4 ms·

It's not the battery life that's the issue on Laptops these days, as it is typically better than windows. The biggest issue is getting all the hardware support

It's not the battery life that's the issue on Laptops these days, as it is typically better than windows. The biggest issue is getting all the hardware supported out of the box. For example, there is a certain amount of mucking about you have to do to get any off the shelf laptop running Linux. On rare occasion system updates change something that the laptop doesn't like, hunting down that change can become tedious.

rglullis 5y ago
The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware. I've owned Samsung laptops, HP laptops, Thinkpads. I've built my own work desktops. I've never had any issues, as long as the hardware is ~6 months out on the market. That's about the time it takes for linux devs to catch up with companies that focus on windows drivers.
- trelane 5y ago
  > The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware Or don't out Linux on Windows hardware. System integration teams are a thing, and one person without access to documentation is going to do it poorly. Instead, buy Linux in Linux hardware.
- AshamedCaptain 5y ago
  That's useless advice. Even Webcams from laptops as older as 6 years may still not work under Linux. Anything which has an Intel webcam for example is almost guaranteed not to work, outside of perhaps a couple of popular models (like MS Surface devices, and then not precisely "out of the box"). The rule still is to get either a Linux-supported or at least a Linux-popular laptop, even if it's more expensive or doesn't match all your features/requirements. Then it doesn't matter whether it's 6 years old or brand new. It will work. i.e. it's more important for it to be Lenovo and the correct line than the age. But not all Lenovo are equal. T/P stuff is likely supported out of the box even if brand new. X depends on popularity of the model. Tablets/IdeaPad stuff.... look elsewhere. (Lenovo is just an example, leaving other brands for the reader).
  - rglullis 5y ago
    I've been using Linux as my main OS for almost 15 years. Even on very cheap HP laptops, following this rule has worked for me flawlessly so far. Between telling people "you should spend more money on X just to be sure" and "Y is cheaper and it is very likely that it will work", I'd 100% recommend them trying the cheaper option first. Even if it turns out to not work, they can always return it and go to the more expensive alternative later.
    - AshamedCaptain 5y ago
      The rule is not "spend more money", that's just bullshit. You buy the most expensive laptop they have it is almost guaranteed not to work, because no one else will have bought it. The rule is to keep yourself to the business/professional lines, or otherwise the really popular models. And not only I have _never_ bought a new laptop ( always used/refurbished/thrift) , but for the past 12 years I have been submitting patches to Linux to support the laptops I get. Once you get outside of the popular lines, there is very few people doing that. It will not happen in 6 months or 6 years unless you do it. Typing this from an HP laptop which even 6 years after release did not have all WMI hotkeys mapped.
      - rglullis 5y ago
        I know you didn't say "buy the most expensive", but you said "stick with professional models" which comparatively are more expensive than general models which can work just fine.
  - prmoustache 5y ago
    > That's useless advice. Even Webcams from laptops as older as 6 years still don't work under Linux. Anything which has an Intel webcam for example is almost guaranteed not to work, outside of perhaps a couple of popular models (like MS Surface devices, and then not precisely "out of the box"). I have 5 laptops on linux at home, all but one being from a "pro" line (ie Lenovo thinkpad, HP elitebook, Dell latitude, all have a working webcam. I'd say with the exception of fingerprint readers which I never cared to test all the functionnalities have been working from day 1. I think anyone is safe provided you buy profesionnal models, don't buy the latest and newest tech and avoid nvidia GPUs.
- duckmysick 5y ago
  How do you deal with laptops that have both an integrated and an Nvidia graphic card? I can't find a reliable way of having the dedicated card on for just some applications on Linux. It's either always on or always off, which is not as convenient or useful as the on-demand mode available on Windows.
  - rglullis 5y ago
    > How do you deal with laptops that have both an integrated and an Nvidia graphic card? Honestly, I don't. I think all my laptops had only iGPUs. I always treated my laptops as secondary workstations for the times I was away from my main desktop.
    - brimble 5y ago
      It's been my observation over many years that Nvidia and ATI/AMD video cards are the source of a solid 50% of major computer problems. This seems to hold even for Macs. They're best avoided unless you really need them, at least for machines you plan to do non-GPU-related work on.

rglullis 5y ago

The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware. I've owned Samsung laptops, HP laptops, Thinkpads. I've built my own work desktops. I've never had any issues, as long as the hardware is ~6 months out on the market. That's about the time it takes for linux devs to catch up with companies that focus on windows drivers.

trelane 5y ago
> The solution for that is easy: don't buy the absolute-latest-generation of any hardware Or don't out Linux on Windows hardware. System integration teams are a thing, and one person without access to documentation is going to do it poorly. Instead, buy Linux in Linux hardware.
AshamedCaptain 5y ago
That's useless advice. Even Webcams from laptops as older as 6 years may still not work under Linux. Anything which has an Intel webcam for example is almost guaranteed not to work, outside of perhaps a couple of popular models (like MS Surface devices, and then not precisely "out of the box"). The rule still is to get either a Linux-supported or at least a Linux-popular laptop, even if it's more expensive or doesn't match all your features/requirements. Then it doesn't matter whether it's 6 years old or brand new. It will work. i.e. it's more important for it to be Lenovo and the correct line than the age. But not all Lenovo are equal. T/P stuff is likely supported out of the box even if brand new. X depends on popularity of the model. Tablets/IdeaPad stuff.... look elsewhere. (Lenovo is just an example, leaving other brands for the reader).
- rglullis 5y ago
  I've been using Linux as my main OS for almost 15 years. Even on very cheap HP laptops, following this rule has worked for me flawlessly so far. Between telling people "you should spend more money on X just to be sure" and "Y is cheaper and it is very likely that it will work", I'd 100% recommend them trying the cheaper option first. Even if it turns out to not work, they can always return it and go to the more expensive alternative later.
  - AshamedCaptain 5y ago
    The rule is not "spend more money", that's just bullshit. You buy the most expensive laptop they have it is almost guaranteed not to work, because no one else will have bought it. The rule is to keep yourself to the business/professional lines, or otherwise the really popular models. And not only I have _never_ bought a new laptop ( always used/refurbished/thrift) , but for the past 12 years I have been submitting patches to Linux to support the laptops I get. Once you get outside of the popular lines, there is very few people doing that. It will not happen in 6 months or 6 years unless you do it. Typing this from an HP laptop which even 6 years after release did not have all WMI hotkeys mapped.
    - rglullis 5y ago
      I know you didn't say "buy the most expensive", but you said "stick with professional models" which comparatively are more expensive than general models which can work just fine.
- prmoustache 5y ago
  > That's useless advice. Even Webcams from laptops as older as 6 years still don't work under Linux. Anything which has an Intel webcam for example is almost guaranteed not to work, outside of perhaps a couple of popular models (like MS Surface devices, and then not precisely "out of the box"). I have 5 laptops on linux at home, all but one being from a "pro" line (ie Lenovo thinkpad, HP elitebook, Dell latitude, all have a working webcam. I'd say with the exception of fingerprint readers which I never cared to test all the functionnalities have been working from day 1. I think anyone is safe provided you buy profesionnal models, don't buy the latest and newest tech and avoid nvidia GPUs.
duckmysick 5y ago
How do you deal with laptops that have both an integrated and an Nvidia graphic card? I can't find a reliable way of having the dedicated card on for just some applications on Linux. It's either always on or always off, which is not as convenient or useful as the on-demand mode available on Windows.
- rglullis 5y ago
  > How do you deal with laptops that have both an integrated and an Nvidia graphic card? Honestly, I don't. I think all my laptops had only iGPUs. I always treated my laptops as secondary workstations for the times I was away from my main desktop.
  - brimble 5y ago
    It's been my observation over many years that Nvidia and ATI/AMD video cards are the source of a solid 50% of major computer problems. This seems to hold even for Macs. They're best avoided unless you really need them, at least for machines you plan to do non-GPU-related work on.