7 ms·

Tossing Linux on used enterprise laptops is maybe the best bang for your buck machine you can get. They're often time a great value and within three years old.

by jjice 11mo ago

Tossing Linux on used enterprise laptops is maybe the best bang for your buck machine you can get. They're often time a great value and within three years old. Used multiple Thinkpads and Dells over the years that were fantastic and gotten sub $400. Things I learned to look out for: - Locked BIOS - Look into the manufacturer's repairability reputation. I replaced the entire keyboard on my ThinkPad X1 Carbon and it was perfectly fine. It was a pain to get to, but no problems. On a Dell Latitude, it refused to charge my non-OEM battery replacement. My fault - I should've done some research. In my experience, Dell and Lenovo have excellent Linux hardware support. I don't know about other manufacturers, but I hope that that's also the case now too.

Avamander 11mo ago
> Things I learned to look out for: Don't buy any recent Intels. Some Intel ThinkPads have accelerometers built-in just to throttle your PC to oblivion when it moves. Basically unusable in any moving vehicle such as a train. It's basically anti-portability baked-in. When it doesn't throttle, it just has abysmal battery life compared to AMD Ryzen ThinkPads of the same generation. Both lose horribly to Apple's ARM chips though. They also tend to have soldered WiFi modules, making it impossible to upgrade later when newer and better WiFi iterations come out. If that had been the case with a few of the older models I still have, they would be unusable at this point. There are plenty of firmware bugs as well. For example plenty of Lenovo (especially Intel as far as I've seen) models have stuttery and freezing touchpads. Though the touchpads tend to be horrible anyways. I'd say the older (5+ years old) generations might have had slightly better driver support or they're finally fixed at this point. But there's nothing I'd spend my money on if I can just as well install Asahi on an M-series laptop.
- eptcyka 11mo ago
  M1 and M2. But those are in an entirely different price bracket. I’d go so far as to say those are not comparable.
  - doublepg23 11mo ago
    You can buy refurb M1s for $379 at Walmart.
    - bigyabai 11mo ago
      Has a proprietary bootloader that Apple can lock in an OTA update. Also doesn't support Linux as well as Intel or AMD chipsets, unfortunately.
      - Forgeties79 11mo ago
        Last I heard asahi ran pretty well on M1/M2. Is that not the case?
        SirHumphrey 11mo ago
        It runs well but battery life is quite a bit worse than on macos.
        Forgeties79 11mo ago
        That’s not particularly surprising to be honest. A lot of what makes Apple tech what it is is the concert between their hardware and software. Not trying to put it too poetically here, but that’s what it’s always seemed like to me. In general when I install Linux on an Apple device I just assume there isn’t the same level of performance. I remember installing mint on a 2016 intel MBpro and the limitations/cons didn’t surprise me at all because I just kind of expected it to perform at 70% of what I expected from macOS but with far more free freedom/control. It ran very smoothly but you definitely lose a lot of functionality.
        bigyabai 11mo ago
        > A lot of what makes Apple tech what it is is the concert between their hardware and software. That's very cute, but it's not why Apple laptops run Linux poorly. Apple Silicon has terrible and inefficient support because Apple released no documentation of their hardware. The driver efforts are all reverse-engineered and likely crippled by Apple's hidden trade secrets. This is why even Qualcomm chips run Linux better than Apple Silicon; they release documentation. Apple refuses, because then they can smugly pride themselves on "integration" and other plainly false catchisms. And on Intel/AMD, Apple was well known for up-tuning their ACPI tables to prevent thermal throttling before the junction temp. This was an absolutely terrible decision on Apple's behalf, and led to other OSes misbehaving alongside constant overheating on macOS - my Intel Macs were regularly idling ~10-20c hotter than my other Intel machines.
- gear54rus 11mo ago
  > Some Intel ThinkPads have accelerometers built-in just to throttle your PC to oblivion when it moves Wtf? That sounds crazy, any sources?
  - ajsnigrutin 11mo ago
    They don't want you to burn your testicles when keeping it in your lap. https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/pubs/x1e_p1_gen5/html/html_en/explore_intelligent_cooling.html https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/pubs/x1e_p1_gen5/html/htm... > The Cool and Quiet on lap feature helps cool down your computer when it becomes hot. Any extended contact with your body, even through clothing, could cause discomfort. If you prefer using your computer on the lap, it is recommended that you enable the Cool and Quiet on lap feature in UEFI BIOS: (it can be disabled on this laptop) more: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1416567/disable-lap-mode-on-lenovo-laptop https://askubuntu.com/questions/1416567/disable-lap-mode-on-...
    - VBprogrammer 11mo ago
      Honestly, I wasn't to say this is ridiculous but I've got a i7 13" laptop which I bought to do practically everything (personal coding projects, a bit of gaming, video editing, 3d modeling etc). I do find the heat of it is quite uncomfortable after a short period of time on my lap. I was thinking about getting a M series MacBook for messing around on the couch and building a desktop for many of those other tasks. My work MacBook Pro on the other hand could do with the opposite some times. Burn a bit of battery to heat up the aluminium case please!
  - swinglock 11mo ago
    This used to be a feature to protect spinning hard drives. Why this would exist today and why it would throttle anything is bizarre.
- bitwize 11mo ago
  ThinkPads used to have accelerometers to protect the hard drives, so if you dropped the machine or treated it roughly, it could park the drive, protecting it from data loss. People used to write Linux utilities that read these accelerometers, allowing for example to switch virtual desktops by physically smacking the machine on either side.
  - xeonmc 11mo ago
    That’s horrifying.
    - throawayonthe 11mo ago
      i think these also existed for macs with HDDs, i recall seeing some very fun demos on youtube
    - wanderer2323 11mo ago
      Look, my setup works for me.
      - dcminter 11mo ago
        ISWYDT https://xkcd.com/1172/ https://xkcd.com/1172/
    - calvinmorrison 11mo ago
      HDAPs Hard drive active protection system parked the heads in Ms, fast enough to handle a hard drop off a desk
- ofalkaed 11mo ago
  In my experience Intel and AMD Thinkpads of that era are about the same for battery life but Intel always needs some kernel parameters set. Where I notice the biggest difference is Intel's integrated graphics gets you better battery life over anything AMD if your GPU needs are modest enough to be handled by Intel's integrated graphics
- 60Vhipx7b4JL 11mo ago
  Maybe what you are noticing is the "laptop on lap" detection? Check the bios, there was a "cool when on lap detected" mode on mine. Turn that off and re-test.
  - Avamander 11mo ago
    Yes, that's it, but there's no toggle to turn it off. Maybe it can be patched, but I don't want to fight my hardware like that.
- teo_zero 11mo ago
  > there's nothing I'd spend my money on if I can just as well install Asahi on an M-series laptop. But such laptops don't work 100% with Asahi. Speakers and mic, external displays, fingerprint reader, suspend are the sore points I've read about, and shorter battery life compared to when they run Apple's SO.
- rootsudo 11mo ago
  Accelerometers aren’t new, they were a feature 20yrs ago to suspend platter hard disks.
karczex 11mo ago
I'm using Linux on some dell precision and camera just don't work. It's possible to install some custom kernel to make it work, but the pain of maintaining it by myself in comparison to IT department supported setup is a no go.
Teknomadix 11mo ago
My daily driver for several years now has been an AMD Ryzen 7 powered ThinkPad t495. $120 used. After upgrading the RAM to 64gb it felt very snappy and usable. I run NixOS / Hyprland with rofi/waybar. When an accident happened and the first t495 was damaged, I bought a second for $80, swapped the parts and was back in business. I use it for coding, web research, and a bit of CAD design via FreeCAD. Very happy with the hardware!
- skydhash 11mo ago
  I have a MBA M1 and it is everything you would wish in an hardware feature wise (except the keyboard as I like lot of travel). But the OS is abysmal, unless you like to use your device with only apps. Anything else out of the straight path is a pain. And the last years, it seems that the allowed path is closer to mobile OS than a computer to do work. So, my daily driver is an oldish dell latitude (8th gen intel) running openbsd. Not for the faint of heart, but for a tinkerer, it's a dream.
  - kroaton 11mo ago
    You can install Linux on an M1/M2. It's not perfect, but it does work pretty well.
  - mendigou 11mo ago
    I keep hearing this thing about apps and I'm confused. I write code on my MBA M1, run orbital simulations, run a media server... All like I would on Linux. What am I missing on userland? I understand there is low level system stuff I can't control, but I've made my peace with that. When using Linux I hadn't touched its internals for years.
    - skydhash 11mo ago
      I have made my peace with that as well, but the ground keep sifting under. There was the Music.app stuff, the System settings, Apple Intelligence, and now the whole UI of the OS. Those are the things that you would interact with daily. It could be fine. I'm also OK with GNOME's strict approach to design. But with Apple, you wait the next release with dread because you never know what they will pull next.
as1mov 11mo ago
+1 This is my go to way of buying a new laptop. I've gone through 2 machines in the last 8 years (Dell 7270 and 7330). Both bought for <$400. Linux works ootb, though I haven't tried any of the more obscure distros. Though now manufacturers are doubling down on soldered components, so buying a cheap machine and upgrading the components yourself is not really possible :(
- jll29 11mo ago
  Yep, same experience here, very good results with DELL Latitude E7240, E7260 and similar. Very rugged and Linux works like a breeze - on eBay from $179 (just checked again). One is well advised to upgrade them to 16 GB RAM and put in a 1 TB SSD, and possibly a new battery. My better half wanted one of those again after I gifted her a brand new MacBook Air, so used she got to the DELL and Ubuntu running on it.
dcminter 11mo ago
I swapped the keyboard on my wife's X1 and man, they are so fiddly to get to these days. It used to be a 2 minute job but I think this took me nearly 2 hours! I had to remove practically everything to get to it. Still happy with the result and I agree that 2nd hand business machines give great bang-for-buck. I adore my beater Dell Latitude for example.
- jjice 11mo ago
  Oh, it sucked haha - I totally agree. Glad I could do it though. I believe mine was a gen 3 and I I had to remove everything and the keyboard is the last part you remove before putting the new one on. I assume it was similar for you considering the time spent? The more traditional thinkpads have the dream situation where it just pops off, if I recall. I had to stop and go out to purchase a Dremel to cut a notch in a screw on the main board that was stripped before I had gotten it. Good times!
  - dcminter 11mo ago
    Yes, exactly that, and some of the steps required removing kaptan (?) tape over rather fragile looking wires. I think it used to be more or less "undo screw, remove cover, remove keyboard" ... with other parts being under the keyboard rather than vice versa. It's been a long time though. One thing in favour of Lenovo and Thinkpad then and now is that you can download all the field service guides - so at least one isn't guessing which worryingly fragile part to remove next. Another point in favour of ex-corporate devices.
bArray 11mo ago
Can back this. Many years ago I purchased a Dell Latitude from eBay. After messing around with a 3D printer, there was a short of mains voltage onto the USB line, frying the laptop and tripping the house electrics. I contacted Dell asking for a schematic of the PCBs thinking that I had blown some components, but they informed me that the laptop was still under warranty thanks to the original business purchaser (by just a few weeks). They shipped a box and allowed me to swap out a hard drive for a spare (I had study data on there), I then used the box to ship the laptop to them. A few weeks later the laptop gets shipped back with a parts replacement list, which was essentially every single PCB in the laptop and I asked them to replace the keyboard too because one key was sticking. Brand new parts in a slightly cracked chassis. If Dell still has customer service like that, it's double thumbs up from me. I'm currently using a Lenovo laptop which has been solid so far. I do want my next laptop to be open to repairability (even if I have to create it myself).
- ssl-3 11mo ago
  Dell customer service is whatever someone wants to pay for. I bought a new Dell laptop 20-ish years ago along with whatever the super-duper coverage was called at that time (Complete Care, maybe?). IIRC, it only excluded deliberate damage (and "hammer marks" was used as an example). But they had no trouble sending me parts. Power brick soaked in a flood? No big deal; a new one is on the way. Dropped a screwdriver on the screen at work? They sent a whole person over to replace it. It was very expensive coverage -- it cost more by itself than the used/refurb laptops we're discussing. It was sold separately. It did not, by my estimation around that time, ultimately pay for itself. But if you score it for "free" with a used machine, then sure! Bargain! (A person can check the warranty/service status of an unmolested Dell machine here: https://www.dell.com/support/contractservices/en-us https://www.dell.com/support/contractservices/en-us )
  - buildbot 11mo ago
    It's probably worth it for university though. Back in the day working as a Student Employee for the CSE helpdesk, we ordered overnight replacements for so many laptops and servers an it was super slick and automated, replacement parts showed up and we swapped them in. Very little downtime.
defanor 11mo ago
> In my experience, Dell and Lenovo have excellent Linux hardware support. I have tried just one cheap Dell laptop, Vostro 3515, which works mostly fine with Linux (it came with Ubuntu, I have installed Debian), but the touchpad becomes unreponsive sometimes (probably after a sleep), and at some point it refused to charge, which required an UEFI firmware update to fix, which in turn required Windows (I had to use Windows PE) to install, as the direct update (from the UEFI itself) was failing, and there is no Linux option. Could have been worse, but now considering a Lenovo ThinkPad as a future replacement.
storus 11mo ago
With the recent Intel layoffs many Linux drivers are no longer maintained and as a consequence some older laptops don't boot anymore.
- worthless-trash 11mo ago
  Did upstream disable hardware.. I didnt see the memo for disabling anything boot related. Can you tell me what you found breaking as I will have to deal with that.
  - worthless-trash 11mo ago
    Quick research showed that some were marked as 'unmaintained', but I don't see anything that would prevent systems from booting, or even the code from working. Some (not all) of the systems were picked up by other people. I do not know where you're getting the information from, but if you want to, please share.
    - storus 11mo ago
      It was somewhere on HN in the past few weeks, a few folks mentioned they can't boot some systems anymore.
madduci 11mo ago
Indeed. My last 2 laptops have been Thinkpads and they have great Linux Support, for stable and edge OSes with latest kernel versions. Rock solid, expandable and stable

by jjice 11mo ago

Avamander 11mo ago

> Things I learned to look out for: Don't buy any recent Intels. Some Intel ThinkPads have accelerometers built-in just to throttle your PC to oblivion when it moves. Basically unusable in any moving vehicle such as a train. It's basically anti-portability baked-in. When it doesn't throttle, it just has abysmal battery life compared to AMD Ryzen ThinkPads of the same generation. Both lose horribly to Apple's ARM chips though. They also tend to have soldered WiFi modules, making it impossible to upgrade later when newer and better WiFi iterations come out. If that had been the case with a few of the older models I still have, they would be unusable at this point. There are plenty of firmware bugs as well. For example plenty of Lenovo (especially Intel as far as I've seen) models have stuttery and freezing touchpads. Though the touchpads tend to be horrible anyways. I'd say the older (5+ years old) generations might have had slightly better driver support or they're finally fixed at this point. But there's nothing I'd spend my money on if I can just as well install Asahi on an M-series laptop.

eptcyka 11mo ago
M1 and M2. But those are in an entirely different price bracket. I’d go so far as to say those are not comparable.
- doublepg23 11mo ago
  You can buy refurb M1s for $379 at Walmart.
  - bigyabai 11mo ago
    Has a proprietary bootloader that Apple can lock in an OTA update. Also doesn't support Linux as well as Intel or AMD chipsets, unfortunately.
    - Forgeties79 11mo ago
      Last I heard asahi ran pretty well on M1/M2. Is that not the case?
      - SirHumphrey 11mo ago
        It runs well but battery life is quite a bit worse than on macos.
        Forgeties79 11mo ago
        That’s not particularly surprising to be honest. A lot of what makes Apple tech what it is is the concert between their hardware and software. Not trying to put it too poetically here, but that’s what it’s always seemed like to me. In general when I install Linux on an Apple device I just assume there isn’t the same level of performance. I remember installing mint on a 2016 intel MBpro and the limitations/cons didn’t surprise me at all because I just kind of expected it to perform at 70% of what I expected from macOS but with far more free freedom/control. It ran very smoothly but you definitely lose a lot of functionality.
        bigyabai 11mo ago
        > A lot of what makes Apple tech what it is is the concert between their hardware and software. That's very cute, but it's not why Apple laptops run Linux poorly. Apple Silicon has terrible and inefficient support because Apple released no documentation of their hardware. The driver efforts are all reverse-engineered and likely crippled by Apple's hidden trade secrets. This is why even Qualcomm chips run Linux better than Apple Silicon; they release documentation. Apple refuses, because then they can smugly pride themselves on "integration" and other plainly false catchisms. And on Intel/AMD, Apple was well known for up-tuning their ACPI tables to prevent thermal throttling before the junction temp. This was an absolutely terrible decision on Apple's behalf, and led to other OSes misbehaving alongside constant overheating on macOS - my Intel Macs were regularly idling ~10-20c hotter than my other Intel machines.
gear54rus 11mo ago
> Some Intel ThinkPads have accelerometers built-in just to throttle your PC to oblivion when it moves Wtf? That sounds crazy, any sources?
- ajsnigrutin 11mo ago
  They don't want you to burn your testicles when keeping it in your lap. https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/pubs/x1e_p1_gen5/html/html_en/explore_intelligent_cooling.html https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/pubs/x1e_p1_gen5/html/htm... > The Cool and Quiet on lap feature helps cool down your computer when it becomes hot. Any extended contact with your body, even through clothing, could cause discomfort. If you prefer using your computer on the lap, it is recommended that you enable the Cool and Quiet on lap feature in UEFI BIOS: (it can be disabled on this laptop) more: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1416567/disable-lap-mode-on-lenovo-laptop https://askubuntu.com/questions/1416567/disable-lap-mode-on-...
  - VBprogrammer 11mo ago
    Honestly, I wasn't to say this is ridiculous but I've got a i7 13" laptop which I bought to do practically everything (personal coding projects, a bit of gaming, video editing, 3d modeling etc). I do find the heat of it is quite uncomfortable after a short period of time on my lap. I was thinking about getting a M series MacBook for messing around on the couch and building a desktop for many of those other tasks. My work MacBook Pro on the other hand could do with the opposite some times. Burn a bit of battery to heat up the aluminium case please!
- swinglock 11mo ago
  This used to be a feature to protect spinning hard drives. Why this would exist today and why it would throttle anything is bizarre.
bitwize 11mo ago
ThinkPads used to have accelerometers to protect the hard drives, so if you dropped the machine or treated it roughly, it could park the drive, protecting it from data loss. People used to write Linux utilities that read these accelerometers, allowing for example to switch virtual desktops by physically smacking the machine on either side.
- xeonmc 11mo ago
  That’s horrifying.
  - throawayonthe 11mo ago
    i think these also existed for macs with HDDs, i recall seeing some very fun demos on youtube
  - wanderer2323 11mo ago
    Look, my setup works for me.
    - dcminter 11mo ago
      ISWYDT https://xkcd.com/1172/ https://xkcd.com/1172/
  - calvinmorrison 11mo ago
    HDAPs Hard drive active protection system parked the heads in Ms, fast enough to handle a hard drop off a desk
ofalkaed 11mo ago
In my experience Intel and AMD Thinkpads of that era are about the same for battery life but Intel always needs some kernel parameters set. Where I notice the biggest difference is Intel's integrated graphics gets you better battery life over anything AMD if your GPU needs are modest enough to be handled by Intel's integrated graphics
60Vhipx7b4JL 11mo ago
Maybe what you are noticing is the "laptop on lap" detection? Check the bios, there was a "cool when on lap detected" mode on mine. Turn that off and re-test.
- Avamander 11mo ago
  Yes, that's it, but there's no toggle to turn it off. Maybe it can be patched, but I don't want to fight my hardware like that.
teo_zero 11mo ago
> there's nothing I'd spend my money on if I can just as well install Asahi on an M-series laptop. But such laptops don't work 100% with Asahi. Speakers and mic, external displays, fingerprint reader, suspend are the sore points I've read about, and shorter battery life compared to when they run Apple's SO.
rootsudo 11mo ago
Accelerometers aren’t new, they were a feature 20yrs ago to suspend platter hard disks.

karczex 11mo ago

I'm using Linux on some dell precision and camera just don't work. It's possible to install some custom kernel to make it work, but the pain of maintaining it by myself in comparison to IT department supported setup is a no go.

Teknomadix 11mo ago

My daily driver for several years now has been an AMD Ryzen 7 powered ThinkPad t495. $120 used. After upgrading the RAM to 64gb it felt very snappy and usable. I run NixOS / Hyprland with rofi/waybar. When an accident happened and the first t495 was damaged, I bought a second for $80, swapped the parts and was back in business. I use it for coding, web research, and a bit of CAD design via FreeCAD. Very happy with the hardware!

skydhash 11mo ago
I have a MBA M1 and it is everything you would wish in an hardware feature wise (except the keyboard as I like lot of travel). But the OS is abysmal, unless you like to use your device with only apps. Anything else out of the straight path is a pain. And the last years, it seems that the allowed path is closer to mobile OS than a computer to do work. So, my daily driver is an oldish dell latitude (8th gen intel) running openbsd. Not for the faint of heart, but for a tinkerer, it's a dream.
- kroaton 11mo ago
  You can install Linux on an M1/M2. It's not perfect, but it does work pretty well.
- mendigou 11mo ago
  I keep hearing this thing about apps and I'm confused. I write code on my MBA M1, run orbital simulations, run a media server... All like I would on Linux. What am I missing on userland? I understand there is low level system stuff I can't control, but I've made my peace with that. When using Linux I hadn't touched its internals for years.
  - skydhash 11mo ago
    I have made my peace with that as well, but the ground keep sifting under. There was the Music.app stuff, the System settings, Apple Intelligence, and now the whole UI of the OS. Those are the things that you would interact with daily. It could be fine. I'm also OK with GNOME's strict approach to design. But with Apple, you wait the next release with dread because you never know what they will pull next.

as1mov 11mo ago

+1 This is my go to way of buying a new laptop. I've gone through 2 machines in the last 8 years (Dell 7270 and 7330). Both bought for <$400. Linux works ootb, though I haven't tried any of the more obscure distros. Though now manufacturers are doubling down on soldered components, so buying a cheap machine and upgrading the components yourself is not really possible :(

jll29 11mo ago
Yep, same experience here, very good results with DELL Latitude E7240, E7260 and similar. Very rugged and Linux works like a breeze - on eBay from $179 (just checked again). One is well advised to upgrade them to 16 GB RAM and put in a 1 TB SSD, and possibly a new battery. My better half wanted one of those again after I gifted her a brand new MacBook Air, so used she got to the DELL and Ubuntu running on it.

dcminter 11mo ago

I swapped the keyboard on my wife's X1 and man, they are so fiddly to get to these days. It used to be a 2 minute job but I think this took me nearly 2 hours! I had to remove practically everything to get to it. Still happy with the result and I agree that 2nd hand business machines give great bang-for-buck. I adore my beater Dell Latitude for example.

jjice 11mo ago
Oh, it sucked haha - I totally agree. Glad I could do it though. I believe mine was a gen 3 and I I had to remove everything and the keyboard is the last part you remove before putting the new one on. I assume it was similar for you considering the time spent? The more traditional thinkpads have the dream situation where it just pops off, if I recall. I had to stop and go out to purchase a Dremel to cut a notch in a screw on the main board that was stripped before I had gotten it. Good times!
- dcminter 11mo ago
  Yes, exactly that, and some of the steps required removing kaptan (?) tape over rather fragile looking wires. I think it used to be more or less "undo screw, remove cover, remove keyboard" ... with other parts being under the keyboard rather than vice versa. It's been a long time though. One thing in favour of Lenovo and Thinkpad then and now is that you can download all the field service guides - so at least one isn't guessing which worryingly fragile part to remove next. Another point in favour of ex-corporate devices.

bArray 11mo ago

Can back this. Many years ago I purchased a Dell Latitude from eBay. After messing around with a 3D printer, there was a short of mains voltage onto the USB line, frying the laptop and tripping the house electrics. I contacted Dell asking for a schematic of the PCBs thinking that I had blown some components, but they informed me that the laptop was still under warranty thanks to the original business purchaser (by just a few weeks). They shipped a box and allowed me to swap out a hard drive for a spare (I had study data on there), I then used the box to ship the laptop to them. A few weeks later the laptop gets shipped back with a parts replacement list, which was essentially every single PCB in the laptop and I asked them to replace the keyboard too because one key was sticking. Brand new parts in a slightly cracked chassis. If Dell still has customer service like that, it's double thumbs up from me. I'm currently using a Lenovo laptop which has been solid so far. I do want my next laptop to be open to repairability (even if I have to create it myself).

ssl-3 11mo ago
Dell customer service is whatever someone wants to pay for. I bought a new Dell laptop 20-ish years ago along with whatever the super-duper coverage was called at that time (Complete Care, maybe?). IIRC, it only excluded deliberate damage (and "hammer marks" was used as an example). But they had no trouble sending me parts. Power brick soaked in a flood? No big deal; a new one is on the way. Dropped a screwdriver on the screen at work? They sent a whole person over to replace it. It was very expensive coverage -- it cost more by itself than the used/refurb laptops we're discussing. It was sold separately. It did not, by my estimation around that time, ultimately pay for itself. But if you score it for "free" with a used machine, then sure! Bargain! (A person can check the warranty/service status of an unmolested Dell machine here: https://www.dell.com/support/contractservices/en-us https://www.dell.com/support/contractservices/en-us )
- buildbot 11mo ago
  It's probably worth it for university though. Back in the day working as a Student Employee for the CSE helpdesk, we ordered overnight replacements for so many laptops and servers an it was super slick and automated, replacement parts showed up and we swapped them in. Very little downtime.

defanor 11mo ago

> In my experience, Dell and Lenovo have excellent Linux hardware support. I have tried just one cheap Dell laptop, Vostro 3515, which works mostly fine with Linux (it came with Ubuntu, I have installed Debian), but the touchpad becomes unreponsive sometimes (probably after a sleep), and at some point it refused to charge, which required an UEFI firmware update to fix, which in turn required Windows (I had to use Windows PE) to install, as the direct update (from the UEFI itself) was failing, and there is no Linux option. Could have been worse, but now considering a Lenovo ThinkPad as a future replacement.

storus 11mo ago

With the recent Intel layoffs many Linux drivers are no longer maintained and as a consequence some older laptops don't boot anymore.

worthless-trash 11mo ago
Did upstream disable hardware.. I didnt see the memo for disabling anything boot related. Can you tell me what you found breaking as I will have to deal with that.
- worthless-trash 11mo ago
  Quick research showed that some were marked as 'unmaintained', but I don't see anything that would prevent systems from booting, or even the code from working. Some (not all) of the systems were picked up by other people. I do not know where you're getting the information from, but if you want to, please share.
  - storus 11mo ago
    It was somewhere on HN in the past few weeks, a few folks mentioned they can't boot some systems anymore.

madduci 11mo ago

Indeed. My last 2 laptops have been Thinkpads and they have great Linux Support, for stable and edge OSes with latest kernel versions. Rock solid, expandable and stable