UK-based laptop company Star Labs announced the pre-order of its new Linux laptop named Star Lite Mk III. Long name!
The Star Lite Mk III is available for pre-order right now with a starting price of $426 and up. The actual shipping will start from tentative September 2020. Detailed buying options at the end of this page.
Spec
From the price standpoint, it is a value for money Linux laptop if you compare it with Dell’s Linux laptop or System 76’s laptop offerings.
Star Lite Mk III comes with an 11.6-inch screen with Intel’s Atom-based Pentium Silver N5000 processor (4 Core, 4 thread), 8GB RAM and 240GB of storage. The best thing about this laptop is the x86 processor in this price range with Linux which gives you better software compatibility than ARM-based processors which is used in the PineBook series.
This laptop comes with a handy backlit keyboard, 1920×1080 max resolution display, glass touchpad, stereo speakers.
Storage spec is having a SATA SSD, with DDR4-2400 RAM.
All major connectivity options are loaded in this laptop including Wifi, Bluetooth 5.0, one USB-C port, 3.5 headphone jack, 1 USB 3.0 and 1 USB 2.0 port, one micro HDMI port.
And it weighs approx 0.9 kilos / 2 pounds. However, you can not upgrade the RAM and the webcam is of 480p resolution.
The Software
The Star Lite Mk III can be shipped with any of the below 6 Linux Operating systems which is a piece of real good news for Linux and open-source community and also for those users who want more OEM options with Linux pre-installed in a decent Laptop.
- Ubuntu 20.04 LTS / Ubuntu MATE 20.04 LTS
- Linux Mint 20 “Ulyana” (MATE / Xfce / Cinnamon)
- Manjaro 20.0 “Lysia” (GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce)
- elementary OS 5.1.5 “Hera”
- Zorin OS 15.2 Core or Ultimate or Education
- MX Linux 19.2 “Patito Feo”
The choice of operating system gives you the freedom to choose your own favorite distribution. All the operating systems are well supported via the community as well. That means, if you run into trouble, the solutions are easily available – just a Google search away.
As these are pre-loaded with major Linux distributions, and well tested you can assure that your Wifi, webcam, and other hardware drivers are already loaded. You can check out Star Labs compatibility test report here for Linux.
The irony is, Windows 10 Home and Professional edition is also there but you have to pay an additional $120 to $220 for Windows. And there is a no operating system version as well if you want one.
Buy
It is available for pre-order at the moment via the below site and will be shipped around the end of Q3 2020.
Star Labs ships worldwide, so no worry about availability; you get to choose your country and currency before purchase.
So if you are interested and planning to buy a Linux laptop with pre-installed Linux distributions and a budget laptop, this might be the one.
Image credit: Star Labs
