System76 Serval Professional Notebook

Our Serval Professional arrived in a nonchalant cardboard package without any System76 markings. Inside the box, the 15.4" notebook was rested amid two large Styrofoam blocks and within a plastic bag. The accessories for this notebook were split between two cardboard boxes. Included was the notebook's power supply, an 8-cell battery, a System76 welcome guide that was just made up of a few sheets of paper, and DVI to VGA adapter. Beyond the Styrofoam and plastic bag, there were thin layers of plastic taped in place to protect the top of the notebook, the screen, and the base of the notebook.

The System76 Serval Professional has a black brushed finish with silver trim on the sides. On the top of the notebook in the center is System76's logo. Opening up the notebook there is the 15.4" display with the "Eyeshot" 2.0 mega-pixel web camera immediately above the screen. The keyboard on the Serval Professional is nicely sized (both in terms of the overall size and in terms of the individual keys) and is laid out well. If you look closely, you will also see there is no Windows key on this notebook. System76 has replaced the Windows icon with a key having Ubuntu's logo.

The power buttons are above the keyboard while immediately below the keyboard is an integrated microphone. In the two corners of the notebook near the keyboard are the integrated speakers. The touchpad on this notebook is nicely sized and there is an integrated scrolling surface on the right hand side. Below the touchpad is an integrated fingerprint reader, which is also compatible with Ubuntu, but System76 states this feature is currently in beta.