The different factor I observed is the European-style keyboard. Tuxedo despatched me a German keyboard, which is okay, I contact sort anyway, so as soon as I set the structure to US within the settings, the keyboard was largely nice. Except for the Enter key. Most US keyboards use what’s often called an ANSI design, which includes a lengthy skinny Enter key. Tuxedo makes use of an ISO-format keyboard, which has a taller Enter key with one other key to the left of it. This is useful for European customers as a result of it supplies one other accent key, nevertheless it’s positively one thing that can journey you up for a bit if you happen to’re used to US keyboards. I received round this by remapping the additional accent key to Enter (utilizing Input Remapper), in order that even when I mistyped, I received the end result I meant.

Otherwise the keyboard was fairly good. The keys are on the tall aspect for a chiclet-style keyboard and have a satisfying quantity of journey. I used to be capable of sort simply as quick as I do on my Thinkpad T14.

Tuxedo additionally gives a wealth of keyboard customization options. You can put just about something you need on the keyboard, together with nothing. You also can have your customized brand etched within the lid.

The InfinityBook Pro is constructed round an Intel Core i7-13700H. The mannequin I examined had built-in graphics, however there may be an choice to configure your InfinityBook Pro with a high-end Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. I by no means felt the necessity for it, however if you happen to plan to do something greater than mild gaming, that’s most likely the way in which to go. (The display screen refresh tops out at 90 Hz, which is okay for gaming however not fairly as quick as some shows.) I did an excellent little bit of video enhancing on this machine, and whereas that did get the fan spinning, it was lots quick for my wants.

Speaking of followers, the InfinityBook Pro 14 is supplied with a dual-fan cooling system, which is double what you’ll get in most skinny laptops of this design. It works properly, too. Even as I exported massive 5.2K video footage right down to 4K, the laptop computer by no means received too sizzling to have in my lap.

As with most Linux laptops, battery life is nice, however cannot match new MacBooks. Doing our standard battery drain check (looping a Full HD video at 75 % brightness), the InfinityBook Pro managed 6.5 hours. I have never felt constrained by battery life within the months I’ve examined the InfinityBook Pro. I preferred the brightness at about 40 % for net shopping and doc, in order that’s usually the place I left it until I used to be enhancing photographs or video. Average use, at 40 % brightness, usually received me between 9 and ten hours. A full day’s work and a few change. This could be additional improved and tweaked utilizing Tuxedo’s glorious Control Center app (extra on that beneath).

The InfinityBook gives extra ports than you may assume. There’s a Thunderbolt 4/USB-C port that may cost as properly, a USB-C 3.2 Gen2 port, two USB-A ports, a full-size SD card reader, HDMI port, headphone/mic port, and a separate energy plug. The latter is the quickest option to cost up, although you should use a normal USB-C wire to cost. You’ll need desire a 100-watt charger, although. My 60-watt charger labored, however underneath heavy load—exporting video for instance—the laptop computer drained energy quicker than it may cost. Tuxedo’s web site has a complete web page dedicated to the best settings to charge from USB-C.

The trackpad on the InfinityBook Pro is massive and responsive. It did sometimes choose up my palms as contact occasions whereas I used to be typing, however I choose to show off tapping anyway.

It Runs Tuxedo OS, or Other Linux Distros

Like System76, Tuxedo laptops ship with a custom-made OS based mostly on Ubuntu Linux, although they’ll run nearly any Linux distribution. (I examined Fedora to see if it labored and Arch as a result of that’s what I take advantage of more often than not.) Tuxedo OS, which is constructed across the KDE desktop, supplies an excellent, beginner-friendly Linux expertise.