Entroware has launched Athena, one of the first gaming laptops with Ubuntu pre-packaged. It has advanced features such as Intel Core i7 and 6 GB of graphics minimum
Hardware company Entroware has announced the availability of Athena, one of the first gaming laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed.
This gaming laptop comes with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, with a choice of the Unity or MATE desktop environment. The Athena boasts powerful hardware that rivals other high-end laptops.
Athena Ubuntu Edition Hardware Specifications
- Processor to choose between these two (all Quad Core).
- Intel Core i7 6700HQ 2,6 Ghz
- Intel Core i7 6820 HK 2,7 GHz (£ 100 more expensive)
- Ram to choose between these four (all at 2133 MHz).
- 16Gb DDR4.
- 24 Gb DDR4 (£ 30 more expensive).
- 32 Gb DDR4 (£ 49 more expensive).
- 64 Gb DDR4 (£ 140 more expensive).
- Storage(up to 4 hard drives, 1 minimum).
- 500 GB.
- 1 TB (£ 50 more expensive).
- 128 SSD (40 pounds more expensive).
- 256 SSD (70 pounds more expensive).
- 512 SSD (140 pounds more expensive).
- 1 TB SSD (260 pounds more expensive).
- 2 TB SSD (530 pounds more expensive).
- Graphics card to choose between two.
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M 6GB
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M 8GB (250lbs more expensive.)
- Intel network card with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet.
- Screen to choose between two.
- 15,6 inches Full HD.
- 17,3 inches Full HD (70 pounds more expensive).
- One year standard warranty.
- Ubuntu LTS 16.04(Unity or Mate) or without operating system ..
- Custom keyboard with icons Ubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Entroware or Windows.
- 7 additional warranty days by dead pixels(30 pounds more the warranty is extended to one year).
The base model of Athena starts at £1100 (15-inch screen, 500GB hard drive, 16GB RAM, etc.). Each additional feature you choose then costs extra ; for example, a 17-inch screen instead of a 15-inch one would add £70 to the price. Ultimately, the most powerful version can cost over £3000, a fair price considering its performance (cheaper than Windows gaming PCs due to license savings).
Entroware's Athena initiative is undoubtedly a good one, since one of the reasons for the scarcity of games for Linux is manufacturers' reliance on Windows. If gaming PC manufacturers put their faith in Linux, companies will have no choice but to expand their game catalogs for Linux, something Steam, for example, is already doing with 2500 games for Linux.
If any of you want to try your luck with this PC, you can do so through its official store, which also includes a configurator for the PC's options (more processor, more RAM, etc.). If any of you have already purchased this PC, please feel free to leave a comment sharing your experience.