14 DAY TRIAL // It's the first time we get our hands on a real Linux laptop, an ultrabook, designed from the offset to offer an out-of-the-box GNU/Linux desktop experience, and TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 does not disappoint.
TUXEDO Computers is a German computer company manufacturing and selling notebooks, high-end gaming computers, and workstations powered by popular GNU/Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Linux Mint, or OpenSuSE. The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 is one of their latest and finest ultrabooks running a custom Xubuntu OS that the company calls it TUXEDO Xubuntu.
At first glance, TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 looks great thanks to its ultrabook aluminum chassis. It's outfitted with enough ports for everything you can fit in the system, but we'll take a closer look at the hardware specs in the paragraphs below. Of course, the best part is that it comes pre-loaded with a Linux distro, so you won't have to install one, but you can do that as well.
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 is quite affordable for its specs and can be yours for €1.049,00 EUR in Europe or about $1250 USD if you're buying it from the United States. You can only buy the laptop from TUXEDO Computers' online store, and it's delivered in a box full of goodies that'll make your day happy.
Hardware specifications and performance
As mentioned before, TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 is a very modern and powerful ultrabook. The latest version available to buy is powered by a 7th-generation Intel Core i7-7500U Kaby Lake processor, which integrates an Intel HD 620 graphics card that allows for a Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
The IPS LED LCD panel measures 13.3 inches and has a matte finish so you won't be bothered when you're working outside or playing your favorite games, which will run very well thanks to the included 32 GB of RAM, though the model we received for testing came with only 16GB RAM, as well as a Sky Lake CPU.
Regarding storage, it would appear that the latest model of TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 sports a small M.2 NVMe SSD for the file system paired with a bigger 2,5" SATA3 HDD for everything else. However, our unit came with a 500GB NVMe SSD wisely partitioned with separate /boot, /root and /home partitions, as well as swap.
“The most appealing part of the laptop is the connectivity options.”
The most appealing part of the laptop is the connectivity options, as TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 features two USB 3.1 Generation II Type-A ports, one on each side, and one USB3.1 Type-C Generation II Thunderbolt 3 port that supports up to 40 Gbps data transfers, one Mini-DisplayPort port, one HDMI port, and even a Gigabit-LAN port.
We rarely spot on an ultrabook with a Gigabit-LAN port, because of its size, but TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 has one incorporated with style. What impressed us the most is that the laptop even features a SIM slot, which is also something you don't see every day, allowing us to have an Internet connection wherever we go.
Other than that, there's also an SD/MMC card reader, a Kensington lock, a webcam, as well as microphone and headphone jacks. On the front, there are four LEDs showing the activity of the disk drive, airplane mode, battery level warning, and power/charging. Stereo speakers consist of a left and a right speaker mounted at the bottom.
As mentioned before, the laptop features an ultra slim design that measures only 1,8cm thick and weights no more than 1,3kg. The battery is also great, and we find it to last for about 6-7 hours if you're just browsing the Web and do light office work. However, TUXEDO Computers says that the latest model can last for up to 12 hours.
First look at TUXEDO Xubuntu
As mentioned before, TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 is a Linux laptop, which means that it comes pre-loaded with a Linux distro. In this case, the model we received for testing came with a Xubuntu variant highly customized by TUXEDO Computers, called TUXEDO Xubuntu. You won't find it anywhere else, so we thought to give you guys a preview.
TUXEDO Xubuntu is based on Xubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) and features the Xfce 4.12 desktop environment, distributed by Xubuntu. A TUXEDO One theme is used for the appearance (boot splash, window style and icons) and there's also a dock enabled by default at the bottom of the screen, though it can only be used to launch apps, not as a task manager or a real dock.
There's a bunch of familiar apps pre-installed by default, including the entire LibreOffice office suite, GIMP image editor, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird email and news client, Transmission BitTorrent client, Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger, both MPV and Parole media players, as well as various other useful Xfce and GNOME utilities.
Under the hood, TUXEDO Xubuntu is powered by the mainline Ubuntu kernel, version 4.11. Of course, you can install a newer mainline kernel or the one from the main Ubuntu repositories, but it's recommended to go with the default as TUXEDO Computers usually tweak everything for their hardware.
All in all, TUXEDO Xubuntu looks and feels great on TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13, where every app opens in a second or less, that if you like the Xfce desktop environment. If not, you're free to customize the laptop with either Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or 17.04, Kubuntu 16.04 LTS or 17.04, Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS or 17.04, Ubuntu with Cinnamon, as well as elementary OS 0.4.1 Loki.
The bottom line
There is no doubt that the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 is a powerful ultrabook, providing good value for the money. And having it shipped with a Linux OS pre-installed makes your Linux journey a breeze if you're just getting started with exploring the wonderful world of Open Source software and GNU/Linux technologies.
There are a few issues that caught our attention during our testing, and you should be aware of them before buying this laptop. For example, the LCD screen leaks light, which is most visible on a dark background and when watching movies. Also, the display is only be tilted back to about 120 degrees, which might be inconvenient for the owner.
The laptop doesn't heat up that much, and we find the backlit keyboard with the Tux logo on the Super key a plus when buying a TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13. Of course, if you don't need all this power, you can always buy any other laptop out there and install your favorite Linux OS on it, but it's not guaranteed that everything will work out of the box like on TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13.
