3 ms·

Get a refurbished thinkpad x1 carbon. Great hardware, good ubuntu support out of the box.

by halotrope 5y ago

christkv 5y ago
Second this a 3-4 year old x1 carbon laptop will still be a great and affordable but.
- csunbird 5y ago
  Makes sense. My employer actually issues Thinkpads to employees, maybe I can ask for a second hand one that they have decommissioned.
SXX 5y ago
This. Year and half ago I bought myself X1 Carbon gen3 (model from 2017) and it had amazing 2K screen, fingerprint reader, 4G modem (even GPS works after flashing firmware). All works on Linux and cost me just $600. I recently gave it to my sis as gift, but it looked just like new when I bought it and still looks the same. Of course Lenovo ruined Thinkpad for me a little, but still their x220i that I bought 10 years ago still running even after being tortured constatly and dropped so many times. So yeah best laptops for the price.
- sva_ 5y ago
  I think 3rd gen is 2015.
  - SXX 5y ago
    Yeah you're right. It's has i7-5600U so it's 2015. Regardless I used this machine happily for webdev and light Java development. The only reason that I gifted it away is because M1 Macbook was simply way superior than anything I ever seen before. Otherwise I would still use that X1 for my daily needs.
sva_ 5y ago
I've also used a (2014) x1 carbon with Linux for a long time and can recommend that series. Just not the 2014 one, as it has a crappy touch bar instead of hardware F-keys. But the Linux support is great. I've often thought about upgrading, because of the non-standard keyboard layout, but the performance is still great so I can't really justify upgrading it yet. I bought it for around 1k euro back in 2014, so I think you'll probably find a later generation for less. It's a great laptop, the only drawback is the fact that the memory is soldered on the Mainboard along with the CPU, so if it breaks or you want to upgrade, you'll be out of luck. My memory did fail after 2 years and 10 months, but I still had 2 months warranty with on-site replacement, which was great. I think they lowered it to 2 years now, and no on-site support, so keep that in mind. It's a real trade-off.
degrews 5y ago
I agree. I did exactly this just last week. I got a refurb gen 8 (2020 model) from Lenovo for about $950 after tax (16GB, i5, 1080p). It looks brand new, not a single sign of use. I set it up with Ubuntu 21.04 yesterday and everything worked right out of the box. Much better experience than with the Dell 5530 I had previously. Weight is 2.4lbs, 0.4 less than the Macbook Air. Some other people are recommending the T4xx series. My impression is those are a better deal if you don't care about the weight.

Get a refurbished thinkpad x1 carbon. Great hardware, good ubuntu support out of the box.

christkv 5y ago

Second this a 3-4 year old x1 carbon laptop will still be a great and affordable but.

csunbird 5y ago
Makes sense. My employer actually issues Thinkpads to employees, maybe I can ask for a second hand one that they have decommissioned.

SXX 5y ago

This. Year and half ago I bought myself X1 Carbon gen3 (model from 2017) and it had amazing 2K screen, fingerprint reader, 4G modem (even GPS works after flashing firmware). All works on Linux and cost me just $600. I recently gave it to my sis as gift, but it looked just like new when I bought it and still looks the same. Of course Lenovo ruined Thinkpad for me a little, but still their x220i that I bought 10 years ago still running even after being tortured constatly and dropped so many times. So yeah best laptops for the price.

sva_ 5y ago
I think 3rd gen is 2015.
- SXX 5y ago
  Yeah you're right. It's has i7-5600U so it's 2015. Regardless I used this machine happily for webdev and light Java development. The only reason that I gifted it away is because M1 Macbook was simply way superior than anything I ever seen before. Otherwise I would still use that X1 for my daily needs.

sva_ 5y ago

I've also used a (2014) x1 carbon with Linux for a long time and can recommend that series. Just not the 2014 one, as it has a crappy touch bar instead of hardware F-keys. But the Linux support is great. I've often thought about upgrading, because of the non-standard keyboard layout, but the performance is still great so I can't really justify upgrading it yet. I bought it for around 1k euro back in 2014, so I think you'll probably find a later generation for less. It's a great laptop, the only drawback is the fact that the memory is soldered on the Mainboard along with the CPU, so if it breaks or you want to upgrade, you'll be out of luck. My memory did fail after 2 years and 10 months, but I still had 2 months warranty with on-site replacement, which was great. I think they lowered it to 2 years now, and no on-site support, so keep that in mind. It's a real trade-off.

degrews 5y ago

I agree. I did exactly this just last week. I got a refurb gen 8 (2020 model) from Lenovo for about $950 after tax (16GB, i5, 1080p). It looks brand new, not a single sign of use. I set it up with Ubuntu 21.04 yesterday and everything worked right out of the box. Much better experience than with the Dell 5530 I had previously. Weight is 2.4lbs, 0.4 less than the Macbook Air. Some other people are recommending the T4xx series. My impression is those are a better deal if you don't care about the weight.