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Ask HN: What is the best laptop to run Linux in 2019?
- markvdb 8y ago2011 Lenovo Thinkpad X220 daily user here. Really nice machine really for my needs, running the latest Debian smoothly. I do have a spare ready to take over if needed. Old hardware could always die very suddenly. It's a frugal solution, both cheaper and more ecological than buying new.
- chrisMyzel 8y agoX1 carbon 6th runs smoothly on antergos
- swalladge 8y agoCan confirm. This is one nice machine. +1
- soinus 8y agoMy girlfriend has it and it just won't go to sleep even with tlp installed :/
- kevinherron 8y agoDid you install the BIOS update they released towards the end of last year?
- y4mi 8y agoany by system76 are worth a look
- noipv4 8y agoAny reviews on running Linux on the LG gram 17 inch?
- gtf21 8y agoI have been wondering about this too. I'm pretty attached to my 2014 MBP (running macOS) but dislike the latest line of Macs (and want to have a linux laptop). I've been looking mostly at the new Dell XPS 13 range as they look really good. I just worry that the build quality will never match up to Apple's.
- mehrdada 8y agoLinux on those 2014 Macs run great especially for the ones with integrated GPUs.
- CalRobert 8y agoConsidering the crappy keyboard on my 2018 mbp and annoying stuff like no extenal monitor if using battery (unless the laptop's open, for some reason, I already prefer my 2015 xps 13
- mobilio 8y agoSame here - MBP/MBA fan. But i'm afraid to migrate to new ones due keyboard issues.
- annoyedmacuser 8y agoMade an account just to comment on this. The new keyboards are a nightmare. My keys on my 2016 Macbook Pro kept sticking and after a while started falling off. To fix it, they have to replace large parts of the machine, including the screen, so your machine is likely to be in the shop for the better part of a week. Once repaired, the problem will persist, because it's not like they're actually able to correct the design flaw by giving you a new keyboard. I've been a loyal Mac user for about 16 years - even used to run Yellow Dog Linux on my old PPC - but I've started migrating my family to the Dell XPS for their new laptops. From what I read, the new rubber components in the most recent laptops don't really fix the issue either. I'd stay away.
- hestefisk 8y agoSurface Book is not bad. No suspend though.
- 0815test 8y agoDo you still need "unofficial" kernel patches to make it work properly under Linux? That's not what good support looks like. And the "no hardware support for ACPI suspend" thing is common to a lot of newer mobile hardware - they call it "Connected Standby", so just be aware of that misfeature.
- pizza234 8y agoI owned multiple Surface devises, and while I think it's a good machine for development in general, it's definitely not a "best laptop to run Linux", due to incomplete hardware support. In addition to the sleep, the webcam is not supported at all, and the wifi driver is far from perfect. An extremely annoying issue, although not relevant to Linux itself, is that the Fn key frequently disables itself, and there's no way to lock it (there was in the SP3). I've verified this on both a Surface Book and a Surface Book 2.
- jazoom 8y agoAdmittedly it's a different model, but I can't even get my Surface Pro 4 to boot from a Linux ISO. I followed Microsoft's instructions meticulously and it just didn't work when Linux was on the USB drive. I don't think the Surface line of products in general is great for Linux support.
- AsyncAwait 8y agoThere's plenty of good ones, just look for hardware that has good Linux support, like an Intel GPU, or AMD if you need more power, compatible wireless chipset etc. If you don't mind slightly dated HW and want the smoothest experience, I'd get a Purism Librem[1], the XPS line is known to be a solid choice as well, there's vendors like System76. I personally have an ASUS ROG GL702ZC, which is a Ryzen/AMDGPU based workhorse laptop that works well out of the box. 1 - https://puri.sm/products https://puri.sm/products
- curiousgal 8y agoXPS 15
- navidfarhadi 8y agoThinkpads have already been mentioned but I also highly recommend the Dell Latitude, especially the 7490. They have fantastic keyboards, great battery life, and absolutely amazing displays (among the best 1920x1080 displays I have seen on a laptop). Plus they run many Linux distributions out of the box with minimal configuration. If you live in the US or Europe I'd recommend the US/UK Dell Outlet. You can get a Dell Latitude in great condition (often like-new condition) for a nice deal, especially when they have their laptop promotions. I've had a good experience with their onsite service as well.
- dfawcus 8y agoI looked a those, but found the 5400 series more practical (I use a 5480). US keyboard, 3 button mouse, and it has the same screen resolution, but a slightly more readable dot pitch. For me the choice was based on the 3 button mouse, and the screen pitch. What annoys me is that the only way to get the USA keyboard (for a UK purchase) was that the machine was procured in the USA. This is one thing Apple get right - offering the USA keyboard layout in the UK market. That said, I don't like the feel of the current Macbook keyboards.
- 0815test 8y ago> What is the best laptop to run Linux in 2019? The one that you own already and that's sitting in a closet because it won't run well using a "current" version of its stock OS. Chances are that it will work very well with Linux.
- rubenbe 8y agoXPS13. It works perfectly out of the box, you can even order it with Linux pre-installed. Do I need to explain further? The experience of running Linux on my XPS has been "boring as it should be" because everything just works. (I'm using Fedora 29)
- snrji 8y agoI have never had issues with neither HP, ASUS or Dell.
- posedge 8y agoI don't know what the _best_ laptop is, but I've been running Ubuntu 18.04 on my XPS 15 for a couple of months and it's been a fuss-free experience so far. Once you switch the hard drive to AHCI mode, that is...
- bertman 8y agoI'm using a librebooted ThinkPad x200 with Debian Stable and an AFFS display panel as my daily driver. It's great, I hope it never dies.
- ryanponce 8y agoOut of curiosity - what password manager do you use?
- sofaofthedamned 8y agoNot OP but I use Bitwarden and it's awesome. You can host it yourself, and has all the browser plugins / apps you need.
- bertman 8y agoSorry I didn't answer earlier. I use pass (passwordstore.org).
- derekp7 8y agoChromebooks with Crostini make for a good "second laptop". It is finally getting to the point where it is usable as my daily driver. The main advantage is that in ChromeOS, things like Netflix and Hulu work at full resolution. And everything is touch optimized. Under Crostini, Linux apps are getting very well integrated. Note, that there are still a few things that are in the works yet. I'm on the beta channel, and just got v74, which gives audio support to Linux apps. And 3d is still being worked out. (Audio in isn't in place yet though, for security reasons). I also have a Thinkpad X1 Yoga, which so far has been 0 trouble with Linux (suspend/hibernate work as expected). The only thing that doesn't work is the fingerprint scanner. Thinkpads in general are fairly well supported, partly because many Red Hat developers carry thinkpads from what I've heard.
- taf2 8y agoI agree, after the MacBook keyboard touchbar thing I’ve started using a chrome slate tablet and was amazed by how fast it is. It doesn’t have fans so it can’t be fast for long compute operations but short compiles or bursts are very fast. The keyboard is simple but yea tablet keyboard but it’s so small and lite I can carry with me almost everywhere. The biggest issue for me is when restarting the device for upgrades I lose my whole Linux even setup. Although I enjoyed finally learning how to use tabs in screen.
- ekianjo 8y agoNot a new laptop but the t440p is an excellent choice still. Cheap, serviceable, extendable to 16gb RAM, with easily upgradable CPU... still one of the best in its category.
- immnn 8y agoI got myself a HP Spectre x360 last year, it‘s the i7-8550, 16GB RAM, 4K Touch model. After a bunch of BIOS updates Thunderbolt properly does it‘s job. Latest model should work fine as well due to minor upgrades. Btw, Fedora drives the h/w.
- mzur 8y agoI use a TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13 since 2017 and I love it. It's essentially the German version of a System76 Galago Pro. You can configure it to your needs, it's not too expensive and the hardware just works with Linux (Ubuntu 16.04/18.04 in my case).
- cmroanirgo 8y agoMy MBA 2013 just barfed and while I was waiting to get my new one in I decided to install xubuntu 18 LTS on a 2007 Sony Vaio (2mb, Core 2 Duo, tiny and slow harddrive). While it's nowhere near as fast as an SSD, it loads reasonably well and looks reasonable out of the box, and definitely usable for browsing/typing and a bit of compiling. So what I'm saying is that I'm not sure if the question is specific enough. That said, any el cheapo laptop will run well, & a good SSD with a bit of ram is all I'd be looking for if I were buying new... or I'd go top-end & gorgeous, like a Lenovo.
- manjana 8y agoI have a Dell Inspiron 7000 which has a discrete GPU (GTX 1050Ti).. Once it runs, it runs very well, but being somewhat newer to Linux it was a big hassle which wasn't settled easily.
- mdsharpe 8y agoThinkPad T420s
- pizza234 8y agoI owned several IBM Thinkpads, and one or more Dell (one XPS, at least). Thinkpads are definitely very well supported (at least, the high-end standard form-factor ones; I had an Helix, and the support was mediocre), and they would go first in my list of Linux-supported laptops. The Dell XPS 13 was working very well, AFAIR. I can't remember/find though, if I had other ones.
- sofaofthedamned 8y agoThinkpad X1 Carbon with Fedora 29 / rawhide kernel is awesome, cannot recommend it enough. Best keyboard on any 14" laptop. Only issue I have is the nipple thing doesn't work after a wakeup even, but I don't use it so don't care.
- smiths1999 8y agoI have a 3rd gen Lenovo Carbon X1 and absolutely love it. I am coming from a late 2016 MBP touchbar which I can't stand to use anymore because of the keyboard issues (which I encountered twice, my mom has encountered, and my brother in law has encountered). My only complaint with Ubuntu on the X1 is going to and waking from sleep is problematic for me. Sometime when I wake from sleep I have to do a hard reset (get frozen on the lock screen). Other times i successfully wake from sleep but the touchpad doesn't function 100%, mainly it won't allow me to two-finger scroll or click and drag.
- guilhas 8y agoSecond hand Thinkpad x230 i5
- bernardv 8y agoMy Asus Zenbook runs Fedora 29 without any issues. Great laptop.
- jasonhansel 8y agoMy thinkpad x1 carbon works great!
- NamPNQ 8y agoCheap Dell Inspiron 14 3000 Series with custom upgrade ssd + 16gb ram, all is smooth
- antongribok 8y agoNot only Dell XPS13 works out of the box AND ships with Linux, with Fedora it was one of the first platforms where where you can update the BIOS and all other system firmware straight from the OS. Truly a first class experience. Also, the 20 hour battery life is second to none.
- Rotareti 8y agoI used a ThinkPad x230, now I use a ThinkPad x280. Both machines work nicely with Linux. If you are a programmer and use the keyboard a lot, the poiting stick is simply the best poiting device you can get. With it, you never have to leave the home row. I find the keyboards of both machines quite nice as well.
- ykevinator 8y agoI did a bunch of research and wound up chooosiing the xmate pro huwaeii. It's been excellent so far. I bought it about 3 months ago. It was the best in all dimensions.
- beatgammit 8y agoThat really depends on what you want to do with it. In general, avoid Nvidia and buy based on your requirements. Outside of Nvidia graphics, hardware works pretty well, though it seems higher end non-Apple hardware tends to work better. I'm currently in the market for a laptop as well (I primarily use Linux), and an AMD APU seems like a perfect fit because they have 4 cores and pretty good graphics. I'm intrigued by the Thinkpad A485 because I love the Thinkpad line, but I've heard this particular line has throttling issues. The E485 doesn't have the throttling issues, but it doesn't have a big battery, so I may go for that and a battery backup. The main issue I've had and seen with running Linux on a laptop has been wireless, but you can usually swap it out for an Intel WiFi chip, which usually work really well under Linux. There is so much variation in available laptops, so you really need to decide what you want to do with it and then find a set of laptops that have the specs you want. Once you have a list, check reviews from Linux users to make sure there aren't any weird problems.
- karmakaze 8y agoHardware-wise, I'm interested in the smallest, lightest package that can still run dev tools. I got a Surface Go as a daily driver 2nd laptop and it's just fine. It's still running Win10 + WSL. If I we're looking for a full-time laptop, I'd seriously consider the latest Surface Pro, it's the right size+weight and many have worked to get Linux to run well on them. The 3:2 aspect ratio is awesome too--I can't stand 16:9 for dev unless it's 27".
- enterabdazer 8y agoAs other commentators ask, for what? I recently looked for a Linux-friendly laptop for development and general use. Linux compatibility, performance, and price were my motivators. I ended up with a Dell Outlet XPS 15 for just under $1300, including 2-yr warranty. Installed Pop OS, and after a few initial hiccups, I could not be happier. Best Linux OS I've used and the most powerful machine I've ever owned. 6-core 8th-gen i7-8750, 32GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, and 1TB SSD. Couldn't find anything comparable anywhere else. I _highly_ recommend Pop OS, too.
- wgillett 8y agoI have a Galago Pro from system76 and love both the hardware and System76 tech support for Ubuntu, on a few occasions where I have run into trouble where I needed help.