Lenovo and quality aren't two words I associate together anymore. The IBM thinkpads were great, I have a pile of them in my storage. In fact I have both some Lenovo and IBM branded T60 and T4XX models. The IBM units have obviously more bulk to them, and the lids are stronger with more metal inside...

I prioritize Coreboot and OpenEC over all else, Lenovo is known for security issues with their machines in the past and occasionally cripple features and even Linux boot support. Their track record is awful. If you're a tinkerer, why would you buy a ferrari you're not able or allowed to work on?

The higher end premium System76 machines are of excellent quality. The Serval WS - which I ordered 2 weeks ago - is such an example.

In addition the starlabs machines and tuxedo machines are ridiculous in terms of quality, even going as far as using cherry switches on their keyboards now...in the models well beyond my price point.

I realize everyone hates on clevo but it's only the lower end models that really suffer "quality" issues.

Starlabs designs and manufactures their own chassis, they should not be lumped in with System76 here.

The bigger problem with Starlabs is the wait times can be brutal.