Are Tuxedo and Slimbook rebrands of a Hong-Kong laptop company?
I was trapped into a mystery for the past few weeks. You see, I like what Slimbook and Tuxedo provide for the Linux community in terms of making their laptops geared towards Linux. And I want to buy a new laptop. Now....their laptops look like identical twins. So I thought it is the same company that makes them but different brands. They confirmed this is not the case. One is a Spanish company, one is a German company.
Ok. Fine.
But Tuxedo told me their Infinity series, which I was keen to buy, was not made out of magnesium alloy like they advertise on their website, but made out of plastic and the magnesium alloy is steamed onto it.
But look, the Slimbook looks identical:
Even inside, ports, specs, weight, EVERYTHING!
Yet the Slimbook people told me: no no, our is FULLY metal. No plastic what-so-ever in the chassis.
Which one was right? Me, CONFUSED.
If they are so identical they must come from the same manufacturer....right? I then watched this video review of the Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 and bellow someone comments that they basically buy these laptops from a Hong Kong manufacturer named TONGFENG Computers....and Tuxedo confirmed in the reply:
Now you can go on the TONGFENG Computers website and you'll see those laptops hk.tongfangpc.com/thin-6h1-ser… - they are identical to the Slimbooks and Tuxedo ones.
I asked the Slimbook folks if they get them from there and rebrand them, but they said:
I'm sorry, but due to company policy, which I'm sure you understand, we do not provide that information.
At least I like that Tuxedo seem more honest in that regard. Maybe because they had to respond to the claim publicly!?
Now on the TONGFENG website they claim that these 16inch laptops are "all metal design":
Look, it is not a bad thing ok!? Of course these are not German or Spanish manufacturers, these are German/Spanish companies that buy laptops and rebrand them. Then they sell them. However Tuxedo advertises the laptops as "made in Germany":
So, my thoughts are these: both Tuxedo and Slimbook buy their laptops from the TONGFENG Hong Kong company. They simply deal with the software side of things to make them more Linux friendly, and do some custom chassis/keyboard prints. After testing the Slimbook Executive 16 my feeling is that Tuxedo seems more on the honest side of things and those laptops are made out of plastic with magnesium alloy steamed onto them. They are not bad at all, and I may buy a Tuxedo eventually if I can't find better alternatives.
But they for sure seem not honest to me. None of them to be honest. If Tuxedo tells me one thing but one their website they write another....or if they say their laptops are "made in germany" while they are not....then....you get the idea...
I do not trust any company. Period. They are entangled with whatever they trade so they can never be reasonably honest. Maybe Tuxedo and Slimbook do want to do good things and I still have that hope. Overall maybe they are nice people, but they for sure are shady, here and there at least.
In a trade-based society humans will sell you anything, and wrap it to appear as if they do so because they care. It is an old tactic. But they need to care about their profits too, more so. So don't simply take it for granted when these Open Source driven companies tell you that they are there to do a good thing for the Open Source. Be skeptical of their claims.
Both the Slimbook and Tuxedo people provided a great email support for my questions. All are nice. The Slimbook Executive 16 was very well put together, but probably not by the Slimbook team, but the Hong Kong one. I am still tempted to buy a Tuxedo to test it, these next months, but don't expect much honesty from companies in general.
These are my thoughts.
Tio
in reply to Tio • •@Nick @ The Linux Experiment what do you think about your sponsor Tuxedo advertising that they make the laptops in germany tuxedocomputers.com/ (see bottom of the website) while they are rebrands of the tongfangpc Hong Kong company? hk.tongfangpc.com/thin-and-lig…
Or that they claim their laptops are made out of magnesium alloy when in fact are plastic with magnesium alloy steamed on them? Something they confirmed to me several times over email.
Not bad laptops at all, but deceiving practice in my view.
Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to Tio • • •As per the magnesium, I don’t know the difference between an alloy or vapor bonding. Not issues at all for me, especially after using these devices, I can attest if their quality.
Tio
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • •And I wonder if they are even assembled more than changing the ram, ssd, or the motherboard. Like add them to chassis. In any case maybe we can tag @TUXEDO Computers to clear some things up...
LPS likes this.
Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • •Yeah well I care more about why would you try to use that label anyway. Marketing I suppose.
Of course the quality matters, but being deceptive is a red flag. Are they also deceptive about the materials used for the laptop? Or other things? idk...
Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • •Nah that's naive. Let's be honest. If they say on their main page "made in Germany" but it is made in Hong Kong, that's objectively deceptive. If I order from China, via Amazon, a pair of headphones, then I paint them and put a logo on them and say they are made in Spain, that would be deceptive at best.
Again, nothing wrong with the laptops being made in Hong Kong. And they seem good quality. But what they do in terms of marketing is deceptive at best.
Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • •Ok. That's still "assembled in Germany" at best.
Anyway didn't want to bother you, but was an interesting find for me. Thanks for the input, maybe Tuxedo can also reply.
TUXEDO
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to TUXEDO • •Interesting. Every-time I clicked that link it redirected me to the homepage. So it seems that if you select EN for your website, then click that "made in germany" it basically sends you to the same EN homepage.
Now that you sent me the link directly it worked. But it is only in German.
I have translated it but the translation is not great I suppose. From what I understood you guys are choosing the hardware that is most compatible with Linux (although Nvidia is notoriously not very compatible). And then you develop some software for it as seen here github.com/tuxedocomputers
I understand that the hardware is ordered from companies such as Tongfang, assembled there or at times in Germany. You also provide a repair shop for these laptops.
Did I get it right?
If so, I think the wording is misleading. These laptops (the hardware) are not "made" in Germany, but at best "assembled" in germany together with some basic software support.
Would it be more fair to change that and say "Assembled in Germany with custom-made software support"?
Tio
in reply to TUXEDO • •Rokosun
in reply to Tio • • •If you hadn't bought this up then I would've for sure thought that Tuxedo and Slimbook makes their own hardware from the ground up, makes sense why the Slimbook people don't want to provide you that information. But to be fair, designing & making laptops from the ground up is expensive, so its not a bad thing what they're doing in terms of improving linux compatibility. I just wish they were a bit more honest about what they're doing.
BTW, That company's name is TongFang, not TongFeng.
Tio likes this.
Tio
in reply to Rokosun • •Rokosun likes this.
Rokosun
in reply to Tio • • •I wonder if they just customize the laptops a bit and resell them, at least that's what I get from that YouTube comment. If this TongFeng company sells completely assembled laptops then why does Tuxedo & Slimbook have to reassemble them? That youtube comment mentioned they do keyboard lasering and chassis logo printing, maybe that's what they're referring to as "assembling" ? 🤷
TBF, their work on software and all is great, its just that there's not enough transparency from their part.
Tio
in reply to Rokosun • •Even if they assemble in Germany it is misleading to say "Made in Germany". Their software work is all good, and all that. Great that they contribute the the FOSS community. But I still think putting "Made in Germany" on their main page is misleading. And I am quite sure it is done consciously since people associate germany with well-made products. So I believe they use that as a marketing strategy.
And just to say this, I do not want to "stab" Tuxedo or anything like that, but if I see such practices I will be vocal, regardless if they also do some good for the Open Source world.
Rokosun likes this.
Rokosun
in reply to Tio • • •> Even if they assemble in Germany it is misleading to say "Made in Germany".
This maybe a bit subjective, because there are many steps involved in manufacturing something. When that TongFang company says that their product is made in China, they probably mean its assembled in China, I'm not sure if all the individual components are made in China itself. Or maybe it is, IDK 🤷
Also its good that you are vocal about such things, I don't think you're being rude, its honest criticism.
Tio
in reply to Rokosun • •It baffles me that it can be subjective....if you say "This laptop is made in Germany", but you order the hardware (and perhaps entire laptops) from somewhere else (regardless where), then it is beyond me how that sentence makes any sense. Maybe that Hong Kong company also orders parts from somewhere else, regardless I was talking about "not being made in Germany" but at best "assembled and customized in Germany".
My experience with this world tells me that this is a marketing scheme.
Rokosun likes this.
Rokosun
in reply to Tio • • •Tio likes this.