Found the compromise, the battery is tiny.
With the circa-2009 Acer plastic look? Big plastic air fins, feet that stick out the bottom to stop it sliding into t bad properly, huge (huge) bezel around the screen?
The Oryx looks much more modern - are you sure you aren't talking about that? https://system76.com/laptops/oryx
Every laptop either looks like this, or a MacBook clone.
I'll buy one anyway, simply because it's supposed to be made in America. But I can't find anywhere on the web site where they're made.
The main problem I've seen eith that sort of thing is that there still aren’t many 5k monitors on the market and I’m not sure the LG one will work with Linux over USB-C. (Would love to be wrong on that if anyone knows better).
The wood finish? Really? A desktop that looks like a trash can, and now this?
I’m hoping they do a nice laptop. HN will need to put their money where there mouth is if System76 comes up with a thick laptop with replaceable battery, upgradeable RAM, lots of non USB-C ports and a keyboard with some travel. A niche System76 could really fit into.