Star Lite Mk III Pentium N5000 Laptop Ships with a Choice of 6 Linux Distributions

There aren’t that many companies shipping Linux laptops, and often it’s either at the entry-level of the market with Arm-based Pine64 PineBook or PineBook Pro, or at the higher-end with products such as Dell XPS 13 developer edition or System76 Linux laptops.

If you’d like something in between, you could install Ubuntu on a laptop yourself, but drivers are not always working, and sometimes when the laptop is confirmed to work, the manufacturer may decide to completely redesign the hardware.

Star Lite Mk III Linux laptop may be an interesting alternative, as the Intel Pentium N5000 Gemini Lake laptop is up for pre-order for $427 US and up with delivery scheduled to start in September.

Specifications:

SoC – Intel Pentium N5000 quad-core Gemini Lake processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, Intel UHD 605 graphics @ 200/750 MHz; 6W TDP
System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 @ 2400MHz
Storage
- 240GB M.2 2280 SATA SSD up to 560MB/s; Upgradeable to 480 or 960GB SSD at the time of order
- MicroSD card slot
Display – 11.6-inch LED-backlit matte IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution
Processor
Video Output – Micro HDMI 1.4 port up to 4K @ 30 Hz; DisplayPort (via USB-C) up to 4K @ 60 Hz
Audio – Stereo speakers; dual digital microphone; 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera – 480p HD webcam
Connectivity
- 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 up to 433 Mbps
- Bluetooth 5.1
USB – 1x USB 3.0 Type-C port with PD, 1x USB-C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode, 1x USB 3.0 Type-A port, 1x USB 2.0 port
User Input – Backlit keyboard with glass trackpad supporting multi-touch gestures
Misc – AMI Aptio V UEFI firmware (BIOS)
Power Supply – 60W USB-C PD power supply or DC jack
Battery – 30.4 Wh Lithium-polymer battery good for up to 7 hours battery life
Dimensions – 28.30 x 19.20 x 1.36 cm (Black Anodised Aluminium)
Weight – 900 grams

The 11.6-inch laptop ships with a 60W USB-C power adapter with UK, EU, US, and AU plug adapters, a 2-meter USB-C cable, a Quick Start Guide, a protective sleeve, and a screen cleaning cloth.

But what makes the laptop different from others on the market is really the choice of operating systems at the time of order:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (64-bit) or later
elementary OS 5.1.5 (64-bit) or later
Linux Mint 20 (64-bit) or later
Manjaro 20.0 (64-bit) or later
MX Linux AHS 19.2 (64-bit) or later
Zorin OS 15.2 (64-bit) or later
Windows 10 RS3 (64-bit) or later

If you can’t find your preferred distribution in the list, you can always check the list of Linux distributions tested on Star Lite Mk III. The only downside is that you would have to install those by yourself. I wish the company had an option for larger 14-inch or greater displays, since tiny 11.6″ displays are not for everyone.

Via Liliputing

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.