Those of you who use Linux on a laptop, which laptop do you use? I’ve been thinking of buying a new laptop to replace my current ageing macbook and would love to run Linux on it.
TUXEDO Pulse 15. They are not a big faceless corporation and seem to care about users.
Buy purism system76 or framework to support official Linux hardware, else buy thinkpad for high quality and generally good Linux support
I didn’t even know that the thinkpad was such a popular choice for Linux, but I bought a used x121e thinkpad laptop a while back because I needed something small for school. Windows was horrendous on it, so that’s how I got into Linux! Even on this old and not very powerful hardware, Linux Lite and Lubuntu ran quite nicely, but recently I switched to a very barebones arch install which is very streamlined and lasts an hour longer than my Linux lite install. So even a shitty laptop will work very well (especially with an SSD), which is great for your wallet!
I’ve been running linux on Asus Zephyrus G14. It works great, battery life is okayish (like 4-6h).
Pros:
- Good display
- plenty of processing power
- no webcam
Cons:
- had to replace one of the fans under warranty
- it has no pg up/down keys
- no webcam
I use a Starlabs Star Lite Mk III and I put Linux Mint Debian Edition on it.
Using a DELL XPS 13
I almost bought a Starbook in January, but I opted for the M1 macbook air instead because my school mandates I must use MacOS or Windows. I went with a mac because I’ve been using Linux for 10 years and I am much more comfortable in a unix based bash/zsh environment than I am using a windows / powershell environment.
Honestly, I use a raspberry pi 400 as my main computer most of the time, if you don’t need much performance it’s a lot better for your wallet and the environment to install a SSD into any old laptop and breathe new life into it.
my school mandates I must use MacOS or Windows
:( Why is that?
My tests are proctored virtually, the proctoring software for some classes does not run on Linux and they do not want to train their proctors on Linux.
I’ve heard some students have had success using Linux anyway, but especially during the pandemic I didn’t want to risk wasting a proctor’s time and taking a time slot away from another student all because I would’ve been trying to bend the rules.
I think that Lenovo ThinkPad generally work well with Linux. You can get refurbed ones quiet cheaply on eBay.
There is also system76 which come with Linux pre installed and have (I think mostly) open source hardware.
You can also get a framework laptop (you might have to wait until October/November). This is a fully repairable laptop that aims to also be easily upgradable (10/10 from ifixit). Linux support is generally pretty good and will get better over time (currently very new hardware).
You could also consider upgrading the ram or hardrive of your current laptop if possible. This will cut down on e wate although you might not be able to run Linux.
I got the cheapest possible configuration of the framework and it’s pretty great so far. I’m running Pop!OS on it right now, but I think I’m going to switch to OpenSUSE.
Lenovo has good Linux support. Also Dell.
A few months ago I bought a Gigabyte Aorus 15g (intel 10th gen), made in Taiwan, and are relatively more open with visitors/reporters than their mainland China counterparts. Very happy with it so far. Runs ubuntu/debian out of the box flawlessly. Nvidia prime-select allows to run games with high FPS with no compromises, or gpu codes in python/matlab, and use the intel gpu for other things to get all day use out of the massive battery. The keyboard has made me a convert to mech-keyboards. The laptop itself is well made, metal, rigid. They don’t sell direct in the EU but I eventually found one with the right components and keyboard layout. If you are in the EU (https://geizhals.eu/) or (https://tweakers.net/) are great for searching. Their higher spec’d versions aint cheap but you can shop around to find a deal. They also make similar spec’d Aero series but the high refresh rate screen (300hz) on the Aorus is more useful to me than the oled screen on the Aero, with may be a factor if you have a terminal open all day in the same place on the screen. Was also looking into Tuxedo (Germany), Entroware (UK), or System76 (US) but unfortunately as of 2 months ago they still are all Clevo (or TongFang or similar) laptops manufactured in mainland China, with a difficult traceability or outright bad working conditions, if that’s something you choose to factor in. System76 have some ‘made in the US’ promises but I havn’t seen any actual products yet. But the Tuxedo guys were very open about where they are sourcing things, as far as they could be, and seem to do a lot in the space, I was impressed. Purism have the librem series which seems good but I have no first hand experience with it.
made in Taiwan, and are relatively more open with visitors/reporters than their mainland China counterparts
unfortunately as of 2 months ago they still are all Clevo (or TongFang or similar) laptops manufactured in mainland China, with a difficult traceability or outright bad working conditions, if that’s something you choose to factor in. System76 have some ‘made in the US’ promises
Mate you trying to play the American imperialist trance here? Can we be more non political while discussing open source technology on a technology board?
Not American, nor did I bring up politics. Place of manufacture, and the company doing it is a factor when buying tech. But feel free to be offended. But maybe keep that off a technology discussion board.
You know what you did, and I highlighted that via quoting. Keep this nationalist elitism/bias out of this community in the future.
…compelling, colour me convinced.
ThinkPad
And System76, Clevo, Tuxedo, Framework, Dell XPS, business lineups et al.
Personally I want to try and push for an ARM/RISC-V laptop and keep x86 by my side in the future. ARM is just so far ahead in power efficiency terms, it is not even a joke. And there is almost nothing Wine and a Windows VM on Linux does not let me do.
My next laptop that will bridge the gap is surely going to have AMD instead of the disgusting joke that is Intel.
