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HP Dev One Laptop Review

The HP Dev One is the first consumer laptop released by a major vendor to feature the System76 Linux PopOS operating system. I am a huge fan of PopOS it’s a great Linux distro that is focused on the desktop rather than the server side which is why I think it’s the best for anyone wanting to use Linux on the desktop.

Build Quality

This laptop looks and feels like a premium PC with great build quality and a very premium-feeling touchpad and keyboard. I love typing on it as much as a Macbook Pro or a Lenovo which to me are the standards for great keyboards. I do find it interesting that they have the nub on the keyboard that you can use called the control stick to control the mouse still if you want. I like how you can double-tap on the trackpad or you have two buttons on the trackpad if you prefer to click.

Ports

The ports give you great options with two USB Ports and two USB-C ports. Honestly, I would rather have them all USB-C than just dongle whatever I need just because that’s what I have gotten used to doing. But it’s nice to have a few USB ports built into the machine. I like seeing the HDMI port on the laptop again I am used to having to juggle a lot of dongles so this is nice to see on a laptop. You also have a headphone jack which is pretty standard on Mac and PC still.

Screen

The screen on this device is a 14-inch 1080P Panel at 60Hz. I was always one for a bigger screen like a 15 or 16-inch but I really find the 14-inch screen and the text, resolution, and display size to really be perfect for this device. I was very surprised I liked using the device as much as I did considering it was only a 14-inch screen but I feel it’s perfect for this device.

Internals

I was really surprised by the price of this laptop and the hardware that you get. The processor is an AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U with 8 CPU Cores and 16 Threads. You get 16 gigs of ram and 1 Terabyte PCIe hard drive. You get AMD Radeon integrated graphics and no offboard video probably to keep the price down. When I was playing music the sound quality was very good and loud for just stand speakers. The webcam is only a 720p HD camera like Apple does I would have liked to see a 1080 camera but this might have been a cost-cutting measure, not a big deal.

Operating System

The big reason to buy the HP Dev One laptop is the System76 PopOS integration which is a little customized for HP with an End-user License Agreement and special wallpaper with some HP branding on it, not a big deal. One thing I am very happy about is HP Firmware comes out through PopOS not through an extra added Windows partition as I have seen on other Linux laptops. I am very happy to see System76 and HP work together on this peace. A few other little things under the Support tab are their integration to HP for opening up support tickets with HP if you have any issues. On the tab, it does say user-upgradable laptop which makes me happy to see since System76 is a very right-to-repair company. The HP-branded items are very minimal and are not like the bloatware that comes with Windows.

Dislikes

The HP Dev One laptop had a few minor things I did not like. First, I did not like the designated power plug I mean why could they have just given us an extra USB-C port to charge the device like Apple, Dell, and Lenovo I am not sure why we need a designated power port. Since the device is AMD there is no Thunderbolt because AMD and Intel don’t get along but that’s not a big issue. Since this is a developer laptop, I thought there would be an ethernet port but again I am used to dongles and many new laptops do not have ethernet ports built onto the system board. The only other thing I would have liked to see is a fingerprint reader this might have been a cost-cutting measure but it would have been nice on a developer laptop to have one.

Price

The HP Dev One comes in at $1,099 plus tax and free shipping. I honestly think that for a laptop with these specs that is a great price considering the cost of hardware at the moment. Most laptops with these specs would run you more from other vendors I think this is a great price for the specs you are getting. I would recommend this laptop to anyone who wants a Linux laptop that wants everything to work out of the box with good hardware and a warranty.

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