System 76 unveils Ubuntu-powered Darter ultraportable series

It looks like the barrage of Vista-equipped laptops has subsided just a bit, which means it's the perfect time for System 76 to bust out a new Ubuntu Linux laptop to appease the open-source crowd. The Darter series boasts a trendy white paint job, a 13.3-inch widescreen WXGA display, and weighs a very manageable 4.3-pounds. Aside from booting directly into Ubuntu, this ultraportable machine boasts Intel Core 2 Duo options up to 2.33GHz, as much as 1.5GB of DDR2 RAM, 40GB to 100GB hard drives, a dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth, Ethernet, 4-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard slot, VGA / S-Video out, a trio of USB 2.0 ports, audio in / out, FireWire, and a six-cell Li-ion battery that chugs along for around 4.5-hours per charge. Not so surprising, however, is the slightly higher than average price, as this little fellow starts at just under a grand, but soars to nearly $2,000 when adding all the highly coveted niceties that are oh-so-hard to resist.

[Via CoreDuoNews]

[VadimP. @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:18PM]

Sweet... but I just bought their serval laptop not too long ago, and quite happy with it. (etqw on high settings ftw).

[Mark F @ Feb 7th 2007 6:57PM]

Sweet. I love Ubuntu and it is a great operating system. This will be good for students I think who do not want to spend too much on a new vista laptop. Ubuntu is a good OS that is as capable as any other OS on the market today, except its free. :)

[pAtrick @ Feb 5th 2007 7:08PM]

Well it is a start.

[architect.zero @ Feb 5th 2007 7:37PM]

Ultra-portable? Sorry. Bzzt. Wrong.

Too big (13.3" screen? c'mon; 11" and smaller for an ultra portable). Too heavy (my 15" TiBook weighs about the same; good grief).

Other than that, not a bad item.

[Fred @ Feb 6th 2007 12:24PM]

"my 15" TiBook weighs about the same"

No, a 25% increase in weight is not "about the same."

[Ashley @ Feb 5th 2007 7:48PM]

"my 15" TiBook weighs about the same; good grief"

good grief? I don't know if you know this but there's not a lot of difference between 13.3 and 15

[adam @ Feb 5th 2007 7:53PM]

this is a rebadged ASUS laptop! I was going to buy it (XP version, not Linux), but decided on a tablet pc instead.

[architect.zero @ Feb 5th 2007 8:13PM]

Ashley, perhaps you should pay close attention to that statement within the context of the entire post. For your convenience, let me rephrase things:

My 15" TiBook weighs about the same as this so-called 'Ultra'-portable. Therefore, how can this be classified as an ultra-portable?

[faria @ Feb 6th 2007 5:39PM]

I couldn't find which ASUS model that would be. The closest (Asus W7J) has camera and CD/DVD. See http://usa.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=5&l2=131

Anyone would know ?

[Randavance @ Feb 5th 2007 7:57PM]

It's soooo pretty. I want it. But I would have to change the GDM theme right away. I love Ubuntu, I've messed with alot of GNU/Linux distros and by far Ubuntu is my favorite. The only thing that annoys me is the default theme, red and brown, it's like someone bled all over the GUI. I've personally themed everything from the GDM (log in manager) to the windows to be blue, I also am a fan of the tango icon set.

It's definitely nice to see some Ubuntu laptops coming, Linspire has been doing that for a looong time, but Ubuntu is way better. Though I think I would just buy a cheaper laptop and put Ubuntu on it myself. But then again, the off white is pretty damn sexy.

[7of7 @ Feb 5th 2007 8:20PM]

Eh, it's kinda cool. I'd buy it to install Vista on.

[ark_v2 @ Feb 7th 2007 9:53AM]

Finally! Go Open-source!
Still...another laptop with a better graphics card might be a better choice for ubuntu.

[k0a9 @ Feb 5th 2007 8:40PM]

This would be very significant if they are supporting full power management and features such as video out, for a period of time. Otherwise you can DIY, with a certain (overwhelming) amount of pain.

[Mohan @ Feb 5th 2007 10:26PM]

Sweet this might be my next laptop. Currently I am running an HP with Ubuntu 6.10 on it.

[TheMadTurtle @ Feb 6th 2007 2:00PM]

Huh. And here I just put Ubuntu 6.10 on my Compaq that is approx. 4 years old and it runs like a champ! Who would pay even $1K for this when it makes your "old junker" look brand new again?

[ChaOS @ Feb 6th 2007 11:25AM]

what gets me is that it runs a free OS, and its not cheaper than its windows counterparts.

[Apreche @ Feb 6th 2007 11:59AM]

Yeah, if you buy this you are pretty crazy. I have to buy a new laptop soon because I'm quitting my job and my employer owns my current notebook. I plan to run Ubuntu and I've found many laptops a lot sexier than this for a lot less money. They all come with Vista or XP, so I'm paying the Microsoft tax. Despite that, they are way sexier than this and way cheaper. Also, most of the laptops out there are available with Intel video cards and wireless carsd. All the parts will work perfectly in Ubuntu. If you want to attract sales by avoiding the Microsoft tax, you have to charge less money and have equally sexy hardware.

[Thai Dang Vu @ Feb 6th 2007 8:11PM]

I'm also using Ubuntu and I wonder when there'll be a PDF editor on Linux so that I can say goodbye to my XP :(

[Miller @ Feb 14th 2007 12:14AM]

http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=001&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=110092067609&rd=1&rd=1