Pre-purchase check: Ubuntu 18.04 on Lafité III

R

ricclo

Member
So I'm happily running Xubuntu on my 2015 Defiance, with no issues. I've been very happy with the value and customisation of PC Specialist offerings, so I'm planning to get a Lafité III, probably the 15.6. I'm planning to install Xubuntu 18.04, no Windows included. Spec: i5 CPU, 16 GB RAM, m.2 SSD boot drive, 2.5 inch HDD for storage/archives/virtual machines. This will be a software development machine.

Does any one have a similar setup? Anything I should avoid? I see from other threads that Western Digital Black SSDs are problematic, and trackpads on other models are tricky.

Thanks in advance!
 
R

ricclo

Member
Great pointer, thanks, especially to the Clevo model number which got me some reassuring hits. I'll get one and report back to the compatibility thread.
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
I cannot speak for the Lafitte but have had no trackpad issues with the Octane, Optimus or Defiance which are all Clevo chassis.

I am unsure about the WD Black as some of the reported issues were actually GPU driver problems. Saying that there have been a few things around the net about them so I could not recommend you getting one, although I think it would probably be OK. I am hoping to get hold of one in the near future, if I do I will post any relevant install stuff which will be with Ubuntu and possibly another OS if I have time.
 
V

vrs888

Member
ricclo said:
So I'm happily running Xubuntu on my 2015 Defiance, with no issues. I've been very happy with the value and customisation of PC Specialist offerings, so I'm planning to get a Lafité III, probably the 15.6. I'm planning to install Xubuntu 18.04, no Windows included. Spec: i5 CPU, 16 GB RAM, m.2 SSD boot drive, 2.5 inch HDD for storage/archives/virtual machines. This will be a software development machine.

Does any one have a similar setup? Anything I should avoid? I see from other threads that Western Digital Black SSDs are problematic, and trackpads on other models are tricky.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Did you go for the Lafite 15.6"? If you did (or if it is imminent) it would be very helpful to see a review of this new chassis.
 
R

ricclo

Member
The Lafite III 15.6 arrived today. There was an unactivated Windows install on it, no doubt from testing, so I had a quick look at Windows on the machine. Everything worked perfectly, very quiet and snappy, and the fingerprint reader worked OK.

I then installed Xubuntu 18.10, smooth install with no drama or issues. After installation, light-locker misbehaved a couple of times -- blank screen or "session is locked" message after screensaver lock or unsuspend, which I sorted by Ctrl-Alt-F1/Ctrl-Alt-F7 and tinkering. I suspected a display driver issue, but oddly after the first 10 minutes of use the problem hasn't recurred.

Only one thing doesn't work out of the box -- the fingerprint reader. fprintd didn't work, and there's nothing in the output of lsusb or lshw that seems to be a fingerprint reader. Maybe Linux firmware is needed? This is a nice to have, but not essential for me.

The spec I went for was: i5 8265U, 16 GB RAM (2x8), 356 GB Intel 760p M.2 SSD as the system drive, 1 TB Seagate HDD for archives, VMs, etc.

I haven't tried a full battery cycle from 100% to 0% yet, but extrapolating from my last charge I'd guess 4.5 to 5 hours. Windows would probably get closer to the advertised 8 hours.

Bottom line: very happy with this!
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
Glad you like it and it is going well. The fingerprint problem is common unfortunately and am not sure if there are any decent work-arounds.
 
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