[bluGill]

They are a large enough customer of Clevo that they get consulted on product design and changes. When Clevo ships something to system76, system76 already knows what hardware is there and that they have drivers for it. If you buy elsewhere it might look the same and seem to have the same specs, but Clevo might have put in some chip without linux drivers.

[DyslexicAtheist]

do they ship ISO keyboards meanwhile? I'd rather buy system76 but US ASCII keyboard is a deal-breaker.

which are the design differences in hardware? I do not see any real differences other than branding which isn't also offered by a bunch of other clevo resellers. having secureboot and system76 firmware would be a huge benefit and in my view the only value-add but that I you can do yourself because it's FOSS and there is no difference in HW

[trelane]

There's a lot. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17039414

You may find reading like that informative.

It's perhaps not surprising that the laptops that Clevo ships vs those they make for System76 are different. The fact that system76 ships coreboot and an open EC firmware should be a first clue.

Also, for the keyboard: Many or most of their keyboards are configurable these days. See https://github.com/pop-os/keyboard-configurator

The term for "the company that actually manufactures the computers for another company that sells them" is Original Design Manufacturer, ODM. All companies have them. https://www.unleashedsoftware.com/blog/oem-vs-odm-explained-...

Dell's supplier list is at Public Supplier List - Dell https://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/corp-comm/en/D...

[DyslexicAtheist]

I know they have a keyboard configurator but that isn't a replacement for an ISO layout though.

Also I came across the thread in the past which you linked, where System76 debunks these assumptions. And I totally agree that a lot of work goes into this. But until now I have not actually seen any difference in chipsets? Custom firmware and branded Bios yes, and a lot of hours goes into verifying these things which I'm happy to pay for. But there is afaik no difference in the chips. You can also re-use the firmware / coreboot (e.g. from s76-DARP9 on a clevo-NS50AU) without issues.

This is an annoying amount of effort though and I would rather get this from system76 if they sold it with ISO keyboard than having to do it myself.

[trelane]

> But until now I have not actually seen any difference in chipsets?

System76 is not Apple. I don't know why you'd expect them to have a wholly new chip set.

Maybe you can flash a given Clevo with the "equivalent" system76 firmware. Maybe you can't. I don't think you're going to get support from either if you do that, though.

You can ask them about it; they're pretty great about responding honestly.

[DyslexicAtheist]

> System76 is not Apple. I don't know why you'd expect them to have a wholly new chip set.

I absolutely don't :)

I'm replying to this statement which I think isn't correct:

> it might look the same and seem to have the same specs, but Clevo might have put in some chip without linux drivers.