 So this is a computer, and not a weird low spec one or something, that was designed and built from the ground up to bring Linux to the folks who can't be bothered to compile their own kernel, hunt down all the right repos, or even build their own PC. It challenges so many of my own assumptions about the Linux community, like for starters, wouldn't anyone with the time and inclination to tinker around with Linux also have the time and inclination to install it for themselves in the first place? So it seems like the goal here is to make Linux more accessible to normies, so let's go through this together, and I want to see your comments down below about what they got right, and what they got wrong. Moss has updated their packs once again, and in version 4 they've got a ton of changes, making it a combination between their grande and their black pack. Buy it today at the link in the video description. Starting with the System76 web store, the goal was clearly to simplify the shopping experience. They offer both AMD and Intel platforms with a huge amount of customization, but they boil their Thelio system offerings down to three models, a good, better, best if you will, with the system upgrades presented in a way that is simple but might actually bother many hardware enthusiasts. For example, the MAT Pro 27-inch IPS display has no model number listed whatsoever, and this 30TB hard drive is just 6 5TB hard drives with no indication as to how they're going to be configured prior to shipping. Now, we're going to talk about our hardware config in a little bit, but first, as a non-Linux user, I want to poke around Pop OS a little bit. When you first boot, it is super easy to encrypt your data. Just enter a password and reboot. That is pretty neat. Then when you come back, you're given the opportunity to set up your online accounts for integration into the OS, including access to your Google Drive cloud storage right in the file manager. Now, we've actually seen Pop OS before in our Gaming on Linux update video, and one of its major departures from its parent, Ubuntu, is Pop Shop, a ridiculously easy-to-use app store. So it's actually ported over from elementary OS, but with one key value add. System 76 curates their own packages, so if you ever need something basic like Steam for gaming or the latest Nvidia drivers, it's just a click away. Actually, for your graphics drivers, it's easier than updating them on Windows. The only real criticisms that we had were the lack of UI scaling by default on our 27-inch 4K display and the way that our secondary storage drive, one that shipped in our system, was kind of hidden away. We think this should be front and center, like the cloud storage is, so hopefully they fix that soon. As for if you need to fix anything, you can access the Pop OS recovery environment that lives on the boot drive by holding down space or escape during boot. This is a full copy of the installation media, meaning that you get a live environment to access and backup your files, refresh your installation, or even just nuke it and start over from scratch. And this is all without needing a thumb drive. Now one fun idea is that you could actually use this recovery environment as a sort of super incognito mode that's separate from your main install, if you were so inclined. Now onto the hardware. Our Thelio is spec'd out with a Ryzen 7 2700X and a bunch of other good stuff, so we threw both gaming and productivity workloads at it, where it not only performed pretty well overall, but in some cases outperformed Windows, and this is on literally exactly the same hardware. Now obviously, our gaming results fell a little behind in some places, but what's noteworthy here is that we're even running these games. If you're not up on the latest in Linux gaming news, I don't blame you, but Valve Proton enables a huge number of Windows-only games, even ones that aren't on Steam, to run on Linux now. It is super cool. Onto productivity. Now right now, for some workloads, like video editing, Linux isn't a great time because the industry standard tools aren't available on the platform. But for other things, like Color Work and DaVinci Resolve, our system performed really well, and in some cases absolutely crushed our Windows performance numbers. Check out these blender results. If I didn't see it happen, I wouldn't believe that they're on the same processor. Okay then, so so far we've got good performance, a relatively simple Linux software implementation, green light to buy then? Well, hold on a second. Now we intended for this to be a review of the system, but so far everything we've shown you can be installed on commodity hardware that you assemble for yourself. So let's take a closer look at the box. Once you get it out of the shockingly nerdy packaging, the most striking features of the Thelio are its wood green finish and its tantalizing silver power button and accompanying white LED ring. There's no sign of any front I.O. to disrupt the clean design language they've gone with, which means it's beautiful, but also means, unfortunately, that we're stuck with what we've got on the rear. And back here is interesting, so more of that clean at any cost approach. The I.O. is cut directly out of the chassis. That means no simple motherboard upgrade, although again, it does make for an uninterrupted premium look that really screams Apple. Even though when we pop the hood with these thumb screws, we can see that this is clearly a standard PC motherboard on the inside. What we can also see in here is they've done a pretty bang-up job with the cable management, helped significantly by the generous real estate provided under the main fascia, which doesn't attempt to seal the computer so much as it conceals. That means that there is a bit of concern from our end about dust accumulation through the side panels and the potential for noise to sneak out from under the chassis using the air gap as an echo chamber. Unfortunately, sure enough, it does get a little loud when the fans are running full tilt, and it's not just whooshing air noise, something that we generally don't complain about. Rather, it's a kind of droning whine that's a little bit harder to tune out. Honestly, I think a Noctua or a Be Quiet! fanswap would help tremendously here, because it seems to be that the Arctic Freezer 12 CPU cooler is making most of the racket. And that might also help with thermals. Our Ryzen 7 2700X stayed cool enough to prevent throttling, but at 85 degrees under full synthetic load, I would prefer something a little beefier. As for our EVGA graphics card, well, that was right where we wanted it, in spite of the diminutive size of our chassis. Despite its acoustic shortcomings, though, the interior of the Thelio does carry the same level of polish and attention to detail as the exterior. So the CPU cooler shroud is both stylish and practical, pulling double duty as a guide for the CPU cooler's exhaust and as a bracket for mounting a chassis fan. And similarly, the GPU's retention bracket acts as a brace to protect board flex. Check this out, too. Up top, we've got this row of screws. Weird, right? Well, they're here for a reason. This hot swap drive bay allows you to just push out this clip, slide however many screws you need down the rail, and then screw them into the drive. Line up, plug in, and it couldn't be simpler. And you don't even need to worry about losing the box of case screws that was included with your system. The only issue here is that you better forget about mounting a full-size 3.5-inch drive, 2.5-inch SSDs, and hard drives only. Also, we haven't gotten to the coolest thing about this yet. The case and all of its accompanying bits and pieces open source, just like the operating system. So there's literally a GitHub page with the CAD files for everything that you see here and for its bigger brothers, the Thelio Major and Thelio Massive. Now, that's not to say that every component in the system is open source. The motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card, storage devices, and power supply are all proprietary in design with the IP owned by the individual companies that made them. But, System 76 says that they're developing their own firmwares wherever they can in order to make the hardware as open as possible, something that they've already done with their laptops, which are otherwise just standard Clevo designs. This openness comes at a cost though. Our Thelio starts at $1,100, which sounds reasonable, but that's a really basic config. The spec we ended up with costs quite a bit more, and with the standard warranty, we came to just shy of $2,400. When we compared that to specing out the exact same system components for ourselves minus the case, our total came to $1,000 less. Woof. So then case aside, what are you getting for that $1,000 difference? Well, while the operating system itself may be free, System 76 does have paid staff that actively develop their OS, and that's to say nothing of the user support commitments that come along with that. Perhaps most crucially though, the Thelio chassis manufacturer and final assembly are both done in Colorado by a team that's about our size, so no mass production. System 76 says they want to improve this situation in the future, but for now it means that the costs add up really quickly. So to sum it up, you're paying for the case, US manufacturer, operating system development, and support from a small team of enthusiasts. Now whether the design and concept of a well-integrated Linux desktop is enough to make you pay the extra, that's a choice I'll leave to you. But overall, we think it's really cool and a huge step in the right direction. Big thanks to Dollar Shave Club for sponsoring this video. Dollar Shave Club has you covered for all your shaving and other bathroom needs. They've got more than just razors, guys. They've got stuff for your shower, stuff for your mouth, stuff for your hair, and even skin products. If you have a body, you need Dollar Shave Club. Check out their hydrating starter set. It includes their executive handle, four cartridges, one ounce of their Dr. Carver's shave butter, a one ounce bottle of their mint and cedar face and body wash, and a one ounce bottle of Sage and black pepper shampoo and conditioner. Jono and the business team in particular loves the shave butter since it makes the blade glide effortlessly over your skin and gives you a nice, clean, comfortable shave. They ship all their products right to your door, and if you buy more, you can save more. So try it out today with their starter set for just $5 at dollarshaveclub.com slash Linus. We're going to have that linked below. So thanks for watching, guys. If you disliked this video, you know where that button is. If you liked it, hit like, get subscribed, or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link below. Also down there is our merch store, which has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, which you should totally join.