seems the curse lives on because the webcam was dead when
my laptop arrived! DEAD! I spent $2000 and my webcam was dead! I was
mad. I tried everything the forums and customer service suggested
until he figured out that it was dead. He told me to send it back at
the cost of $100 to have it fixed. What?! I get a laptop that doesn't
work like it should and I have to pay to ship it back and have it
fixed, plus another $100 in customs fees to receive it again. No
thanks. I'll get an external one with that money.
The webcam was not the only thing that
refused to work, I couldn't get the usd card drive to work no matter
what, I learned there was some bug preventing it, and the fingerprint
reader was also unusable. I feel like despite it's “sturdy”
exterior, my laptop was thrown together without concern. If it had
been less expensive I wouldn't have minded having to buy external
hardware but it was very expensive and at that price, I expect things
to work without me having to spend more money on it.
2. Not as fast. This was totted as a
fast laptop but even out of the box it loaded slow. In fact it's only
been 3 months and it loads as slow as my old one that I had for
years. I don't even have anything on it expcept school assignments so
it shouldn't be this slow, this early in the game.
3. Short battery life. The bonobo
extreme had decent battery life for about a month, now I can't use it
for more than 45min before I get a warning that my battery is low.
For the record, this is a working laptop and when it's not plugged in
all I use it for is typing. Therefore, it should not deplete quite so
soon when there aren't any other programs running.
4. I absolutely detest the touch pad. When I don't have my external mouse using the bonobo extreme is a pain. The touch pad is very jumpy and just difficult.
5. Linux is fun but...I like linux
don't get me wrong. I like that I can customize it, I like that I
have more choice with it; I like that I can get many quality programs
for free. I'm not sure I could go back to windows, but there are some
things windows and mac does better. One is video. The editing
programs for linux are either outdated, over complicated, or boring.
As someone who does video reviews, I've yet to find a linux
compatible program that can compete with some of the programs made
for windows or mac.
Another issue I have is that there are
a number of hardware and software that aren't linux compatible. With
windows, one doesn't have to be too concerned if there digital
camera, printer, or even cell phone will work with their laptop. But
for every computer related device I buy, I have to check if it is compatible. This can mean spending more or buying an item I don't
really like simply because it works with linux out of the box.
OVERALL
I like my bonobo extreme linux
installed laptop. It does the basic things I need it to do, but there
are some things I still haven't got it do well yet. System76 is not a
bad company but they are overpriced. I may choose them for customer
service, but I'm not sure I love their products. I didn't need a
fancy laptop, I needed one that worked without too much hassle and
the bonobo extreme has caused me my fair share of it and it hasn't
even been a year. If I was going to buy from them again, I would opt
for a much cheaper laptop.
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