System76 Lemur Pro Linux laptop with 14 hours of battery life
I had this laptop, but ultimately replaced it with a 14” M1 Max. Some thoughts:
 - The screen is so much worse, in every way, than a MacBook. A “low resolution” (more like, not high dpi) matte screen vs the M1 screen, there is no comparison. When I first got this machine, my eyes would have to adjust to the screen, and it felt so blurry compared to my works retina Touch Bar Mac
- PopOS is great! It is definitely one of the best Linux desktops I’ve used. Manjaro gives it a nice run for it’s money… But.. next year is going to be the year of the Linux desktop! No disrespect to @jeremy_soller, because he is doing a killer job on Pop, but even in 2022, the Linux desktop is RC Cola, and MacOS is Genuine Coke Cola. I’m sure there are die hard RC Cola fans, but most of the world will definitely still prefer Coke Cola.
- You would need to be pretty comfortable on a command line, and using Linux, to be comfortable using a Linux desktop. This computer would not be okay for my wife.
- The keyboard keys started showing wear and tear after less than 9 months. The keys started to peel, basically, the home-row keys all lost their gloss coat where you could see it visibly that usage had caused a hole in the keys glossy layer.
- I had a fully specced i7, and the performance was great. It out performed my works 2019 i7 MacBook with Touchbar. As for my M1… the M1 is faster.
- I loved how the screen opened all the way 180 degrees, it was something I didn’t think I’d even care about, but it was nice to have.
- The touchpad was like using a Windows machine from 2010. It was so tiny, and had only the bare essential features of registering 1 finger clicks, or 2 finger scrolls. No gestures. No nice click feeling. TINY. THE TOUCH PAD IS SO SMALL. Why do non-Mac Laptop users put up with such small touchpads? It is maddening.
- It would charge over USB-C, but there was only 1 USB-C port, so that was kind of annoying. It did have a regular charger…. That was like the windows laptop I had in 2005. Short cord, and don’t accidentally trip on the cord while it is charging, or else GG laptop.
Overall, I was glad I tried it. For a variety of reasons, I want there to be viable Mac alternatives in the field. I ended up selling my Lemur Pro a few months after I got my 14” M1.