Metabox Flo 3 Year Review
Prologue
In May 2021 I was looking to buy a new computer. My main requirements were that I wanted laptop, that it should be lightweight and it should be Linux compatible, ideally Linux-first. For the previous 20 years or so I'd used a combination of Windows and Linux (usually Ubuntu) for my main device, often dual-booting, but this time I wanted to go 100% Linux.
I was intrigued by offerings from System76, a company that sells desktops and laptops that come pre-installed with their own Linux distro, Pop!_OS. I was particularly interested in the Lemur Pro, which seemed extremely light, with excellent battery life. My only concern was that it would have to be shipped from the US, which made me think about how difficult things might get if I had problems and had to return the device for any reason.
During my research, I found that the laptops System76 sells are made by Clevo, who also provide devices to other companies, such as Tuxedo in Europe. I also managed to find a company selling these devices in Australia where I live: Metabox.
Metabox are not a Linux-focused company like System76 or Tuxedo, however they do sell laptops with no operating system installed, and being identical to the System76 model I had been looking at, I was confident that Linux would run on it with little-to-no issues. I should note that there is some debate around whether Clevo devices supplied to different companies are actually identical, for example I had read that the screen in the Lemur Pro was a brighter panel than the one you could get in the similar Tuxedo model.
As far as I could tell though, comparing specs, the Metabox was exactly the same as the Lemur Pro. In addition to being local, their laptops were also on sale at the time, around 40% off, which made the total cost of buying from Metabox about half that of importing the same device from System76. Despite wanting to support the Linux community and even though I would have been prepared to pay a premium to do so, I just could not justify paying nearly double the cost, and so plumped for Metabox.
The only other device that was seriously in the running was a Thinkpad Carbon X1 or possibly T14s, however the Metabox won out due to:
- Lighter (1kg vs 1.13-1.3Kg)
- Bigger battery (73WH vs 50-something WH)
- Better upgrade options (up to 40GB RAM vs normally 16GB soldered RAM for X1s)
- Much cheaper (with the sale about half the cost of a similarly specced X1)
So I passed over the Thinkpad, although I did end up joining that cult a few years later :)
I probably would have been fine with the i5, but to be more future-proof I went for the i7 model, 16GB RAM (8 soldered + 8 removable), 1TB drive, and it came to AUD 1,688, which I guess would be about USD 1,100.
When I received the device I installed Pop!_OS, so I would end up with almost the same experience as if I had ordered the Lemur Pro. One important difference to note is that System76 use the open source Coreboot BIOS, whereas Metabox devices come with the manufacturer's BIOS. Whilst I would have preferred Coreboot, I was not prepared to pay an extra $1,500 for it.
I toyed with the idea of trying to install Coreboot on the laptop myself, however whilst the two devices did seem identical on paper, I was not sure that they were identical enough that I would not encounter a problem, and I did not want to chance bricking my brand-new laptop, so stayed with the original BIOS.
3 Years Later
This is not going to be a full review, just some thoughts I've had over the three years of owning this device.
The main things that have stood out to me in this time are:
It's light, really light. "Light laptops" seem to come in around 1.2Kgs to 1.35Kgs these days, but this thing is only 1Kg. In fact some spec sheets have it at only 950g if only one NVMe drive is installed. And it feels noticaebly lighter than other similar laptops I've held. It's so easy to carry from room-to-room with one hand at home, and when travelling it goes in a laptop bag and you hardly notice you're carrying a laptop at all.
It's got a good battery, still. I probably don't do what's best for keeping the battery in good condition. On weekdays it tends to be plugged in at 100% for long periods, and then used on battery in the evening and weekends. Running upower just now, it's still showing a capacity of 97.2604%. I have read that some Lemur Pro users have had problems with expanding batteries, whether this is rare, I've been lucky, or just not hammered it enough to destroy it I don't know, but so far I've had no problems. And because the battery is relatively large, it lasts a long time (for an intel device).
The hardware has lasted well, although this may be due to how I use it. Again I've seen some Lemur Pro users complain that the keyboard deteriorates quickly. I have not had this, my keyboard still looks nearly new, although I do not do that much typing on it. It has a MIL STD 810G Rating (similar to Thinkpads I believe), I don't know too much about this but I guess it means that it should be relatively sturdy. Overall, I am genuinely flummoxed how Clevo can make a laptop that is both lighter, and yet more upgradeable with a bigger battery that all the "big" manufacturers.
It's okay looking but relatively unexciting. This could be seen as a pro or con really. It doesn't look like a premium device, so if you want to show off in a cafe it will be no good for that, but then again I suppose it might be less likely to catch the eye of a thief. I quite like the understated, almost bland look. I think it goes with the Linux ethos, the power is on the inside not on the outside.
Pop!_OS has worked almost flawlessly on it. I've had one problem getting a USB device to play nicely with browsers, but apart from that I've had no really issues.
The speakers are absolutely terrible. I knew this before buying, and it's not normally a problem as I nearly always use headphones, but the few times I have used the speakers they have been awful, very quiet and and tinny.
Other things that might be important to people haven't really made an impression either way. The webcam is not great, but it isn't on most laptops. The screen seems good, but I don't really have anything to compare it to. It's got a good selection of ports, no ethernet but I rarely need that, and mini SD card rather than full, although all the devices I have that use SD cards use minis so that's been absolutely fine for me.
After three years of ownership I wondered whether it might be time to treat myself to a new laptop. I had a look at new devices, particularly Macbook Airs and the latest Thinkpads, however when picking up an Air in an Apple Store, it just felt heavy compared to my current device, and while these newer Machines (especially the latest M chips) would no doubt be a big step up in performance, my Flo still feel super fast to me, so I doubt I would notice the difference. In the end I felt that when it did come time to upgrade, it's likely I'd have to go for something from Metabox/System76 again.
Instead of getting something new, I did treat myself to a couple of upgrades. I originally bought the device with 8GB of soldered RAM plus 8GB removable. I swapped that out for a 32GB stick to give me a total of 40GB. To be honest this was completely unnecessary, I never had any problems running with 16GB of RAM, but I thought it might be useful for running VMs with larger amounts of memory.
I also got a second 1TB NVMe drive (a Samsung 980 Evo I think). Again this was entirely unnecessary as I didn't use much space on the existing drive. But I thought after three years, it might be worth putting a fresh drive in, and also I might relent and finally put Windows on the second drive. The main reason for this was the USB device I had that refused to work properly with browsers in Pop!_OS. I rarely needed to use it, and I do have an older desktop PC running Windows, but I figured why not make life a little easier for myself.
Whilst I decided there was no need to upgrade and buy a new computer, I did also end up treating myself to an old Thinkpad, which I intended to use just for experimenting with different distros. It currently has Fedora installed on it and I have found my USB device seems to work perfectly on that, which really does seem to make the upgrades I made to my main device totally pointless. It means I don't need that second drive, although I do currently use it to make a backup of my main drive each day, before copying the backups to an external drive about once a week. I may swap this drive for a smaller one and use it in something else, like my Thinkpad, as it feels totally wasted leaving it where it is.
So there you have it, three years with this computer and it basically been a dream. It's not showing any signs of slowing down, and until I see something come on the market that is lighter, I don't see myself upgrading anytime soon.