System76 Pangolin Pro (panp16) Review
The Pangolin Pro 16 is a new linux-first 16 inch laptop with an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor and a 2K LTPS display at 16:10.
I will continue to expand this review as I use the laptop more.
Purchase Date: 2026-04-23
Review Date: 2026-04-30
First Impressions
Build Quality
The build quality of the Pangolin Pro leaves a bit to be desired. In general the metal enclosure is solid, but the screen hinges feel so weak and wobbly that it affects the feel of the entire laptop. I am very confident in saying these hinges will be the first thing to fail on this laptop and will do so when it would otherwise have years of useful life left. This is a major bummer and I wish that System76 would focus on this more. I've had a previous System76 laptop hinge fail and it's obvious it will happen again.
The trackpad is also underwhelming. It has separated left/right click buttons that are too stiff and the feel of the trackpad itself, while large enough is nothing special.
Otherwise the case itself does feel sturdy.
Battery
So far the battery life has been great. I can comfortably work all day on battery, or leave the laptop for a while and come back knowing I will still have plenty of battery to get me through my work. This is exactly what I was looking for.
Charging
This requires further investigation on my part. The devices comes with a 100W charging brick that works well. However I plugged in third party 45W charger that I use to charge all sorts of things (other laptops included) and the Pangolin Pro would not charge or recognize it. I have not ruled out an issue with this particular charger, but it is concerning that this charger works with all my other devices and I fear the Pangolin Pro may be overly picky with charging.
Ports
I love that the Pangolin Pro comes with an OCuLink port. I have not used or tested it, but it was a selling point for me as I hope to use it in the future.
While I don't use wired Ethernet very often, I love that it's included for when I want it without needing a dongle and having to use up a USB-C port
Speaking of USB-C, I have another complaint. There are 2 USB-C port and they are both on the same side of the device. It is so much nicer to have a USB-C port on each side and be able to pick the side that is more convenient for charging or a dock/monitor.
And USB-A, I don't need 3 USB-A port. Turn one of them into another USB-C port and all my port complains go away. Even 2 C ports and 2 A ports would be great, one on each side.
Audio
With my minimal usage so far, the side facing speakers are on the low end of acceptable They are at least better than the lowest end of laptop speakers, but significantly worse than what modern premium laptops provide (even Dell XPS is better).
Screen
To me the screen looks relative crisp and bright. It's a good screen. The brightness seems on par with average laptop screens, where it can be used outside, but only under certain conditions
Software, Firmware, and Pop!_OS
I received this device with the latest Pop!_OS 24.04 with the COSMIC desktop. I've previously used Pop!_OS before COSMIC was introduced. The feedback here may be related to COSMIC or related to the laptop and its firmware, I am not identifying the cause.
Wi-Fi
Since day 1 I have had issues with the Wi-Fi disconnecting and failing to detect any networks. I suspect this happens sometimes after the laptop resumes from sleep, but it has been inconsistent. I don't know if the cause it the wifi card, or PoP OS. So far only a reboot resolves the issue, but I have not yet attempted restarting the relevant services. If this issue continues to occur I will be reaching out the System76 support and update here.
Sleep
After closing the lid and the device going to sleep, the desktop regularly fails to resume after opening it back up. The screen is gray/black with a cursor and I can switch TTY's, but not get the desktop to display. I simply restarted the laptop rather than investigate further, but this is not a positive experience on a brand new laptop.
COSMIC
While COSMIC is still a bit under-baked and missing some features, by the time I started using it the main bugs have been ironed out and I enjoy it. I'm grad to see System76 building a new option in the desktop environment space.
Coreboot
I naively assumed that all System76 laptops had open firmware and supported Coreboot. I thought that was one of their main selling points.
I was wrong, this device does not have open firmware and does not support Coreboot. It is possible it may get an update in the future, but there is no guarantee and I was shocked to find out this was the case.
Summary
I'm fairly disappointed with this offering from System76. I want System76 to succeed and I want more good Linux laptop options and support. I've begun to understand the common System76 complaint that they are just "rebranded Clevos." Yes System76 does a lot of good work, but the physical build quality and software support of brand new laptop from System76 is currently a sub-par experience.
I bought a System76 Darter Pro back in 2019 and the hinge broke several years back, It's a shame the hinge quality has not improved since then.
View the official Pangolin Pro site: https://system76.com/laptops/pangolin-pro