Hardware-wise, the main differences are a better display (that is, more dense), and a slower SSD (non PCIe) and slower graphic card (HD4200 vs HD5000). Trackpad is probably worse as well, but I would suppose you can't see much of a difference under Linux where the experience is suboptimal even with the Apple one. You also don't have Thunderbolt connectors, though I doubt is a problem for most people.