Spanish computer company Slimbook has unsheathed its latest Linux laptop — the mighty 15.6-inch Slimbook Excalibur.
Their largest laptop to date, the Excalibur is forged entirely from aluminium (think MacBook), cutting itself a prime spot alongside the more nimble 13″ Slimbook KDE laptop.
‘The only 15-inch aluminium laptop on the market available with GNU/Linux’
The company says it is the only 15-inch aluminium laptop on the market available to buy pre-loaded with GNU/Linux.
Inside, the Slimbook Excalibur — which is a totally awesome name, btw — is powered by an Intel i5-6200U (2.3GHz, duel dual-core) or an Intel i7-6500U (2.5GHz, dual-core), depending on the config.
Both models have a 15.6-inch display, comes with 4GB RAM as standard (8GB and 16GB upgrades available) and offer same set of ports, including a USB Type-C port and full-size HDMI out.
The Slimbook Excalibur is not only physically bigger and technically beefier than the rest of the Slimbook family, but it also has a slightly better screen too, in its LED Matte 15.6-inch FHD (1920×1080) anti-glare display.
Oh, and did I mention it has a dedicated graphics card in the NVIDIA GeForce 940M 2GB? No? Well I just did.
Slimbook Excalibur i5
- 15.6″ FHD matte display
- Intel i5-6200U @ 2.3GHz
- NVIDIA GeForce 940M
- 4GB, 8GB or 16GB RAM
- 120GB SSD (upgradeable)
- Priced from €759
Slimbook Excalibur i7
- 15.6″ FHD matte display
- Intel i7-6500U @ 2.5GHz
- NVIDIA GeForce 940M
- 4GB, 8GB or 16GB RAM
- 120GB SSD (upgradeable)
- Priced from €859
Ports wise the KDE Slimbook has 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, HDMI out, an SD card slot, and a backlit keyboard is included.
The aluminium casing means this laptop has a cold, robust feel and finish but also a slightly heavier weight at 2.2kg (including battery). Despite the weight the laptop still manages to measure a fairly slim 37.4 x 24.5 x 2cm.
A full range of operating systems are available at no-cost, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Antergos, and KDE Neon. If you really want it Windows 10 is available for an extra fee.
Slimbook Excalibur Price
Niche computing always has a slightly higher cost than mass-marketed Windows laptops, so if you’re hoping to scan these pages and find a total steal of a price, sorry!
Pricing for the Slimbook Excalibur currently starts at €759 for the Intel Intel i5 model with 4GB RAM and a single 120GB SSD. A full spec’d model with i7 processor, all the RAM, plus dual hard-drives will set you back well north of €1000.
These are pre-order prices. After May 25 the prices will go up by €40 per config.
You can see a brief overview of the Slimbook Excalibur in all its resplendent glory in this video, where it’s running KDE Neon.
And you know, based on what i’ve seen, I think the Slimbook Excalibur is gonna put up a good fight against similarly spec’d laptops from better known brands.