14" Fusion iii, the Linux ultrabook you always wanted!

jamhen

New member
Just got myself the 14" Fusion iii laptop to replace my old (2006 edition) Macbook that was starting to creak under the weight and i couldn't be happier. I installed Manjaro on it with no problems what so ever and had everything up and running in a matter of moments. Yes i know it has an nvidia graphics card and that if you wish to use it you will have to install closed source binaries, but you will have to assess if this is a problem for you or not. I use it mostly for working on my own software projects and for a bit of light gaming and it hasn't let me down as yet.

2019-10-01 06-29-46-1.jpg


Hardware choices:
Processor - i5-8265U
Ram - 16Gb Corsair 2400mhz
SSD - 250GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus m.2

Keyboard:
The keyboard looks great and the keys have a fairly satisfying feeling considering the depth of the laptop itself. Personally I prefer a little more travel in my keys but with a laptop your are fairly limited. Its not the best feeling typing experience ever but it is by far not the worst one i have ever felt either. The keyboard backlight works well and has 3 levels of brightness (off, dim and bright) that can be selected set using the function keys. This worked out of the box on Manjaro. The only slight downside is that the space bar feels a little spongy but its no big deal. Its solid pass.

2019-10-01 07-23-44-1.JPG


Trackpad:
Its a fine track pad, its big and does the job. Having had an apple trackpad to use for the last few years i have been spoiled on the quality of them. Is this as good an an apple trackpad? No, it is not, nothing is. Is this the worst trackpad i have ever used? No, not by a country mile. It can sometimes have a wobble as you try and navigate to smaller UI elements but all in all this is no worse that any non mac laptop i have used and infact is a lot better than some I have used. It doesn't seem to support multi touch so there is no two finger right click like you get on the apple ones. This means you have click in the right click area ot the pad to bring up the context menu. The track pad is large and the right click area quite small and far off in the the bottom right so i often find i have to move my hand a bit to get to it, not a terrible thing but I have noticed it. Right clicking however brings be to the weird led in the top left though. There is a tiny space with a green LED that is always off in the very top left. This led only seems to come on when you first power the unit on briefly. If you double tap in this area though it seems to simulate a press of the windows key. After a short while with the laptop i have mapped this weird feature of the trackpad to launch the context menu instead of the whisker menu. Works fine although while typing because of the pads proximity to the keyboard my thumb has triggered it a couple of times, its a bit annoying but nothing that i don't think i wont be able to adjust tot as i use the laptop more and more. I am giving the trackpad a passing grade.

You can just about make out the little led on the trackpad and its proximity to the space bar here.
2019-10-01 07-23-44-2.JPG


Heat and noise:
I sat with this on my lap writing code for a couple of hours last night and didn't notice the cooling kick in at all. When i shut it down it felt barely warm. Very impressed. Gets a pass with distinction on this.

Screen:
Its bright, sharp and NOT GLOSSY! Seriously why is it so hard to get a non glossy laptop screen. Its a good little screen. Solid pass.

Gaming:
Its not really a gaming laptop and i am not really interested in playing the latest AAA games. If you want to do that this is not the laptop for you. However for my gaming needs so far I have been playing several titles without problem. Again, not a gaming laptop.

2019-10-01 07-23-44-3.JPG


2019-10-01 07-23-44-4.JPG


Sound:
Eh, its ok for a laptop this size. You will likely want headphones if you want some proper quality.

Ports:
I had read that someone had problems fitting things in the USB parts because they were mis alligned. No such problem here, they all work fine and i have no problems fitting pen drives into them.

Overall very happy with this laptop. If you are in the market for a small light Linux laptop this may well be the one you are looking for. It has a few quirks but they are not deal breakers for me personally.
 
Top