If you’re in the market for a new Ubuntu laptop be sure to check out HP’s refreshed ZBook series, which were formally unveiled today.
I’ll warn you up front that these portable powerhouses aren’t cheap — prices start from $1,989 — but these machines are now available to buy full certified for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS across a mesmerisingly mammoth range of configurations.
While I’m not familiar with HP workstations their marketing reliably informs me that the Z-series Fury line is built to shoulder workloads from data scientists, engineers, and creative professionals.
I.e. these notebooks are designed to do more than 😉help you just couch-stalk old crushes on Facebook .
The 15-inch ZBook Fury 15 G7 and the 17-inch ZBook Fury 17 G7 are among the devices now certified for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Both models sport thinner bezels and a better screen-to-body ratio than the preceding generation, and come with 10th generation Intel core series (i5, i7 or i9) or Xeon W processors.
Graphics are powered by either a Nvidia Quadro RTX (up to RTX 5000) or an AMD Radeon Pro (up to W5500M).
“We are excited to see the launch of HP’s new ZBooks and Z Desktop workstations certified with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. The combination of HP’s advanced hardware capabilities and Ubuntu provides an ideal platform for data scientists and AI developers,” Canonical’s Nilay Patel is quoted as saying.
“With enterprises increasingly recognising the need to equip developers with the tools of their choice, this new range will enable enhanced productivity through the latest data science tools, utilities, and deep learning and ML libraries.”
What does “Certified for Ubuntu” mean? It means both HP and Canonical’s engineering team have poured over each and every component in these systems to ensure all hardware “just works” out of the box with no manual configuration required — and yes, that includes the fingerprint scanner!
You will be able to buy the HP ZBook Fury 15 and ZBook Fury 17 with Ubuntu preloaded in selected locales and select configurations from September 14, 2020. Prices start at $1989 for the 15-inch model, and $2039 for the 17-inch model, with memory, storage, and graphics options increasing the price further.
Not being rich enough (much less smart enough) to test these I can’t tell you whether the HP ZBook is a “good” Ubuntu laptop per se. But on paper they certainly read well: raw power unleashed by the the best OS open source has to offer.
- Source: HP