Review: HP Dev One Linux Laptop

HP's latest Linux laptop sees the computer maker collaborating with erstwhile competitor (or at least, fellow Linux laptop maker) System76. It seems like an odd combo, given that System76 makes its own competing laptops, but the collaboration works.

The Dev One is a very nice Linux machine that packs enough punch for developers or creatives without hitting top-tier laptop prices. Even more impressive is the work HP and System76 have put into making Linux work perfectly with the AMD chipset.

Combining HP's hardware capabilities and industry experience with System76's Pop!_OS desktop has produced the best all-around Linux laptop you can buy right now.

In a refreshing change from how most laptops are sold these days, there is only one model of the Dev One. Another nice touch is that it gets a dedicated website, which makes ordering simple. Dell, are you listening?

The Dev One costs $1,100, which gets you a 14-inch laptop with a 1,000-nit 1080p screen, an AMD Ryzen 7 5850 chip, integrated Radeon graphics, 16 gigabytes of RAM, and a 1-terabyte NVMe M.2 2280 SSD. The RAM and SSD are user-upgradable (RAM support caps at 64 gigabytes). Getting into the components is simple. There are just five screws between you and any upgrades you want to make. The nearest Windows version of this same laptop gets a 9 out of 10 on iFixit's repairability scale.

As the name suggests, the Dev One is aimed at the developer audience, much like Dell's XPS 13 Developer Edition. Despite the names though, these are really just laptops with Linux preinstalled. The Dev One will work well for almost any task, developer-related or otherwise. Don't let the word "developer" in the name deter you if you're not one.

That said, I did put the Dev One through some developer-type tasks. I set up a Python development environment, which was no trouble, thanks to the extensive repositories Pop!_OS offers, and I ran benchmark tests geared toward developer tasks (i.e., CPU- and RAM-intensive tasks). The Dev One worked well for all these things. It was no slouch at editing 4K video either, thanks to that AMD chip. If benchmarks are your thing, have a look at the tests Phoronix posted on OpenBenchmarking.org. The results are impressive. The Dev One runs circles around many of its Intel-based competitors.

I'll be honest—when the Dev One first arrived, I was not immediately impressed. The design is conservative, which I suppose is fitting for the developer audience. It's not unattractive, it's just no standout. This is no XPS 13 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) when it comes to design. Still the Dev One feels very well built, and is plenty portable at 3.24 pounds. It's thicker than the more svelte options out there, but one thing I do love is how easy it is to open. There's nothing worse than a laptop you have pry open with a fingernail, but the Dev One has plenty of room, thanks to its beveled front edge.

Just in case you were wondering, this is not simply an HP Elitebook 845 with Linux slapped on it. Even the keyboard has been changed to give the Windows logo key its proper name: Super.

The Dev One's crazy-bright 1080p LED screen is nice. I wasn't enthusiastic about going from the 4K screen back to 1080p, but as 1080p screens go, this one is great. I'd love to see the Dev One with a 4K option, but given the 53-watt-hour battery, that's probably not in the cards without some other changes as well. 

The 1080 screen works well with Linux, though. There's no issues with scaling, like I sometimes have to deal with on my 4K screen. And the 1,000-nit brightness makes it easy to work outside. Most of the time, though, I dialed the screen brightness down to 50 percent or less to conserve battery.

The trackpad is one of the best I've ever used. It's made of glass and supports a wide variety of gestures, which can be customized in Pop!_OS. More on that in a minute. The keyboard is also very well done. The Dev One has Chiclet-style keys, but they have a good bit of height and travel to them. Don't worry, this is no butterfly keyboard. Also, points to HP for sticking a trackpad nub in, along with left and right buttons. 

Battery life is OK. I managed seven hours doing light work in a text editor and web browser with the brightness at 50 percent. That's not quite the all-day that HP claims, but it's pretty close. But turn up the screen brightness and start compiling software, and the battery life drops significantly. I averaged about 3.5 hours whenever I did anything demanding. If there were one thing I could change about the Dev One, it would be to drop in a bigger battery.

Where the Dev One shines is in the AMD chipset. It is a workhorse. Not only did it crunch through everything I threw at it, the fans rarely spun up. There is no dedicated graphics card, but AMD's integrated graphics power is impressive, much better than what you get with Intel. In fact, for most people, even casual gamers, the Dev One is more than enough power. To really see it bog down, I had to go download and compile the Android kernel, which is not something most people are going to regularly do.

AMD even stepped in and helped HP and System76 ensure that the laptop properly suspends operation when you close the lid and resumes when you reopen it. I've installed Linux on AMD machines in the past, and that is almost always the major pain point—suspend and resume never seems to work. The changes that System76 and HP made were also contributed back upstream, so if you have an AMD machine with this chipset, you too should have working suspend and resume whenever your distro updates to that Linux kernel. It's no surprise to see System76 contributing to the larger open source community, but I'm happy to see HP doing likewise.

One thing that you won't find here is Coreboot, the open source BIOS firmware. Most System76 PCs use Coreboot with the TianoCore firmware, and an open source Embedded Controller firmware as well. While Coreboot isn't in this version, both companies have said they would like to include it in future releases.

As I mentioned, on appearance alone, the Dev One doesn't make an exciting first impression. But my opinion quickly began to change as I spent more time with it. What really won me over was Pop!_OS. It provides by far the best user experience I've seen in a Linux desktop. It strikes a great balance between being easy to use for Linux newcomers and being well stocked with power-user features. Want tiling windows? Just toggle a switch in a toolbar menu. There are loads of (customizable) keyboard shortcuts for developers who eschew the mouse, and there's plenty of trackpad gestures to control workspaces, window focus, and more. 

Pop!_OS's polish extends throughout the user experience, but one thing that really caught my eye was the ability to open a support ticket with HP from within the desktop. It's seamless and easy. I should also note that HP has trained a dedicated support team for this laptop. When you contact support, you won't get the silent hiss that usually comes right after you say “Linux” to an IT support line.

I say this as someone who prefers very minimal systems—I run Sway on Arch Linux. That's all I've used for almost five years, but if I were buying the Dev One, I would stick with Pop!_OS. It's one of the most customizable desktops I've used, and unlike more complex window managers like Sway, the customization is done in well-designed settings apps. It's easier to use and more intuitive in my view than macOS, and certainly light years ahead of Windows 11 and its endless toggles.

It's worth asking what System76 gets out of this arrangement. Presumably there is some kind of financial deal, but beyond that, it gets System76's operating system on a tier-one laptop. That kind of exposure has previously been limited to Ubuntu, and maybe Fedora. It's good to see System76 getting some of the recognition it deserves. HP is also helping out with testing Pop!_OS releases.

If you're in the market for a new Linux notebook, this is what I'd recommend. It's powerful and user-serviceable, it has a fantastic OS and all the tools developers need—and it doesn't cost a fortune. That's a combo that's tough to beat.