I received my pre-order and set it up for my partner about a week or so ago, and I just wanted to post a few thoughts from me and some of her comments.
*Super-easy assembly - I can’t stress enough how much I love the ease w/ which one can pop the case and immediately get to the servicable internals. It took me longer to get the WiFi antennae connected to the WiFi card (old, bad eyes) than it took to open, install RAM, SSD, and WiFi card, and close it. Even so, maybe 5 or 6 minutes total.
*Even without the driver bundle, the Windows install and post-install setup was a breeze. The driver bundle being a single install was nice for the intial setup.
*The i5 and DDR4-3200 makes for a really responsive system. In terms of visceral feel it seems even more responsive than my desktop system w/ a Ryzen 7 5800X.
*The screen is really, really nice. We haven’t tried to use it outside (and aren’t likely to), but it’s nice and bright for indoor use, and super crisp. My partner went from a Macbook Air to this and she says the screen is crisper and easier on her eyes than the panel in her Air. Also the aspect ratio is better suited for her academic work (and I personally miss the 3:2 panel days of yore).
*She loves the keyboard feel and response. Again, coming from a Macbook Air, but she also has a desktop PC w/ some fancy Logi keyboard I got her, and she likes this keyboard the best.
*Absolutely great trackpad. We both think this is not only one of the best trackpads we’ve used on a Windows laptop, but in terms of feel and response right at the top of any trackpad, Mac or Windows. Miles above my Thinkpad’s trackpad.
*I liked the idea of the ‘pods’ because I could finally get a loadout of the specific ports I need, but my partner really likes them because she likes the utility of being able to swap in one or more external video outputs when she needs them, but doesn’t need to leave unused ports connected when she doesn’t. We’re both looking forward to the day when the Marketplace is finally stood up and we can get more.
We’re both really happy with the laptop so far - I’ll be buying one to replace my Thinkpad when the time comes.