Some of the best and most affordable premium laptops on the market are now shipping with Linux pre-installed. More specifically they’re shipping with Deepin, a beautiful and polished desktop Linux distribution which, like Huawei, are based in China. Whether this is a result of the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China is unknown, but it’s a nice step forward for the proliferation of Linux alternatives promoted by major OEMs like Dell and Lenovo.

Let’s get the disappointing news out of the way first. Right now these select Huawei laptops with Linux are only rolling out in China, via Huawei’s official e-commerce store VMall.com.

The exact models available with Deepin Linux are the Huawei MateBook X Pro, Huawei MateBook 13 and Huawei MateBook 14. It also looks like you’re stuck with the stock options for each model.

Now on to the positive news. Huawei has ditched the traditional Windows logo key on these Linux models and replaced it with key that simply reads “Start.” And as you’d expect, these 3 models cost 300 CNY (or about $42 USD) less than their Windows 10 counterparts.

Huawei MateBook 13 with Linux
Huawei MateBook 13 with LinuxHUAWEI
As for Deepin, its Chinese origins tend to ignite controversy (and anxiety within privacy purists) in the Linux world, however the distribution is open source and the code is available on GitHub. Politics and privacy stances aside, Deepin is one of the most stunning Linux desktops out there – and it’s also available in English.

Deepin’s open source nature does mean that Huawei is free to make alterations to it for their own purposes.

One of the main draws for Huawei may be Deepin’s recently added Cloud Sync feature allowing you to sync various system settings to the cloud. This covers network settings (such as VPN and WiFi), sound settings, mouse settings, update settings, power settings, corner settings, theme, wallpaper, launcher, and dock. Definitely useful for installing the OS on multiple machines, or easily regaining your customizations after a clean install.

It’s also worth noting that all three of these Huawei laptops run any Linux distribution like a dream, not just Deepin.

Could this be a precursor to Huawei offering Linux on select laptops globally? Or perhaps a trial run to gauge interest in alternatives to Windows 10, such as its own open source HarmonyOS? I don’t have the answers, but it should be very interesting to watch things unfold.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2019/09/12/huawei-just-started-selling-laptops-with-deepin-linux-pre-installed/amp/

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