System76 is now shipping a flagship laptop with beta software, a decision rarely seen at this price point. We look at the reasoning and realities behind the move.
Anyway you look at it, releasing a new $2,599 laptop with a preinstalled operating system that’s still in beta is a bold move. Some might say it’s a gutsy move too, since installing beta software often means installing unknown gotchas.
The folks at System76, the company behind the laptop, don’t see it that way. Why? Because for starters, the problems that arise in beta releases almost always have to do with undiscovered hardware conflicts that don’t occur until the software is put out in the wild, where it’ll be installed on hardware — and hardware combinations — never encountered in the lab. Since the Oryx Pro — the laptop in question — is part of the lab experience for System76’s Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Beta — the operating system in question — that bridge has already been crossed.
The System76 crew has another reason to be in full Alfred E. Neuman “What, me worry?” mode with this move:
“The beta release has been our smoothest software release ever,” the company said in a statement. “We’re incredibly confident in our decision to give customers access to hardware running the next evolution of Pop!_OS.”
Now might be the time to tell you that the beta OS also includes the beta version of the Cosmic desktop environment. The popular DE has been around since 2020, but until this release it was based on Gnome. This version is all new, completely rebuilt from the ground up using the Rust programming language for increased stability and security. It’s overall graphic design and interface are thought by many users to be a game changer, and System76 is touting the DE as a selling point for the new Oryx release.
“The First Laptop with the Cosmic Desktop!” the print shouted from a newsletter that went out on Wednesday.
The Distro and the Desktop
It’s kinda hard to determine whether the lede for this story is the hardware or the software, but since we’re a FOSS site, we’ll start with the latter. Because we already reported on both System76’s Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Beta release and its new scratch-built desktop a few weeks ago when the beta was released, we’ll keep it focused on what System76 is saying now.
For starters, in Wednesday’s newsletter, in a blurb that literally linked to a lot of links (all to articles on September’s beta release), they said, “Reception for the next evolution of Pop!_OS has been highly positive. We’re confident it will serve you well!”
In a press release, also issued Wednesday, System76’s founder and CEO Carl Richell issued a statement that also commented on the OS’s smooth beta launch and flight.
“The Cosmic Beta is the smoothest release I’ve ever seen,” he said, “and we’ve done tons of releases. I’ve polled the support team and tracked social networks I’m in, and this is eerily smooth.”
Good to know, especially given that based on the DE’s popularity alone, the upcoming stable release of Cosmic might well be the most anticipated Linux desktop release of the decade — so anticipated that more than a half-dozen Linux distros are waiting to add the stable version to their distro’s repertoire when it’s released. According to System76, the DE is not only being put through its paces in the wild, it’s also being battle tested at company’s Colorado offices.
“Most of the company has been using COSMIC daily since before the beta was released,” they said.
The Latest Oryx Pro
If you’re wondering why System76 made the bold move to go with their not officially ready for prime time OS… well, it’s a necessity and mother of invention thing. The Oryx Pro is powered by AMD and Nvidia, which requires the Wayland display server, which previous versions of Pop! don’t support — hence the beta release is being pressed into early service.
That’s good news in a lot of ways for anyone buying one of the new laptops however, since the new distro/desktop combination comes with a few innovations. For example, the company’s design team has come up with a clever way for users to protect battery life in those situations when the next charge might not be possible for a while.
“When the GPU is running, an indicator appears in the battery applet,” they said. “Closing the app then turns off the GPU. With NVIDIA and AMD drivers preinstalled, gaming and other GPU tasks on the Oryx Pro are easy as ever.”
The new Oryx Pro is also lighter than previous versions of the laptop line, thanks to its attractive silver aluminum case, and it features a bigger, more immersive display. Here’s what’s available when you order:
- AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 — System76’s fastest mobile CPU offering
- NVIDIA RTX 5070 graphics
- 16” 2K (1600p) display at 240Hz
- 50 TOPS CPU & 798 TOPS GPU for AI work
- Up to 8TB storage
- Up to 96GB DDR5 memory
- USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, MicroSD, and headset jack
The laptop is available for configuration now on System76’s website.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
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