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Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)
- switchbak 5y agoThis is from 2019, does not appear useful at all.
- leephillips 5y agoShallow dismissal. Don’t assume everyone lives in the same year as you.
- francislavoie 5y agoHuh? Are others time travellers?
- cyberpunk 5y agoAbsolutely! For instance, Jacob Rees-Mogg lives in roughly 1840 CE.
- adolph 5y agoTechnologically, it can be cheaper to live a couple years back. Look at all these first gen iPhone SE's for about $100. https://buy.gazelle.com/collections/iphone-se https://buy.gazelle.com/collections/iphone-se
- leephillips 5y agoThat’s what I do with everything possible. Tech becomes quite cheap, and if something breaks (which it does less often than with new stuff), there is no getting upset when the company refuses to honor the warranty, because there is no warranty. Just buy another one.
- ghusbands 5y agoWell, nobody currently lives or will live in an earlier year, and it only gets less relevant as time goes on.
- agallant 5y agoLaptops from the same series are still offered, and (for good or ill) still pretty similar to 2019 - https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certified/precision-5560-mobile-workstation/spd/precision-15-5560-laptop/xctop556015us_vp https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certif... I have a 2020 model, and would concur with this post - good screen, build, thermals, lots of ram, no having to fight with drivers. Even firmware updates "just work" (apply as snaps). I did find this review more helpful when making the purchase decision - https://www.engineering.com/story/dell-precision-5550-review-the-smallest-and-thinnest-15-mobile-workstation https://www.engineering.com/story/dell-precision-5550-review...
- version_five 5y agoHave you seen any major changes between now and then? I looked for a linux developer laptop last year and ended up with a lenovo P1 after a previous bad experience (with power management) on an XPS13 (which I used while traveling - I don't travel now). I didn't see any other alternatives last year vs what he's discussing. I would love to hear if there are new competitive linux-friendly laptops out there now
- flylikeabanana 5y agoWell, the Framework did come out since then. That's no small news in the linux laptop world
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y agoThe article states they want discrete graphics. Framework don't yet have this capability.
- cyberpunk 5y agoAnecdotal, a colleague of mine absolutely hated his to the point where he didn’t even sell it, it just ended up in a drawer until he’s calmed down enough to sort it out for sale >_<
- belval 5y agoNo offense to your colleague, but if you get angry against a piece of tech to a point where you can't even stand to sell it, I think you have more issues than a bad laptop...
- StopDarkPattern 5y agoBecause everyone loves CCP sponsored back doors in their hardware. I am a solid pass on lenovo for life.
- version_five 5y agoI don't think this is remotely credible. Without some evidence it's just scare mongering (although I find it hard to take anyone who automatically jumps to saying CCP when talking about China seriously) Anyway, as someone without even the remotest business or personal connections to China, if someone is spying on me I hope it's them, rather than someone who can actually impact my life
- qchris 5y agoI largely agree--the post definitely seems to show its age, and explicitly doesn't really cover any laptops besides the Dell Precision 5540 vs. the Thinkpad P1. Not the author's fault--this is a great reason why post's dates are useful, but I think that any current review of the Linux development laptop landscape has to include options like the Framework or System76 offerings and exclude models like the x230 (no shade at the x230; I ran it as a Linux dev machine for several years, but it's now significantly handicapped for modern software development).
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y agoIf I read dmidecode correctly, I'm writing this on a laptop from 2013, which remains not only fully functional but which has high enough specs that I don't even see it struggling for quite some time. When I someday get another laptop, it's likely to be from eBay, and I would very much like to know what the best laptops were 3-5 years ago. Being from 2019 is important context, but it's not disqualifying.
- vladvasiliu 5y agoI used to be the same, rocking a late 2013 MacBook Pro. I then bought a Radeon 5000 series and put it in and old PC I had lying around (Xeon E5-2667 v2, Q3'13 according to ark.intel.com). I was amazed at how well they kept up, and even how they were faster than my 2018-2019 work laptop (an 8th gen i5u-something) when comparing Rust build times. Then I got a new one with a Zen 3 (5650u) in December. Man, it feels sooo smooth and snappy when compared to the older computers. And I'm running Linux/i3, so nothing that requires fancy graphics or anything. What's shocking, is that the other computers never felt slow, laggy or struggling. However, this laptop is an absolute steaming PoS on multiple other aspects (chief amongst which a broken BIOS and absurdly bad screen), so I would absolutely not recommend it.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago> Then I got a new one with a Zen 3 (5650u) in December. Man, it feels sooo smooth and snappy when compared to the older computers. > However, this laptop is an absolute steaming PoS on multiple other aspects (chief amongst which a broken BIOS and absurdly bad screen), so I would absolutely not recommend it. I think you meant to argue that new hardware can be good, but that's really not the conclusion I walked away with.
- vladvasiliu 5y agoMy point was that there have been noticeable improvements in computing power. I wouldn't recommend this particular model, but it's likely that an equivalent ThinkPad would be an all round much better experience and have the same performance, or maybe even better. This particular new laptop is a "business" series, so it tries to look fancy, but it's just cheap crap sold at a high markup. I have older models at work, and they have all failed in various ways. They're barely moved outside the office, too, so it's not like I beat on them all day every day. It's a line I would never recommend to anyone under any circumstance, be it new or old. But it is fast. My general opinion, though, is that instead of buying cheap models often, it's usually much better to buy nicer, "higher-end" models less often, at least as far as perception is concerned, especially if you don't have anything (new) to compare it to. This can afford better "peripherals", such as a screen, keyboard, silence, etc., which cheaper models tend to never have.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoIt will probably more useful, because with the passed time since introduction, the drivers had a chance to mature. In opposition to the newest gadget, which lacks support of feautures to varying degrees.
- stingraycharles 5y agoMissing [2019] in the title. I’m in the market for buying a laptop this year. What is the currently reigning developer laptop?
- rgrmrts 5y agoThe Dell Precision 5560 is still a great Linux machine. Most things worked out of the box for me (the one I got has an nvidia card if that bothers you) Battery life does not beat my 2019 MacBook Pro but it’s still pretty good (don’t have hard numbers) Edit: also, nothing so far competes with the MacBook trackpads imo. YMMV
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- criddell 5y agoDepends on what you're developing.
- burntsushi 5y agoI'm a mostly[1] happy owner of a Framework laptop. [1] - I have two complaints. One is screen size. I think one more inch would be ideal. I bought the laptop in spite of this. I can live with it. My second complaint is the battery drain when I suspend the laptop. When suspended, the laptop is dead within a day or two. (Yes, I have 'deep' sleep enabled. No, I'm not using hibernation.)
- linuxlizard 5y agoI've been having very good experiences with my Lenovo P15v dual booting Fedora/Windows. Intel graphics aren't speedy but are reliable. Absolutely gorgeous 4k screen. The usual nice Thinkpad keyboard.
- TremendousJudge 5y agoI think it depends on your needs, really. When I bought a laptop in December of last year, I narrowed my options down to a Dell XPS 15 and a Thinkpad T15 (both with the Intel CPUs, although AMD seemed to perform better on benchmarks, Dell doesn't even ship with them and the Thinkpad with AMD wasn't available in my region). I didn't consider System76 much because I need Windows support, and sadly couldn't go for a framework because they didn't ship to where I needed. I ended up going for the Thinkpad even though it has a worse screen, because I read many negative things about defects in XPS laptops, the CPU was of a lower tier but apparently more energy efficient (also I learned that laptop CPUs are a mess), the Thinkpad has more varied ports, and it has the trackpoint. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many top of the line laptops (not counting Apple of course) now have user upgreadable components -- both of my options had upgradeable hard drives and ram. Back to my original point, for my workload I didn't need more than 16gb of ram, or a dedicated GPU, or good Linux support (although I heard it's pretty good for Thinkpads at least), so my option made sense to me -- and still it set me back almost 2 grand, so not an easy choice. I expect this device to last at least 5 years, which puts the cost into perspective to me.
- ranqet 5y agoIt does seem like in the last several years, the quality of ThinkPads has declined as other business lines like Dell Latitude/Precision and HP EliteBook/ZBook have improved.
- ok_dad 5y agoMaybe if you're considering the "major laptop manufacturers", but I prefer my System76 laptop any day, since it comes with Linux and they support it from the get-go. Also, they write a lot of nice software that makes the Linux ecosystem better; I love Pop_OS! and how I basically don't have to futz around with getting things to work but have the power of a Debian/Ubuntu variant so I can install other things easily. I don't know off the top of my head any other companies that support Linux like this, but there are a dozen or more out there that I've seen and forgotten over the last few years. I do have to say that a Dell is a good choice for Linux as far as hardware goes, but I prefer now to support those companies that give back to the Linux ecosystem in some way. I also think it's funny to call something a "developer laptop" as if you can't code on nearly any old piece of junk. If you do something very specialized like graphics or neural net ML perhaps, but then you're probably looking to get a workstation rather than a laptop.
- gurkendoktor 5y agoRegarding your last paragraph, I generally agree, but there is at least one exception: If you need lots of RAM and nothing else, then many consumer laptops won't do the job.
- ok_dad 5y agoOh yea, that is so true. I wish I could get a cheapo processor with like 32GB or 64GB of RAM. The only choices you have are to get a cheap laptop with a minuscule amount of RAM and the exact amount of processing and hard drive space you need, or to buy some $4000 beast with the amount of RAM you need, but too much of everything else.
- fullstop 5y agoI wish that Pop!_OS installed with some sort of hibernation setup by default.
- augusto-moura 5y agoI think the point is that most modern laptops don't offer good linux support (which are without a doubt have the best developer experience, aside from ~debatable~ macOS'es). Either they lack good driver support or need you to hack config files/kernel params. So yeah, I still type for "developer laptops" or "laptops with good linux support" when I'm searching new computers, and no, a basic off-the-shelf Dell Inspiron (or any other "piece of junk") doesn't cut it
- mmmpop 5y agoI got one of the new 14" Macbook Pros recently and am extremely impressed by the build quality and no the whole no-more-touchbar. I don't feel as productive on it as I do my 3 year old Thinkpad X1 gen7 running Fedora, though. It's like a comfy sofa where as the Macbook is a desk chair.
- vbezhenar 5y agoI recently checked and only 3 models of the entire Dell line-up offer Linux OS (1 model is XPS Developer edition). Basically it seems that Dell abandoned Linux compatibility with new models.
- stagger87 5y agohttps://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/overview/cp/linuxsystems https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/overview/cp/linuxsystem... This link shows their Linux lineup. Seems they cover all 3 laptop sizes 13/15/17 both in an ultra book form factor and a bulkier port rich model. What more were you hoping for? I personally think it's a good thing they limit the pre-installed Linux models to their professional/business line of laptops. Supporting Linux on every model is probably a waste of time.
- vbezhenar 5y agoI filtered business laptops by using Linux checkbox and got only 3 results. https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/sr/laptops/linux?appliedRefinements=37832 https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebo...
- stagger87 5y agoFeel free to use my link to see more business laptops with Linux. There's 7 on my link and they are all configurable.
- jeffbee 5y agoCoincidentally also a great doorstop. 2 kilos puts this laptop way out in niche territory. Pretty much nobody wants that. The perfect Linux developer laptop is anything with an xterm and a radio that can reach the Linux box where you are actually working.
- andix 5y agoEdit: oh it’s an old post. I got the 5560. Got one from my company (with Windows 10 though) and it’s an amazing device. Really fast, but still not too loud, too hot or too heavy. Good 16:10 screen and battery lifetime is also good.
- anyfactor 5y agoUnrelated. Why do people hyperlink the title text? It is annoying. I wanted to mark and search the "Dell's Precision 5500" bit to see what the machine looked like. Then I tapped the link. Hyperlinking makes mouse highlighting difficult. Hyperlink title is all over the internet and it is annoying and it serves no purpose.
- lucideer 5y agoSomewhat unrelated. Why do browsers make it so difficult to copy text within hyperlinks. The Presto layout engine handled this perfectly 15 years ago - how have other browsers not managed to fix this in the intervening period?
- anyfactor 5y agoI think mobile-friendliness has to be blamed for this. Most browsers these days have "copy link text".
- andrewxdiamond 5y agoSee my sibling comment. tl;dr hold alt
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- andrewxdiamond 5y agoIf you hold alt while highlighting, it bypasses the click events letting you highlight to your hearts content. Sometimes this doesn’t work when the site is using JS to do some kindof click handler, but it should work fine for an a tag
- anyfactor 5y agoTIL. Thanks.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- haunter 5y agoPersonally I'm waiting for the new ARM ThinkPad X13s. I rarely buy things on day one but that will be one for sure. Not sure which distro will run on it but I like tinkering with it.
- perihelions 5y agoDo you know that the ARM one will run linux on day one?
- haunter 5y agoNot by Lenovo. Officially it comes with Windows 11
- AitchEmArsey 5y agoSame here - I'm ready to move on from my 2015 XPS13, but having recently got an M1 Mac for work I'm now not prepared to compromise on battery life. If a major Linux distro (Ubuntu or Fedora) is shown to work well on the new ThinkPad, I'll be getting one pretty quickly.
- haunter 5y agoThe performance will be the real question, like it won't be nowhere near the M1 for sure
- pengaru 5y agoWhy wouldn't you just get an AMD X13? At least you know there's already sorted GPU drivers in mainline, it's no slouch AIUI. What I read about the ARM ThinkPad is it's basically a smartphone in an X13 chassis... Yay? Seems like a strange Linux hardware support nuisance to be looking forward to.
- rr808 5y agoDoing more and more in the browser these days I'm thinking of just getting a Chromebook. If only there was one with a good quality large screen.
- cyberpunk 5y agoConnect it to a monitor?
- Shadonototra 5y agoi find it very hard to suggest an intel/amd laptop nowadays now that M1 macbooks exist.. M1 is a league on its own, everything else is just tech junk at this point
- vbezhenar 5y agoM1 is overrated. I own MacBook Pro with M1 Max. It’s fast, but it’s not something that helps in day to day use. And ARM compatibility issues not really helping. Battery is not that amazing either. I spent 30 minutes in discord and battery was at 91%, 5 hours is not something unique. It’s good, fast and expensive laptop. But not something that I could call mind breaking.
- cyberpunk 5y agoHmm, I have the air with m1, and my battery life is insane. Like 20 hours, even with a parallels vm running some of the time. I do however have no idea what discord is. Isn’t it some kinda forum? Also using safari when on battery doubles your life, fwiw.
- vbezhenar 5y agoDiscord is like Slack, with video calls. I’m using Safari.
- cyberpunk 5y agoSlack has video calls… they’re Shite though ;)
- brimble 5y ago> I do however have no idea what discord is. Isn’t it some kinda forum? Budding Slack competitor that started with a focus on gaming. If you couldn't guess from the context of its eating battery like crazy, it's a webtech "application".
- brimble 5y ago
- linuxhansl 5y agoI like the Lenovos (not affiliated with them). Had various of their laptops: T42, T500, T440p, X1 Extreme gen2 (dumb name, but nice laptop). They usually run Linux without any problems, are solidly built (even after being taking over from IBM).
- BeefWellington 5y agoI really think articles like this can help drive Lenovo to go back to their old superior keyboards. However, apart from the missing [2019], should there not also be a [Sponsored] tag? The author's review can't reliably be seen to be unbiased (emphasis mine below). I just spent the better part of this past year year struggling with the Thinkpad P1, Lenovo's latest effort to compete with Dell's XPS 15 and Precision 5500 line. I had had a Precision 5510 in the past, which had been my favorite laptop of all time, except for some small issues that led me to explore Lenovo's latest. I was talking with the Dell folks recently about my experiences with (and general fussiness regarding) Linux laptops and **they offered to send me a new Precision 5540 to give them constructive feedback.** After a few days with the new machine, it was obvious that it was the machine for me and I shut down my Thinkpad P1 for good.
- microtherion 5y agoThe article reminds me a bit of Jerry Pournelle's _Chaos Manor_ columns. The author writes glowing reviews of the free hardware thrown at them, while the actual experience they describe seems somewhat dubious for users who can't expect free hardware and personal phone support. If I understand the article correctly, their recommended "Linux Developer Laptop" is permanently stuck on a fairly old version of Linux, and you better not compile much if you want to get decent battery life. Neither of this strikes me as ideal for Linux developers, but what do I know…
- stjohnswarts 5y agoI'm guessing that even on M1s that a multi cpu compile drastically lowers battery life. I've never seen a battery that c++ didn't laugh at while torturing it
- davidatbu 5y agoFYI, Wes McKinney is the guy behind Pandas, the Python data analysis package. Just in case that changes your perception of the author's bias.
- hughrr 5y agoNo. I have a 5550 which is I assume what the author is referring to. It’s garbage. Overheats constantly, the touchpad is dire, the screen has bad vignette around the edges, it’s noisy, the thing hard freezes when you plug it into a dock, the webcam only works 50% of the time you power it up and if you pick it up by the base it flexes so badly the touchpad clicks. The keyboard is also soggy as hell and the battery lasts 3 hours if you’re really lucky. It’s the worst laptop I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. I am just glad I didn’t pay for the thing. But a Thinkpad or a MacBook and just give this a hard pass. I’m using a 14” MacBook Pro which was much cheaper and it’s a far more productive machine without all of the above problems!
- gshulegaard 5y agoHmmm, I have a 5540 currently and don't have the problems you had (and I actually replaced the factory Ubuntu with PopOS after a year or two). Although battery life is not great, but I am not sure that is as much a hardware issue as it is a software one. Although I am waiting on baited breath for AMD based hardware.
- krzyk 5y agoI have 5560 and I don't have such issues also. I don't like the touchpad because it is too big and lacks separate physical buttons. And I don't like that TB ports don't work with WD19TB docking station (from Dell!). The wifi range is poor and it is heavy when comparing to ThinkPad. But besides those issue. I like it.
- pjerem 5y agoI was going to write exactly this. I don’t know about Linux support since I have to use Windows on it but oh boy it is crap. The fans are always on whatever you do, the left part of the keyboard is frequently burning hot. Touchpad is mostly really good … when it works, because as soon as I wash my hands, it stops detecting anything. The audio part, at least on Windows, is pure random. USB docks randomly works and once a USB-C device is plugged in you are good for overheating near the connector. For me it’s total garbage and I’m just waiting for it to die and my employer to change it for something better. Our newest Dell laptops looks good but I’m never trusting this company again.
- ModernMech 5y agoI have a Dell Precision 5560 with Ubuntu installed from the factory. While the article says that they find power management is where the laptop shines, I have had the opposite experience. I've found that often my 5560 is dead because the battery quickly drains when its off. Does anyone have a fix for this? It seems this thread has attracted some fellow users. Do you have this problem as well? It's really surprising to me that this was an issue out of the box from a vendor who has been selling Linux systems for a while now.
- OrderlyTiamat 5y agoI think this should say (2019) in the title, I was somewhat surpried to read "Dell ships a pre-installed a customized Ubuntu LTS release (currently 18.04) "
- reincarnate0x14 5y agoChromebooks and Mac Airs are still better for actual travel use just due to size and power draw (airplane sockets are typically only good for about 180W before they trip. Varies by plane a bit, only one I've seen meaningfully higher was an A380 for Emirates that seemed good to about 250W). Outside of the big names, I've had a lot of luck with FreeBSD and recent Linux on the MSI G-70x "gamer" laptops, getting the nvidia cards to work in the GPU-switching mode with the lower power Intel ones is finicky but if you don't need to run games or CAD or whatever on it that's not a concern most of the time. Typically 50-75% of a similar Mac and available with NVME ssds and 32GB or more of memory. Atheros/Killer network adapters are not amazing but works and most have a RJ45 gig or 2.5g ethernet port if you need it.
- psanford 5y agoI've not had a Precision laptop, but I did use multiple generations of the XPS 13 with linux, and I was fairly disappointed with that experience. My XPS 13s had keyboards that would occasionally miss inputs, they had annoying coil whine, and the port selection got worse and worse over each generation. I've been much happier running linux on the Lenovo T series recently. It is less flashy but seems to be made better. The only real complaint I have with Lenovo is the mediocre speakers. I am excited about asahi linux opening up the possibility to have my next machine be an M1 macbook.
- 1MachineElf 5y agoMy Dell Precision 5520 was a big disappointment. In spite of having a Xeon CPU, Dell decided that this specific model would not get ECC RAM support. Other Dell laptops from that era using the same CPU do support ECC RAM, but then you have to give up portability. It's my most regretted laptop purchase.
- halz 5y agoI think a great deal of success with this laptop and Linux is owed to the stewardship provided by Mario Limonciello while he was with Dell [https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Dell-Mario-On-AMD-Linux-Team https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Dell-Mar...]. Hopefully Dell can continue to carry the torch. Being able to use fwupd to keep platform firmware (including the docking station) up-to-date has been a treat. "It just works", even. But for this Precision line specifically, there are only a handful of laptops that can run linux with (nearly) full platform functionality _and_ be outfitted with ECC memory.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- thecrumb 5y agoI'm tired of the 'thinner is better' progress of laptops. As a developer I want ports, I want more cooling so the fans don't run all the time. I want a laptop I can actually place on my lap without getting burned LOL. I love my old T420. Currently have P15 from work. Horrible layout because they crammed in a numpad so now the trackpad is offset to the left. If I had to buy a laptop myself I'd lean either to System76 or the Framework laptop.
- aidenn0 5y agoPerhaps look at HP zBooks; I have one that is almost 6 years old and still kicking; plenty of ports definitely not thin. I just looked at the current offering and the only negative compared to mine is that it seems to no longer have any USB-A ports on the left; just on the Left. Now they can come with Ubuntu pre-installed; at the time I had to install it myself. Only downside is the price; they start around $2k; the one I purchased was $3k, and I justified it by hoping it would last me a while. Given that this was in 2016, I think I made out alright. Only thing I would change is I'd like a 1440p display. At 15" I think a 4k is wated, but 1080p is a bit confining. Also, if you do get one, do spend the extra $60 for the better IPS screen; all the reviews I checked said the base screen is garbage.
- hbn 5y agoWell thankfully, Apple seems to have gone in that direction with the last MBP releases. And with them being the trendsetters they are, I wouldn't be surprised if other OEMs saw that as a green light to start putting out thicker laptops with decent ports again.
- sys_64738 5y agoJudging by the new Mac Studio with those massive wind turbines, maybe Apple's next gen laptops will meet your expectations.
- alexeiz 5y agoTake a look at T14. It's the progression of the T4xx line. Lot's of ports. Good performance. Good Linux support. Still fairly upgradable.
- synergy20 5y agoI was assigned a Macbook Pro at work and I asked for a non-Mac laptop, reason being I'm a Linux developer and Macbook did not work well for me(keyboard,etc). I ended up with a XPS 15 that has 64GB DDR and 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD around $2750, comparing to 32GB+1TB of MacBook Pro it is about $800 less expensive. I did not realize Precision 55xx series is even better built than XPS15 otherwise I will probably go that route. Time will tell how this goes(still waiting for XPS15, it's shipped). Side note: My family had an xps13 and the hinge broke after 3 years, after opening it I found it's made with plastic, I was disappointed that XPS did not even use a metal hinge, which is probably just 25 cents more. so yes XPS does not use the best quality parts from my experience. Next time I will try Precision series.
- nly 5y agoI'm pretty confident the Precision 55xx series are exactly the same, they just have different chipset features.
- bdlowery 5y ago> I was disappointed that XPS did not even use a metal hinge, which is probably just 25 cents more. so yes XPS does not use the best quality parts from my experience. This is why it's $800 cheaper than a MacBook Pro.
- secondcoming 5y agoI normally hate laptops but I had to buy one due to Covid and went with a Precision 7750. I didn't bother with a dedicated graphics card, and chose the minimum spec RAM and NVMe, but I did opt for the 4K display with WWAN for the 4G modem. I purchased 128GB RAM and a 2TB NVMe elsewhere and just put them in. Final cost was under £4k It's actually quite decent. I'm not sure I can upgrade the modem to 5G though.
- synergy20 5y agoThat's what I'm going to do: replace DDR and NVMe myself to save a bit. I am also keen on something between a NUC and mini-tower, that is small enough to carry, powerful enough to build heavy code bases. You do need find a display with keyboard etc to use them, which works for home and office and lab settings well. Or, just use it as a build machine connected to the network, headlessly(no need keyboard,mouse and display)
- Bullfight2Cond 5y ago5560 is one of my least favorite laptops ever. The trackpad is unnecessarily big that my hand routinely clicks it when typing. Also, it has driver issues: - on windows if you move the trackpad quickly and then click, it resets your cursor position -- I've lost work because of this bug: https://imgur.com/a/ibNObJ8 https://imgur.com/a/ibNObJ8 - on linux (tried in fedora) there's an unresolved issue with the kernel driver where randomly the acceleration of the cursor will drop and the cursor movement will have a large amount of lag: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libinput/libinput/-/issues/618 https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libinput/libinput/-/issues/61... Physically, out of the box it looks nice but over the course of 2-3 months becomes quite disgusting: it attracts smudges, the speaker grill fill up with dust. It's also heavy. The plastic housing on the edge of the display is so sharp that when I went to wipe dust off the screen I sliced my finger and started bleeding. Performance wise, it's okay, but I only get 5 hours in windows (VSCode, Slack, Firefox). The keyboard is okay, but I prefer the thinkpad keyboards because the delete key isn't offset from a touch power button like the dell. 3/10 would not buy again
- brirec 5y ago> Also, it has driver issues: > - on windows if you move the trackpad quickly and then click, it resets your cursor position -- I've lost work because of this bug: https://imgur.com/a/ibNObJ8 https://imgur.com/a/ibNObJ8 This is actually part of the Windows Precision Touchpad functionality. I think “it’s a feature, not a bug.” I hate it too, but it’s definitely not exclusive to Dell.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- marune 5y agoDell/Ubuntu, never again. Running Pop! on my Lenovo X1 Extreme 2nd gen.
- gnfargbl 5y agoI recently bought an LG Gram 17" for use as a Linux developer laptop. So far, I'm absolutely delighted with it: huge 2560x1600 screen, fast, silent, hardly weighs a thing, decent battery life, Thunderbolt 4 and everything works in Ubuntu 22.04, without special drivers. Definitely worth a look.
- christophilus 5y agoI can’t do an off-center keyboard. I wish there was a Linux laptop with really good build quality and a centered keyboard. For now, my crummy old XPS will do.
- prototypeasap 5y agoNeed to have a thorough comparative analysis to claim something reigns supreme. My laptop is Lenovo Carbon X1 7th Gen - with custom Debian 10 install. I chose it over Dell offerings due to better keyboard and substantially lower weight. I don't really care about operating system that comes pre-installed; As, i always do a fresh 'bloatware free' install of Debian anyways. The only thing that doesn't work is fingerprint reader. I absolutely love this laptop; But wouldn't go as far as to claim it reigns supreme. For the past two years i have been doing more and more coding on my home workstation that runs Windows (if you can believe it). With WSL2 all the linux apps (including GUI based ones) run smooth like butter; And the fact that i can back-up and switch between different distros seamlessly really makes my life easier. So, i would even consider running Windows on my laptop for Linux development purposes in the future (sorry if it offends anyone). The only thing that is stopping me, is the fact that my X1 runs much faster under Debian and battery life is substantially better.
- randlet 5y agoI've been using a Lenovo Carbon X1 4th Gen with Ubuntu installed for the last 5+ years and love it. My next laptop will almost certainly be another X1 Carbon.
- octagons 5y agoI have been running Linux on Thinkpad X1 Carbon laptops for several generations now: Gentoo on Gen 1, Debian on Gen 5, and now Arch on Gen 9. I can’t recommend them enough for a Linux daily driver and development workstation!
- hereforphone 5y agoAround 15 years ago I made Linux work well on various laptops. This included X and KDE. More recently I've tried the "great Linux laptops": Thinkpad and Dell. I had so many issues that I had to stop using these laptops altogether. Some issues I remember off the top of my head are driver support (sometimes bluetooth, sometimes wifi, sometimes other), and video. Getting the video on high dpi displays to look reasonable with Linux on these laptops seemed impossible.
- twstdzppr 5y agoI have a Precision 3561 running Ubuntu and it's pretty great if you ask me.
- jiffygist 5y agoI have latitude 5500 (idk if it's different laptop). I am generally happy with it, except for a few minor issues: - It came with a broken charger, the service replaced it. - Sometimes when I plug in the charger when the lid is closed, it doesn't start charging (the front light turns on and off after a second), so I have to open the lid and re-plug the charger. Only happens on Linux. - My touchpad is recognized as "PS/2 Generic Mouse" by libinput, so I can't have touchpad scrolling. - It only has UEFI boot.
- crateless 5y ago> - My touchpad is recognized as "PS/2 Generic Mouse" by libinput, so I can't have touchpad scrolling. I have the same issue. Different Dell laptop though. It's been an issue for a looong time. Scrolling reliably fails at least once a week forcing a reboot.
- deepsquirrelnet 5y agoIs it an unpopular opinion to hate working on any laptop?
- dasloop 5y agoUnless you have an external display, keyboard, and mouse. I have my laptop always connected to a screen (34'') unless I need mobility (a meeting room, a plane). A desktop cannot be turned into a mobile solution ;)
- secondcoming 5y agoYou'd think. But I'm with you. I never saw the appeal and avoided them until Covid hit.
- H1Supreme 5y agoI'll throw my experience with Linux on Dell's in the ring. I have a 13" Dell Inspiron 7000 (i7 8GB ram). I've had it for 4 years or so. In terms of drivers and overall compatibility with Linux, it's been perfect. I install Xubuntu (have also used Mate), it downloads whatever it needs, and everything works. I can't recall a single instance of something crashing, or WIFI problems, or whatever. There are two downsides. One, battery life sucks. Relative to a Macbook, it's very bad. But, this isn't a surprise to most people. Second, the touchpad driver is shit. Oh man, does it suck. Palm rejection doesn't work, and I had to enable a setting which disables the trackpad for a few seconds after a key press. Otherwise, it's unusable. That part, is irritating. Those downsides don't really matter to me, because I'm plugged in and docked the majority of the time. I've considered looking into the touchpad issue more, but it's just not worth my effort atm. Otherwise, it's a great machine!
- seqizz 5y agoFor heaven's sake. Is there a laptop which works OK with docking on Linux? I have an XPS 13 now, used Thinkpad t460p before. Both of them has roughly 1/3 chance I didn't see anything on the screen after docking/undocking.
- nix0n 5y agoI've got a 5520 with Ubuntu, and my advice is to use the HDMI port on the side of the laptop instead of running video through the dock.
- tga 5y agoI am still running Debian stable on a T460p and all I can tell you is that there is hope. I used to have major issues with suspend and dock on this machine, with Ubuntu and then Debian. I lost many work mornings to getting the machine to show anything on the screen after docking. I tried various drivers, tweaks, everything -- sometimes it would work for a while and then trouble would be back with the next reboot or kernel upgrade. Then one day I hit the right tweak -- or Debian flipped the right bit -- and at least for the last ~year I've had zero problems with it. Dock, undock, suspend, resume, it's 100% there and I don't even think about it anymore. I believe it's because I finally managed to turn off the Nvidia card and use the Intel one instead, but I can't be sure. To be honest, I'm afraid to touch the video setup or reinstall Linux because I might land right back in driver hell.
- vernie 5y agoPfft MacBook? This 12 year old ThinkPad is great, you gotta believe me!
- throw872291 5y agoHe doesn't pfft anything, that much is clear from the very first 2 paragraphs. Also this is from 2019, before M1. Next time, at least read a bit of the article.
- vernie 5y agoNo.
- sgadimbayli 5y agoYeah, had a friend who always complained about this machine. I personally finally found Thinkpad T14 to work properly with no issues with 4 hours of battery life on Ubuntu(Regolith) out ot the box. Only issues with this model for me is that the speakers are very weak, you can barely hear anythint most of the time.
- sireat 5y agoMy maximum spec Lenovo P1 Gen 1 that I have been using for the last 3 years has been really underwhelming. It feels just very average. No premium feel whatsoever. XPS13 by comparison feels a bit more premium. Most damning, out of the two M2 SSD drives in Lenovo P1, the main one was some no name Chinese make that failed without a warning after a year. For a premium model that is just unacceptable. Secondary drive is a WD that is still alive. By comparision 10 year old Dell Precision M6700 and M4700 are built like tanks have ports and upgradability to the max. Same goes for Lenovo T440p that I bought for 200 Euros for my kid's schoolwork. Same goes for older HP ProBooks. Another kid has a Macbook Air M1 and that is just alright. The laptops from early 2010s just feel sturdier and better built. The question is which will be the well built professional Alder Lake laptop to get? Will it be Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus maybe MSI or maybe even Framework? Intel 12th gen offers some impressive gains over AMD and 11th gen Intel so it makes sense to wait.
- throw872291 5y agoTo be fair, shouldn't the Intel 12th gen laptop processors be compared to these upcoming AMD models?: AMD Ryzen 5 6600U AMD Ryzen 7 6800U Both are Zen 3+ with RDNA 2. For laptops, add upcoming HP Elitebook 8xx G9 series (has Intel and AMD) to your list to check out. No idea whether it's good.
- alkonaut 5y agoWhat’s a good high perf laptop in 2022 that manages high load for hours (with power cable) without being noisy or overheating/throttling The Dell precisions I have had have been crappy with swelling batteries after a year or so of hard use. The current one has had two battery replacements with touchpad and keyboard replacement, within the warranty period. I just recently swapped the CPU fan. The last precision before that had to get a screen and motherboard replaced. Anything that has proper cooling and latest gen CPU seems to be plasticky gaming models (Alienware, Legion, ..). No one makes a good developer workstation for 99% stationary use it seems. Yet almost all developers I know use external power, keyboards and screens almost all the time and just occasionally move between e.g home and office. The niche of “movable workstation” seems underserviced despite a huge market, right?
- vwoolf 5y agoDid you miss all the M1 MacBook Pro hoopla? https://hn.algolia.com/?q=macbook+pro+14%22 https://hn.algolia.com/?q=macbook+pro+14%22
- alkonaut 5y agoSorry, I should have added I have to be able to run Windows on it natively too. Otherwise I'd be on an Apple chip. I need something quiet, high power, AND x86 (But doesn't have to be light, cheap, small, have any battery life...)
- jblakey 5y agoGot a Dell latitude 7420, wiped Windows 11 off it, installed Ubuntu, and I was happily surprised that everything just worked.
- throw872291 5y agoThis is the year of 16:10 screen ratio laptops. Also 16 inch laptop screens. Because of Apple's latest macbooks maybe. Excited about upcoming HP Elitebook 805 G9 series with AMD chips. Not sure about Linux support - maybe fedora and it's spins work fine. https://www.notebookcheck.net/CES-2022-HP-announces-the-Elitebook-805-G9-series-of-business-laptops-with-the-latest-AMD-Ryzen-processors-and-16-10-screens.589916.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/CES-2022-HP-announces-the-Elit...
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