The Litebook, what is it and why has it been all over laptop news this week? Well, the Litebook is a self-acclaimed “revitalizing” new laptop, entering the market at the perfect time for a- those who appreciate an affordable notebook with plenty of everything the competitors offer, and b- those who appreciate any Linux-equipped device, which is surely a market that is steadily growing.

We usually see folks fulfilling their Linux taste by swapping their Windows-running laptop with an installation of Linux. Over the years, there have also been plenty of DIY-lovers building laptops to their own liking; as well as startups and new companies releasing, or crowd-funding their Linux-ready laptops, like the Pinebook from Kickstarter, for example. Besides the popular operating system, a lot of what a Linux computer means is affordability, having said that, there’s a nice niche out there for these Litebooks, especially as they undercut even the cheapest Chromebooks.

The $249 2.9 pound Litebook, is loaded with everything you would need, actually correlating side by side with some other highly popular notebooks, the Asus Chromebook ($229), and the Apple Macbook ($1,599), with pretty good standing. Specs include a 14.1-inch HD 1920 x 1080 display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM, and 512GB of replaceable storage, and an optional 32GB of SSD (a $20 upgrade). Just for fun comparison sake, Asus’s 13.3-inch Chromebook hits at just 1366 x 768 pixels, with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and 16GB of onboard RAM.

The processor inside the Litebook is actually Intel, just like its close competitors, this one being a quad-core Intel Celeron (the N3150), running at 1.6GHz. Finally, the Litebook includes plenty of ports, including dual USB 3.0s, an HDMI port, a microSD expansion slot, and an audio jack. It also comes with an Ethernet Jack, 802.11 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and an HD 720p front webcam. Litebook ports, when comparing to the Apple Macbook, are actually more plentiful, as the Macbook only comes with a single USB 3.1 Type-C, nothing older.

Finally, battery life is expected to last about 9 hours, pretty much on par with said Asus and Apple products. It ships with the Elementary OS flavor of Linux, but if you desire any surrogate that uses the Linux Kernal 4.8, go for it. Color options include black, red, and white, the white giving it quite an exquisite appeal. There’s a one-year warranty, and no bloatware involved. Isn’t it refreshing to boot up a new device and it not instantly overwhelm you with countless apps that end up confusing you as to whether you may “need” them or not? Well you don’t need to worry about any of that, you can install just what you do need. All-in-all, the Litebook looks like a stable Linux laptop, pretty much offering everything on board you could imagine.