5 ms·

OK, how about this: if the linux community can tell me which subset of hardware it runs as well on as OS X, I'll buy that hardware and nothing else. I want a l

by Joeri 15y ago

OK, how about this: if the linux community can tell me which subset of hardware it runs as well on as OS X, I'll buy that hardware and nothing else. I want a linux laptop, with good battery life, stable suspend/resume, solid CPU performance, 3d graphics sufficient for light gaming, and a high-quality fit-and-finish. Which one do I buy?

qjz 15y ago
MacBook Pro!
- sciurus 15y ago
  The latest revision of the Macbook Pro (8.1) is not well supported by Linux. For example, there's no driver for the built-in wireless. Even the older revisions have many features that need manual configuration to work. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro
lwhi 15y ago
I would say, do some research :) I won't deny using Linux requires a greater investment of time than many other platforms. Whether it's worth that investment is up to you. If you do want to make the change, you might as well get used to the disparity now ;)
mgkimsal 15y ago
Exactly. The "linux community" doesn't really care if you use it or not, and manufacturers haven't really wised up to the fact that they could possibly sell more if they focused on supporting, say, Fedora X on a limited range of hardware. I suspect that the testing and licensing issues might end up costing them more in the short term than they'd make in increased sales, but I also suspect they'd garner a loyal fanbase and make more $ in the long run.
aw3c2 15y ago
Look into Lenovo. The Thinkpad T61 works very well with Linux from what I know.
jrockway 15y ago
I don't know about the "light gaming" aspect. Is the default Sandy Bridge GPU good enough? If so, how about the Thinkpad X220? I got one and it's wonderful. The Wifi reception is stunning, WiMax works, it suspends/resumes instantly, and it lasts for 10 hours on a charge. As for fit and finish, it has the magnesium roll cage, so you can run it over with your car and it probably won't break. Edit: Installed neverputt on this machine. Works fine with the settings maxed out and the resolution at full screen.
- eropple 15y ago
  Good machines. I have an X201 and am looking at getting an X220. Linux is not my primary OS on it, but I've installed it (SSD has Windows, HDD has Linux, I swapped in the HDD experimentally) runs very well and seems to be fully supported on all the hardware I care about. The X220 seems to share these characteristics. And yeah, it's a complete tank. The only downside I have is that both models seem to have issues with Sandforce SSDs and resuming from sleep, but that's a hardware issue instead of an OS one.
  - jrockway 15y ago
    I'm running mine with an Intel 320 SSD, and it's pretty good. (Only downside is that I always encrypt my laptops and I accidentally got the 1 processor variant that doesn't have the AES instructions. Doh!) Also, the mobile broadband does not work under Linux, despite the fact that the datasheet for the card says "Linux is fully supported". It will show up as a serial port (well, four of them) after you edit the kernel source (sierra.c) to contain this card's USB vendor/product ids. But without a firmware loader and firmware, you can't actually use the broadband. I feel that this will be fixed soon, though, as the Gobi 2000 is quite popular for Linux and this is the Gobi 3000. The GPS does work.
    - eropple 15y ago
      If I'd been buying a SSD new, I probably would have gone with an Intel one, but I had a Corsair lying around. Whoops.
Derbasti 15y ago
Yeah, that is the point. Just a decent system. At some point, even somewhat higher prices are not too much of a problem provided it works. Two months ago, me and my father spent two weeks to find one decent laptop for my sister member that was not crippled by a crappy screen, poor battery life, atrocious build quality or weight. And that was meant for a Windows system. We both have jobs, so if we had billed these hours, we could have easily got some really expensive gear just for that. Adding to that the effort spent for researching hardware compatibility and configuration... This is just nuts. To come back to the point, I want something that just works. I used to use Linux for several years. Like many others, I ended up with Apple at some point. I simply found out that I preferred to spend money on something decent over wasting time to find a cheap deal.
absentbird 15y ago
From what I have read System76 is a linux only computer vendor that has very strong hardware support.
iskander 15y ago
http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=113 http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&produc...
jdietrich 15y ago
I've just switched to a Lenovo X201. Everything worked perfectly out of the box with Ubuntu 11.04, with the exception of slightly erratic battery life reporting. The experience overall has been more straightforward than any Windows install I've ever done and not too far behind OSX.
Symmetry 15y ago
Getting any thinkpad thats been out for at least 6 months will generally work as a rule of thumb.
rbanffy 15y ago
I am happy with an Acer netbook and a Dell i5 latitude. The Acer isn't fast, mostly thanks to its slow hard disk, but the Dell is good enough. Its GPU won't win any speed contests. If you feel adventurous, burn a copy of Ubuntu on a USB stick and go to a computer store. Last time I did that I promised the salesman I wouldn't harm their display computers and the guy let me boot a lot of them under Linux so I could check what worked and what didn't. I'll soon replace the Acer with a Vostro v130. It's small, light and has a configuration that comes with Linux preinstalled. I'll reinstall it immediately, but it's good to know it works.
patrickaljord 15y ago
Check http://www.system76.com/index.php?cPath=28 http://www.system76.com/index.php?cPath=28
hackoder 15y ago
Another vote for a thinkpad. I have the t410 with core i5 540m, dedicated nvidia nvs3100, 9 cell battery and 128 gb ssd. Everything works. Suspend, resume, wireless, 5-7 hrs working with virtual machines. The build seems to be pretty good but the MBP seems sturdier to me. People seem to rate the thinkpad as having superior build quality but I feel that the screen and parts of e chassis have flex (no flex on the mbp). I recently switched from a Mac and I definitely miss it at times but there is enough in the thinkpad/ubuntu combo to hold me over for now (openbox, good tiling managers, source code that is open to scrutiny etc).
cookiecaper 15y ago
Buy from System76. Not only do they use "known good" hardware configurations, but they include software called "System76 Driver" that automatically performs any magic necessary to support your machine's full range of features, like modifying udev files, etc.

by Joeri 15y ago

qjz 15y ago

MacBook Pro!

sciurus 15y ago
The latest revision of the Macbook Pro (8.1) is not well supported by Linux. For example, there's no driver for the built-in wireless. Even the older revisions have many features that need manual configuration to work. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro

lwhi 15y ago

I would say, do some research :) I won't deny using Linux requires a greater investment of time than many other platforms. Whether it's worth that investment is up to you. If you do want to make the change, you might as well get used to the disparity now ;)

mgkimsal 15y ago

Exactly. The "linux community" doesn't really care if you use it or not, and manufacturers haven't really wised up to the fact that they could possibly sell more if they focused on supporting, say, Fedora X on a limited range of hardware. I suspect that the testing and licensing issues might end up costing them more in the short term than they'd make in increased sales, but I also suspect they'd garner a loyal fanbase and make more $ in the long run.

aw3c2 15y ago

Look into Lenovo. The Thinkpad T61 works very well with Linux from what I know.

jrockway 15y ago

I don't know about the "light gaming" aspect. Is the default Sandy Bridge GPU good enough? If so, how about the Thinkpad X220? I got one and it's wonderful. The Wifi reception is stunning, WiMax works, it suspends/resumes instantly, and it lasts for 10 hours on a charge. As for fit and finish, it has the magnesium roll cage, so you can run it over with your car and it probably won't break. Edit: Installed neverputt on this machine. Works fine with the settings maxed out and the resolution at full screen.

eropple 15y ago
Good machines. I have an X201 and am looking at getting an X220. Linux is not my primary OS on it, but I've installed it (SSD has Windows, HDD has Linux, I swapped in the HDD experimentally) runs very well and seems to be fully supported on all the hardware I care about. The X220 seems to share these characteristics. And yeah, it's a complete tank. The only downside I have is that both models seem to have issues with Sandforce SSDs and resuming from sleep, but that's a hardware issue instead of an OS one.
- jrockway 15y ago
  I'm running mine with an Intel 320 SSD, and it's pretty good. (Only downside is that I always encrypt my laptops and I accidentally got the 1 processor variant that doesn't have the AES instructions. Doh!) Also, the mobile broadband does not work under Linux, despite the fact that the datasheet for the card says "Linux is fully supported". It will show up as a serial port (well, four of them) after you edit the kernel source (sierra.c) to contain this card's USB vendor/product ids. But without a firmware loader and firmware, you can't actually use the broadband. I feel that this will be fixed soon, though, as the Gobi 2000 is quite popular for Linux and this is the Gobi 3000. The GPS does work.
  - eropple 15y ago
    If I'd been buying a SSD new, I probably would have gone with an Intel one, but I had a Corsair lying around. Whoops.

Derbasti 15y ago

Yeah, that is the point. Just a decent system. At some point, even somewhat higher prices are not too much of a problem provided it works. Two months ago, me and my father spent two weeks to find one decent laptop for my sister member that was not crippled by a crappy screen, poor battery life, atrocious build quality or weight. And that was meant for a Windows system. We both have jobs, so if we had billed these hours, we could have easily got some really expensive gear just for that. Adding to that the effort spent for researching hardware compatibility and configuration... This is just nuts. To come back to the point, I want something that just works. I used to use Linux for several years. Like many others, I ended up with Apple at some point. I simply found out that I preferred to spend money on something decent over wasting time to find a cheap deal.

absentbird 15y ago

From what I have read System76 is a linux only computer vendor that has very strong hardware support.

iskander 15y ago

http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=113 http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&produc...

jdietrich 15y ago

I've just switched to a Lenovo X201. Everything worked perfectly out of the box with Ubuntu 11.04, with the exception of slightly erratic battery life reporting. The experience overall has been more straightforward than any Windows install I've ever done and not too far behind OSX.

Symmetry 15y ago

Getting any thinkpad thats been out for at least 6 months will generally work as a rule of thumb.

rbanffy 15y ago

I am happy with an Acer netbook and a Dell i5 latitude. The Acer isn't fast, mostly thanks to its slow hard disk, but the Dell is good enough. Its GPU won't win any speed contests. If you feel adventurous, burn a copy of Ubuntu on a USB stick and go to a computer store. Last time I did that I promised the salesman I wouldn't harm their display computers and the guy let me boot a lot of them under Linux so I could check what worked and what didn't. I'll soon replace the Acer with a Vostro v130. It's small, light and has a configuration that comes with Linux preinstalled. I'll reinstall it immediately, but it's good to know it works.

patrickaljord 15y ago

Check http://www.system76.com/index.php?cPath=28 http://www.system76.com/index.php?cPath=28

hackoder 15y ago

Another vote for a thinkpad. I have the t410 with core i5 540m, dedicated nvidia nvs3100, 9 cell battery and 128 gb ssd. Everything works. Suspend, resume, wireless, 5-7 hrs working with virtual machines. The build seems to be pretty good but the MBP seems sturdier to me. People seem to rate the thinkpad as having superior build quality but I feel that the screen and parts of e chassis have flex (no flex on the mbp). I recently switched from a Mac and I definitely miss it at times but there is enough in the thinkpad/ubuntu combo to hold me over for now (openbox, good tiling managers, source code that is open to scrutiny etc).

cookiecaper 15y ago

Buy from System76. Not only do they use "known good" hardware configurations, but they include software called "System76 Driver" that automatically performs any magic necessary to support your machine's full range of features, like modifying udev files, etc.