The AMD-powered Pangolin laptop by System76 will be returning. Not only will it return, but it will come with quite a few upgrades. Namely:

  • AMD Ryzen 6800U processor
  • DDR5 memory
  • PCIe 4 NVMe
  • refresh rate increased from 60 Hz to 144 Hz
  • physical privacy switch for both the webcam and mic
  • 70 Wh battery – supposedly this will make the laptop last for 10 hours on average
  • magnesium alloy body – should withstand “the occasional ding or drop”

It’s nice to finally have an option for AMD for System76’s hardware. The 6800U in particular means it will get performance similar to the Deck, if not a little better. The battery is almost double that of the Deck, so that will certainly help (I’d wager 3-4 hours of gaming battery life). The 144 Hz refresh rate is definitely a welcome upgrade as well.

Specs are as follows:

  • Operating System: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
  • Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 7 6800U: 2.7 up to 4.7 GHz - 8 Cores - 16 Threads
  • Display: 15.6" 1920×1080 FHD, Matte Finish, 144 Hz
  • Graphics: AMD Radeon™ 680M
  • Memory: 32 GB LPDDR5 @ 6400 MHz
  • Storage: 2 x M.2 SSD(PCIe NVMe). Up to 4TB total.
  • Expansion: 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, SD Card Reader
  • Networking: Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
  • Video Ports: HDMI 2.0
  • Camera: 1.0M 720p HD Webcam
  • Battery: Li-Ion - 70 Wh
  • Dimensions: 14.59" × 9.76" × 0.71" (37.06 × 24.79 × 1.80 cm)
  • Weight: 3.95 lbs (1.79kg)

The Pangolin will start at $1,300 and start shipping “around the first half of February.” You can see more details on System76’s website. I might be able to get my hands on a review unit, so stay tuned for that!