System76 starts designing laptops in January 2020 2020

System76, the developer of Pop!_OS, wants to start designing laptops in January 2020. The company already sells laptops, but other manufacturers design and manufacture them. The laptops with their own design are expected to be released in a few years.

System76 CEO Carl Richell says designing and developing a laptop can take two to three years, Forbes writes. System76 will initially produce a u-class laptop. These are ultrabooks with a relatively thin and compact design. The company already sells such laptops, namely the Galago Pro and Darter Pro, which were announced in October. However, the laptops the company currently sells are made by manufacturers such as Sager and Clevo. In the future, the company will look at options for its own gaming laptops and workstation notebooks.

Last year, the company already released a desktop of its own design. The System76 Thelio is a series of desktops with open hardware and various options for components. During the development process of the Thelio desktops, which took more than two years, the company did not yet have its own factory. The company has since invested in its own factory in Denver, where System76 is located. This gives the company all the necessary resources to design and produce its own laptop.

System76’s laptops are expected to include the Pop!_OS operating system. This Linux distribution is based on Ubuntu and System76 develops it itself. Current System76 laptops also use Pop!_OS by default and also have open source firmware in the form of bios alternative coreboot.

Two of the current System76 laptops; the Darter Pro (left) and the Galaco Pro