14" Initia Laptop with Linux Mint 20.1

keithdw

New member
My last three laptops, over the past decade, have been from PC Specialist. Specifications are good and customisable, the price is good as you don't have to pay for things you don't need. Communication is great, with regular build updates. Delivery is quick and efficient.

My new ultra-portable, lightweight, 14" Initia machine was unboxed and I had Linux Mint 20.1 installed on it within a very short time and works perfectly - no issues with drivers or incompatible hardware. My only criticism would be that out of the box, the machine booted into Windows as a test OS, and there was no indication on the boot screen on how to get into the BIOS or how to change the boot device so Linux could be installed as an alternative. The manual provided also failed to indicate the keypresses required to access the BIOS or the boot menu (in fact the manual is of little use for a PC enthusiast, was also provided with a CD/DVD which may have contained a more detailed manual, but for a machine without an optical drive, this is of little use).

In order to install Linux Mint, I had to keep rebooting the machine, trying various keys until I happened across the correct one to enter the BIOS and change the boot device (and I forgot to write that down, so will have to go through the process again if I want to get into the BIOS again!).

14" HD screen is crisp and clear with a matt finish. The trackpad is large and works well (although I still prefer to use a Bluetooth mouse). The keyboard is well laid out and nice to type on. The keycaps are a little smaller than I would like, but it is limited by a 14" laptop size and I was more concerned with that.

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mrt1940

New member
My last three laptops, over the past decade, have been from PC Specialist. Specifications are good and customisable, the price is good as you don't have to pay for things you don't need. Communication is great, with regular build updates. Delivery is quick and efficient.

My new ultra-portable, lightweight, 14" Initia machine was unboxed and I had Linux Mint 20.1 installed on it within a very short time and works perfectly - no issues with drivers or incompatible hardware. My only criticism would be that out of the box, the machine booted into Windows as a test OS, and there was no indication on the boot screen on how to get into the BIOS or how to change the boot device so Linux could be installed as an alternative. The manual provided also failed to indicate the keypresses required to access the BIOS or the boot menu (in fact the manual is of little use for a PC enthusiast, was also provided with a CD/DVD which may have contained a more detailed manual, but for a machine without an optical drive, this is of little use).

In order to install Linux Mint, I had to keep rebooting the machine, trying various keys until I happened across the correct one to enter the BIOS and change the boot device (and I forgot to write that down, so will have to go through the process again if I want to get into the BIOS again!).

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Looks great. Are you satisfied with the system?
 
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