4 ms·

So what would be the best brand of laptop to buy and put Linux on?

blaser-waffle 7y ago
Dell is selling XPS and other business laptops with Ubuntu installed at the factory. Not sure if it's a Dell spin of it, but it'll save you ~$40 by not paying the Microsoft tax. Purism has an open source laptop that looks good. Expensive, though. Voting for FOSS hardware with your wallet ain't cheap.
windexh8er 7y ago
I'm typing this on a T470 running Linux. It has been a fantastic laptop all around. In general I find it more productive than my work issued MBP. Others have stated hardware failures with their Lenovo, however I use mine daily and, generally, do not treat it any different than other laptops. The keyboard has fared better than the last three MBP I've been issued / reissued. YMMV, obviously. All hardware can fail and all hardware can have manufacturing defects. Overall, however, I feel as though my T470 is a more durable machine. And I'm excited to see AMD in the T lineup. While I might not purchase the first iteration, I'll definitely be watching the space. Lenovo is supporting Linux on a lot of their hardware moving forward [0]. Lenovo also joined LVFS in 2018 to provide native Linux firmware updates [1]. [0] https://www.lenovo.com/linux https://www.lenovo.com/linux [1] https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/08/lvfs-lenovo-firmware-updates-linux https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/08/lvfs-lenovo-firmware-upd...
- nobleach 7y ago
  I typically tell people, "Everything but the fingerprint reader". On my X1C the only tiny battle I had to fight was for S3 suspend. I'm not even going to bother with the fingerprint reader.
  - diffeomorphism 7y ago
    Red hat is apparently paying for some work on this: https://blogs.gnome.org/uraeus/2019/06/24/on-the-road-to-fedora-workstation-31/ https://blogs.gnome.org/uraeus/2019/06/24/on-the-road-to-fed... So I guess it is going to land in fedora first and then make its way to other distros. That said, under windows the fingerprint reader is frustratingly bad (lots and lotsof false negatives and slow). How can they be almost perfect on phones but that awful on laptops?
    - nobleach 7y ago
      My Macbook Pro's reader has been great. But yeah, I've had readers on my PCs for the past 10 years, and every one of them has been just a notch above terrible.
meddlin 7y ago
I'll be opting for a Darter Pro from System76 later in the year. Like others have stated, going with FOSS hardware/software isn't cheap, but it looks to be the best compromise for myself. Dell's XPS "Ubuntu edition" looks like a great device. However, limitations on repairability at that price are a non-starter for me.
helb 7y ago
After many years with old X and T Thinkpads i got a Dell Latitude at work and i'm pretty happy with it. Everything works well, including the thunderbolt dock. Even the keyboard is pretty decent, just the trackpoint (they call it a "pointing stick") sucks, nobody except IBM/Lenovo seems to get it right.
lathiat 7y ago
System76 or the Dell Ubuntu systems

Dell is selling XPS and other business laptops with Ubuntu installed at the factory. Not sure if it's a Dell spin of it, but it'll save you ~$40 by not paying the Microsoft tax. Purism has an open source laptop that looks good. Expensive, though. Voting for FOSS hardware with your wallet ain't cheap.

windexh8er 7y ago

I'm typing this on a T470 running Linux. It has been a fantastic laptop all around. In general I find it more productive than my work issued MBP. Others have stated hardware failures with their Lenovo, however I use mine daily and, generally, do not treat it any different than other laptops. The keyboard has fared better than the last three MBP I've been issued / reissued. YMMV, obviously. All hardware can fail and all hardware can have manufacturing defects. Overall, however, I feel as though my T470 is a more durable machine. And I'm excited to see AMD in the T lineup. While I might not purchase the first iteration, I'll definitely be watching the space. Lenovo is supporting Linux on a lot of their hardware moving forward [0]. Lenovo also joined LVFS in 2018 to provide native Linux firmware updates [1]. [0] https://www.lenovo.com/linux https://www.lenovo.com/linux [1] https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/08/lvfs-lenovo-firmware-updates-linux https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/08/lvfs-lenovo-firmware-upd...

nobleach 7y ago
I typically tell people, "Everything but the fingerprint reader". On my X1C the only tiny battle I had to fight was for S3 suspend. I'm not even going to bother with the fingerprint reader.
- diffeomorphism 7y ago
  Red hat is apparently paying for some work on this: https://blogs.gnome.org/uraeus/2019/06/24/on-the-road-to-fedora-workstation-31/ https://blogs.gnome.org/uraeus/2019/06/24/on-the-road-to-fed... So I guess it is going to land in fedora first and then make its way to other distros. That said, under windows the fingerprint reader is frustratingly bad (lots and lotsof false negatives and slow). How can they be almost perfect on phones but that awful on laptops?
  - nobleach 7y ago
    My Macbook Pro's reader has been great. But yeah, I've had readers on my PCs for the past 10 years, and every one of them has been just a notch above terrible.

meddlin 7y ago

I'll be opting for a Darter Pro from System76 later in the year. Like others have stated, going with FOSS hardware/software isn't cheap, but it looks to be the best compromise for myself. Dell's XPS "Ubuntu edition" looks like a great device. However, limitations on repairability at that price are a non-starter for me.

helb 7y ago

After many years with old X and T Thinkpads i got a Dell Latitude at work and i'm pretty happy with it. Everything works well, including the thunderbolt dock. Even the keyboard is pretty decent, just the trackpoint (they call it a "pointing stick") sucks, nobody except IBM/Lenovo seems to get it right.

lathiat 7y ago

System76 or the Dell Ubuntu systems