The Slimbook Pro X bills itself as the ‘best Linux Laptop in the world’ — a bold claim, but does it hold up?
Well, on paper at least, it looks like it might.
The latest Linux portable from Spanish computer company Slimbook certainly sports enough muscle to give many well-known laptop a run for their money.
In fact, overall, the Slimbook Pro X looks better spec’d and costs less than the latest MacBook Air, seen by many as the ultimate on-the-go laptop.
So what makes the Pro X seemingly exceptional? Let’s take a look…
Slimbook Pro X: Specs & Price
I’m a big fan of small laptops — anything bigger than 13.1-inch and I’m almost not interested — so the smallness of the Pro X appeals to me — but there’s as twist.
The Slimbook Pro X somehow squeezes a 14-inch screen into a 12.8-inch laptop body!
Somehow the Slimbook Pro X squeezes a 14-inch display into a 12.8-inch laptop’s body. This sleight of hand means thin bezels (albeit ones that aren’t quite as svelte as those on the newest Dell XPS 13 developer edition).
Yet despite being boasting a larger screen than the one found on Apple’s newest MacBook Air the device not only weighs less (clocking in at 1.1 kg versus the Air’s 1.25 kg) but costs less too!
Admittedly the display on the Pro X might be bigger than Apple’s offering but it’s not quite as luscious with its FHD (1080p) 16:9 resolution, but it does supports True Color sRGB 99%, making the laptop especially great for design work.
Internally the Slimbook Pro X is built around an Intel i7-8565U processor. This quad-core chip has 8 threads and runs at 1.8GHz, with a turbo boost of 4.6GHz for when you need more power.
8GB of memory is included as standard, with options for 16GB and 32GB. As the RAM isn’t soldered to the motherboard you can always upgrade it further down the line.
A Nvidia GeForce MX250 2GB GDDR5 should handle graphics with ease, while.
Ports wise the model sports 2x USB 3.1 (Type A) ports, a single USB Type-C port, and an additional USB 2.0 port. There’s full-size HDMI output, and a combo 3.5mm audio/mic jack.
Other Features of the Slimbook Pro X
There are some of other selling points that help the Slimbook Pro X stand out from the crowd:
- Biometric face login via IRCam
- 11 hours of battery
- 2x M.2 slots
- Dedicated graphics chip
Let’s tackle those in turn:
Biometric facial recognition that works is impressive! Slimbook even say the facial recognition can be used to run sudo! Installing apps with your face?! That’s crazy and quirky.
Equally impressive is the claim of 11 hour battery life. For a Linux laptop that’s pretty sweet, even with the Slimbook battery optimizer for Linux.
Having a pair of M.2 slots mean there’s ample room for expansion down the line (or when you buy), with support for SSD.NVMe in RAID 0 or 1. The RAM isn’t soldered, either.
Finally, having a dedicated Nvidia GeForce MX250 graphics chip is great. Slimbook say it delivers 3.5x times the graphics grunt of the integrated Intel UHD 620 (which is also included thanks to support for Nvidia Optimus switching technology).
Worth Buying?
In summary, the Slimbook Pro X is possibly the standout laptop in Slimbook’s hugely expanded range of Linux-powered devices .
Their wares encompass traditional desktops and performance laptops to familiar looking all-in-one PCs, and sleek ultrabooks. They even found room to make a KDE-branded notebook!
Adding a premium, powerful and proficient portable like the Pro X makes perfect sense.
The Slimbook Pro X price starts at €998 for the base model, with the price increasing as you customise and curate components. Available to pre-order, and shipping in July.
Price wise the Slimbook Pro X stacks up well when compared to Apple’s latest MacBook Air (dual-core i5 with integrated graphics, 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD starting at £1,199) or the Microsoft Surface Book (dual-core Intel i5 with integrated graphics, 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD starting at £979).
And while it’s not quite as thin as the latest MacBook Air it is roughly 4% smaller than the 2017 model.
H/t Bryan