3 ms·

Is there a good linux ARM laptop, fanless ?

by maelito 11mo ago

imwally 11mo ago
I’d be interested in this as well. I want a quiet machine with a decent display and a long battery life. Right now the MacBook Air checks those boxes but I’d be very interested in an alternative that I can throw Linux / OpenBSD on.
- maelito 11mo ago
  My Ryzen framework 13 is silent almost all the times, except gaming and processing map tiles.
  - makeitdouble 11mo ago
    While I personally want a fan and see it as price to pay for better thermals, the disadvantages aren't just noise. The most critical issue would be the fans still spinning to cool down the machine when it was sent to sleep. That creates the vicious cycle when bagged right after sleep, where the fan try to lower the temp, but their running in a closed environment warms the confined air, which pushes the fan to run faster yet. That's the recipe for a hot and dead battery when you take it out of the bag. I had that with MacBooks and Windows laptops alike.
cromka 11mo ago
Have a look at X1E devicetree in Linux kernel source (https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/master/arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/master/arch/arm64/boo... all the way to the bottom). There are some models that have a very active development and an almost complete support by now, with Thinkpad T14s probably the most active.
dmitrygr 11mo ago
MacBook Air M1. Find one with max ram (Facebook marketplace, $400), have storage upgraded to 2TB (IYKYK), Linux support is good.
- cromka 11mo ago
  Sorry, but no: https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/m1/#table-of-contents https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/m1/#tab... Can't even drive an external display over the DP. Linux support on Apple hardware is subpar compared to ARM Thinkpads.
  - fulafel 11mo ago
    I guess it's the physical HDMI port that's needed, as Minis and the Pro laptops have working monitor HDMI monitor support?
- jack_tripper 11mo ago
  How did you upgrade the soldered storage?
  - baq 11mo ago
    Take it to a shop which cnc mills the original one off and solders a compatible new one on. Maybe you can desolder the old one, but why bother.
    - jack_tripper 11mo ago
      Sounds easy. Why bother getting a laptop with replaceable storage anyway?
      - baq 11mo ago
        Apple doesn't sell one for any price, so if you want Apple hardware, that's what you get. They objectively make the best laptop hardware package unless you value upgradeability over performance or build quality, which most people also very objectively don't.
        jack_tripper 11mo ago
        Removable SSDs aren't just for upgradability but for repairability. To ensure your shiny expensive laptop doesn't become e-waste the minute your SSD NAND (which is a wearable part) inevitably dies.
haunter 11mo ago
You won't find anything like the Macbook Air M1 in build quality, display, and battery life Thinkpad X13s and T14s (both with Snapdragon) are the best closest alternative.
- makeitdouble 11mo ago
  The M1 Air display being 2560x1600, it isn't that high of a bar to cross. Surface Pro are 2880x1920, Asus’ pz13 series will be in the same ballpark. Getting Linux on them will be a bit more of a PITA, but you get the touchscreen and form factor to balance. Build quality will be basically on par with Apple, battery life should be taking a more serious hit (linux + smaller battery from the start)
  - Projectiboga 11mo ago
    The Surface has a community doing some work on a kernel focused on that hardware. Unless the new generation is ARM.
danans 11mo ago
A Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 has a M2 equivalent ARM CPU/GPU (Mediatek Kompanio Ultra/Mali Immortalis G925), and comes with an arm64 Linux VM (Debian Bookworm) ready to go out of the box that supports most regular Linux apps built for ARM (including VSCode, Cursor, Claude code, etc). I use it for my software development daily driver. Battery life is amazing as you'd expect. I've even run local LLMs and have gotten 30 tok/sec with smaller Gemma models (had to install mesa vulkan drivers from debian-backports for GPU support in the VM). If ChromeOS's Linux VM doesn't suit you, you can replace ChromeOS with Linux with a bit of work: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1506894/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-an-arm-chromebook https://askubuntu.com/questions/1506894/how-to-install-ubunt... Another Chromebook with the same setup is the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514.
- lukan 11mo ago
  "If ChromeOS's Linux VM doesn't suit you, you can replace ChromeOS with Linux with a bit of work:" "Installing ubuntu on arm laptops is usually not easy, and the GPU drivers are unavailable in most cases (so, the performance is not great unless you use XFCE/LXDE/LxQt)" I do like to use the GPU, though.
  - danans 11mo ago
    The built-in Linux VM supports the GPU (you can enable it in chrome:flags), and Linux GUI apps work fine.
  - deleted 11mo ago
    [deleted]
  - ofalkaed 11mo ago
    ChromeOS with the Linux VM is a surprisingly nice setup, I bought a Thinkpad Duet 3 so I could use Linux apps on a tablet and it seriously has me considering getting a Chromebook for my next laptop. Everything integrates so seamlessly and effortlessly that it does not even seem like a VM other than having to start up the VM. The Chrome keyboard has also really grown on me, even with the small and very cheap keyboard of the Duet 3. Battery life and performance is amazing and touch works completely as expected. Not sure if I can actually make the leap and give up Linux after 20 years of nothing but, but I am considering it.

Is there a good linux ARM laptop, fanless ?

by maelito 11mo ago

Is there a good linux ARM laptop, fanless ?

I’d be interested in this as well. I want a quiet machine with a decent display and a long battery life. Right now the MacBook Air checks those boxes but I’d be very interested in an alternative that I can throw Linux / OpenBSD on.

maelito 11mo ago
My Ryzen framework 13 is silent almost all the times, except gaming and processing map tiles.
- makeitdouble 11mo ago
  While I personally want a fan and see it as price to pay for better thermals, the disadvantages aren't just noise. The most critical issue would be the fans still spinning to cool down the machine when it was sent to sleep. That creates the vicious cycle when bagged right after sleep, where the fan try to lower the temp, but their running in a closed environment warms the confined air, which pushes the fan to run faster yet. That's the recipe for a hot and dead battery when you take it out of the bag. I had that with MacBooks and Windows laptops alike.

cromka 11mo ago

Have a look at X1E devicetree in Linux kernel source (https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/master/arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/master/arch/arm64/boo... all the way to the bottom). There are some models that have a very active development and an almost complete support by now, with Thinkpad T14s probably the most active.

dmitrygr 11mo ago

MacBook Air M1. Find one with max ram (Facebook marketplace, $400), have storage upgraded to 2TB (IYKYK), Linux support is good.

cromka 11mo ago
Sorry, but no: https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/m1/#table-of-contents https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/m1/#tab... Can't even drive an external display over the DP. Linux support on Apple hardware is subpar compared to ARM Thinkpads.
- fulafel 11mo ago
  I guess it's the physical HDMI port that's needed, as Minis and the Pro laptops have working monitor HDMI monitor support?
jack_tripper 11mo ago
How did you upgrade the soldered storage?
- baq 11mo ago
  Take it to a shop which cnc mills the original one off and solders a compatible new one on. Maybe you can desolder the old one, but why bother.
  - jack_tripper 11mo ago
    Sounds easy. Why bother getting a laptop with replaceable storage anyway?
    - baq 11mo ago
      Apple doesn't sell one for any price, so if you want Apple hardware, that's what you get. They objectively make the best laptop hardware package unless you value upgradeability over performance or build quality, which most people also very objectively don't.
      - jack_tripper 11mo ago
        Removable SSDs aren't just for upgradability but for repairability. To ensure your shiny expensive laptop doesn't become e-waste the minute your SSD NAND (which is a wearable part) inevitably dies.

haunter 11mo ago

You won't find anything like the Macbook Air M1 in build quality, display, and battery life Thinkpad X13s and T14s (both with Snapdragon) are the best closest alternative.

makeitdouble 11mo ago
The M1 Air display being 2560x1600, it isn't that high of a bar to cross. Surface Pro are 2880x1920, Asus’ pz13 series will be in the same ballpark. Getting Linux on them will be a bit more of a PITA, but you get the touchscreen and form factor to balance. Build quality will be basically on par with Apple, battery life should be taking a more serious hit (linux + smaller battery from the start)
- Projectiboga 11mo ago
  The Surface has a community doing some work on a kernel focused on that hardware. Unless the new generation is ARM.

danans 11mo ago

A Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 has a M2 equivalent ARM CPU/GPU (Mediatek Kompanio Ultra/Mali Immortalis G925), and comes with an arm64 Linux VM (Debian Bookworm) ready to go out of the box that supports most regular Linux apps built for ARM (including VSCode, Cursor, Claude code, etc). I use it for my software development daily driver. Battery life is amazing as you'd expect. I've even run local LLMs and have gotten 30 tok/sec with smaller Gemma models (had to install mesa vulkan drivers from debian-backports for GPU support in the VM). If ChromeOS's Linux VM doesn't suit you, you can replace ChromeOS with Linux with a bit of work: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1506894/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-an-arm-chromebook https://askubuntu.com/questions/1506894/how-to-install-ubunt... Another Chromebook with the same setup is the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514.

lukan 11mo ago
"If ChromeOS's Linux VM doesn't suit you, you can replace ChromeOS with Linux with a bit of work:" "Installing ubuntu on arm laptops is usually not easy, and the GPU drivers are unavailable in most cases (so, the performance is not great unless you use XFCE/LXDE/LxQt)" I do like to use the GPU, though.
- danans 11mo ago
  The built-in Linux VM supports the GPU (you can enable it in chrome:flags), and Linux GUI apps work fine.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- ofalkaed 11mo ago
  ChromeOS with the Linux VM is a surprisingly nice setup, I bought a Thinkpad Duet 3 so I could use Linux apps on a tablet and it seriously has me considering getting a Chromebook for my next laptop. Everything integrates so seamlessly and effortlessly that it does not even seem like a VM other than having to start up the VM. The Chrome keyboard has also really grown on me, even with the small and very cheap keyboard of the Duet 3. Battery life and performance is amazing and touch works completely as expected. Not sure if I can actually make the leap and give up Linux after 20 years of nothing but, but I am considering it.