Kubuntu Focus Zr Gen 1 Review: A Powerhouse Linux Laptop

Inside, the Zr Gen 1 has an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, with 24 cores, an RTX 5090 graphics card, 24 GB of GDDR7 RAM (expandable up to 192 GB) and two SSDs, one with a capacity of 1 TB and the other of 2 TB. (You can have up to four drives, one of them being an NVMe PCIe GEN 5×4.) Besides the discrete GPU, there is also an integrated one, which means you can turn off the discrete drive to maximize battery life. I spent about 90% of the time with the discrete card turned off and just turned it on when editing photos and videos.

Thanks to the size of the Zr, there is enough room for a full-size keyboard with number pad. The keyboard is user-configurable and has a 65,536-color LED backlighting system that you can change to your liking with the Focus tool. Typing on the keyboard is comfortable. The keys have 3.5mm of travel, so they are very springy and responsive. As is usually the case with dedicated Linux laptops, there is a Kubuntu key (gear icon) rather than a Windows key.

Did I mention the Zr Gen 1 weighs 8 pounds? It’s a big thing, too big for a shoulder bag. You’ll definitely need a backpack for this one, but even then it’s not the kind of thing you bring to the coffee shop. It’s more of the kind of thing you carry to and from the lab, or maybe just leave on your desk connected to your home lab. To that end, I would say that when I tell you that the average battery life is around four hours, I would also add that it doesn’t matter. It’s not a laptop you carry around. The fact that you can take it to the couch and watch a movie on it whenever you want is an added bonus, but that’s not really the point of the machine.

What’s the point of a laptop like this? Anything that requires significant computing power, whether it’s machine learning (running TensorFlow), local LLMs, big data processing workflows, or even high-end video editing. I should note that Davinci Resolve worked like never before when I installed it on the Zr Gen 1. I always thought everyone had to wait a few seconds before applying a LUT to a big clip. Turns out it can be instantaneous, if you have the GPU for it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say you can edit a video without proxy clips, but…maybe you could, depending on the length of your clips.

Put it in focus

Photography: Scott Gilbertson

The advantage of purchasing a laptop that supports Linux is that you don’t have to deal with the potential complexities of managing a Linux system. I’m typing this on an Arch based machine. If I install an update now and it breaks vim, or tmux, or rxvt-unicode, or any other kernel software up to those three, the repair is my responsibility. What Kubuntu Focus offers is that you don’t have to worry about any of this breaking.