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[SOLVED-for now] The ultimate package building laptop?

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stevepusser
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[SOLVED-for now] The ultimate package building laptop?

#1 Post by stevepusser »

I was looking at the System76 Serval WS with an 8th Generation i7 desktop CPU (4.3 Ghz Turbo, 6 cores, 12 threads), 16 GB RAM, and a 256 GB NvME SSD. That looks like a beast. Does anyone have any alternate suggestions?

Update and resolution: it was worth waiting a bit--I just had this ordered: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BWF4H3W/re ... =UTF8&th=1

Much lighter than the Serval, I could buy two for the price of one Serval,( money is definitely an object here) and the battery life should be much, much longer, especially since I should be able to use the Intel GPU on it most of the time. The SSD is probably considerably slower than the Serval's, though.

No doubt I'll see some much better laptop tomorrow... :D
Last edited by stevepusser on 2018-04-14 21:57, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#2 Post by pawRoot »

3.4kg holy crap :mrgreen:

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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#3 Post by stevepusser »

pawRoot wrote:3.4kg holy crap :mrgreen:
Yeah, another review said the 230 watt power brick is the size of an actual brick. I wonder if the two extra cores is worth the cost and weight penalty over a conventional powerful mobile laptop.
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#4 Post by pawRoot »

I would rather go for more mobility, but if you need some much power...

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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#5 Post by alan stone »

stevepusser wrote:Does anyone have any alternate suggestions?
An off-lease laptop workhorse with (nearly) the same, or to (nearly) the same upgradable, characteristics.

EDIT: added (nearly)

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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#6 Post by stevepusser »

pawRoot wrote:I would rather go for more mobility, but if you need some much power...
Yeah, I'm doing lots of kernels and browser builds for MX Linux, so the more power, the better. Something like pure Python packages take only a few seconds, since they don't compile. I did the llvm-5.0 toolchain a few weeks ago, and that took many hours on my current laptop for the 32 and 64-bit builds.

I saw one reviewer say that the eighth generation Intel chips have almost double the number crunching power of the seventh generation, which would also be nice.
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#7 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

What framerate you getting in CS:GO? :mrgreen:

That's a beast...
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#8 Post by stevepusser »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:What framerate you getting in CS:GO? :mrgreen:

That's a beast...
Hey, it's about building six kernels in ~ 30 minutes instead of 6 1/2 hours!
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#9 Post by Wheelerof4te »

OS: Pop!_OS 17.10 or Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS
Processor: 8th gen Intel...
Me: Yeah, right...with like 4.13 and 4.10 kernels? BS
Bonus brownie points for using Nvidia card on a Linux machine.

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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#10 Post by stevepusser »

Wheelerof4te wrote:OS: Pop!_OS 17.10 or Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS
Processor: 8th gen Intel...
Me: Yeah, right...with like 4.13 and 4.10 kernels? BS
Bonus brownie points for using Nvidia card on a Linux machine.
I'm not going to be using the OS that it comes with, of course, plus Ubuntu users aren't stuck with those kernels any more than Debian users. I'm not using the Win10 that came with my current machine. I just would prefer a machine that has Linux-proven hardware, and to support an manufacturer that supports Linux.
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#11 Post by Wheelerof4te »

stevepusser wrote:I just would prefer a machine that has Linux-proven hardware, and to support an manufacturer that supports Linux.
A true and noble reason ;)

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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#12 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

stevepusser wrote:to support an manufacturer that supports Linux
Then why the NVIDIA card?

Anyway, surely Ryzen would be a better bet after the Meltdown fiasco? :twisted:
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#13 Post by pawRoot »

I have ATI GPU and the drivers are so bad that Intel iGPU has better performance in Linux ...
So i guess Nvidia is best choice, f*** AMD.

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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#14 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

pawRoot wrote:So i guess Nvidia is best choice, f*** AMD.
That is a ridiculous attitude for a Debian user to have.

AMD have recently open-sourced their driver and it is now better than the proprietary version in every way.

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/xse ... deo-amdgpu

Since when did NVIDIA contribute to the Nouveau project or release their source code? :x
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#15 Post by pawRoot »

It is attitude of someone who can't use his GPU under linux because the drivers are so bad.
I have tried both closed and open drivers, and in CS GO amd has worse performance than intel iGPU
as i said above.

With Nvidia i was getting same performance as on Windows.

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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#16 Post by stevepusser »

Actually, for package building just an integrated Intel GPU is fine, but I guess that's disabled from what I can see on the web page. :( Hey, later this year Intel will be shipping processors with integrated AMD GPUs instead of the Intel ones.


I don't know what the most powerful AMD laptop is, but I think Ryzen support in the kernel is still not fully cooked yet.
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Re: The ultimate compiling laptop?

#17 Post by alan stone »

stevepusser wrote:I saw one reviewer say that the eighth generation Intel chips have almost double the number crunching power of the seventh generation, which would also be nice.
That would be most welcome indeed for the required use, +30-40% was (initially?) announced if I remember well.

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Re: The ultimate compiling (package building) laptop?

#18 Post by steve_v »

i7-8700K...
GTX 1080
Beastly :D
Just flat out "ultimate performance laptop" compiling, gaming, rendering, whatever. Might have to get one to run Gentoo on :P
That looks like a pretty beefy cooling arrangement too, wonder what kind of load it can do continuous?

As for the Nvidia vs AMD debate back a bit, I too have had "fun" with the garbage AMD/ATI drivers. Never again. Nvidia may be non-free and a bit of a PITA, but at least their drivers work.
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Re: The ultimate compiling (package building) laptop?

#19 Post by alan stone »

wizard10000 wrote:I think the biggest issue you're gonna have on a laptop is cooling and sadly, there ain't a whole lot you're going to be able to do about it.
Ice Bucket Challenge it?

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Re: The ultimate compiling (package building) laptop?

#20 Post by stevepusser »

alan stone wrote:
wizard10000 wrote:I think the biggest issue you're gonna have on a laptop is cooling and sadly, there ain't a whole lot you're going to be able to do about it.
Ice Bucket Challenge it?
A review I saw said you're going to roast some delicate bits if you actually try and use it on your lap. I imagine battery life is going to be quite short, too, but that's not a concern for me.
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