Hello. I have never used Linux before in my life, but this post isn’t really about the software. I know there are many guides and threads out there explaining how to set up Linux for beginners.
My question is more about what computers you guys suggest for Linux. I don’t have any old computers lying around at home, I only have a computer assigned by my school that I’ll turn in next year. To my understanding, Linux should be able to work on almost all computers, so I haven’t thought about a specific brand.
My top priorities are (in order):
- good/great battery life
- quiet
- compact and lightweight
Preferably a 13" or 15" screen, though I prefer the former. Just a small machine with a great battery life that also doesn’t make much noise when several apps are open at once. I have looked at Asus before, but I’m not sure what the general consensus is of this brand, so I was hoping to get some suggestions. I’ve also looked at Framework computers, but honestly it’s a bit expensive for me. My budget is ~1000$ (10 000 SEK).
Might be unnecessary information, but: I will be using this computer mainly to write documents, make the occasional presentations, browse the web, and watch videos and movies. So no photo- or video editing nor gaming at all. Like everybody, I hope to buy a computer that will last many years and survive many student theses. Cheers and thanks!
If money wasn’t an object I think I’d get a Framework but I’ve always had a good experience with Lenovo for a more budget-friendly option. My last two laptops have been Lenovos and have both worked super well with Linux.
Ummm, good luck. When I tried to use Linux on a new machine I built and had a bunch of problems, people on the forums told me to wait six months for someone to write drivers for the components.
I built an amd system with Nvidia graphics card in 2019 and it works fine. Wi-Fi Bluetooth Ethernet 144hz display etc all work fine.
LOL. Got totally down voted for simply explaining what happened. Glad it worked for you. It didn’t work for me. This was probably 10 years ago. I made a dual boot system and the internet simply wouldn’t work in Linux, so I had to keep booting into Windows, research, then switch to Linux to implement. Lather, rinse, repeat.
If Windows 11 is as bad as they say, guess I’ll be experimenting with it again.
I remember these dark times… It got a bit easier when smartphones were more prevalent.
Get an Apple, thinkpad or dell.
The main thing that determines if a computer can be repaired is parts availability. Those three have great parts availability almost universally.
If you wanna run macOS you need a Mac. The t480 is a good recommendation for thinkpads, but don’t worry about ssds or ram yet, just get the one with the processor and display you want (it’s the midrange 8th gen ones). I don’t know the dell world enough to make a recommendation but someone will do so.
Use the gentoo and arch wikis to check what problems people have out of the box with whatever model you’re looking at.
People will say you need amd. This is either paranoid or based on recent events. Neither apply to you.
People will say to get a framework or some equivalent. They’re expensive and a moral/ethical statement. This doesn’t apply to you.
System76 or Framework
I can reccomend huawei laptops with metal chassis. I’ve had my matebook x pro for around 6 years. My past laptops made of plastic disentegrted over time
Clearly you never have a Thinkpad.
deleted by creator
I want one of those Panasonic rugged laptops that can withstand being run over with a truck. The are made to run outdoors and they work in very wet environments. They also have dual batteries that can be swapped quickly so you can have one on the changer and one in the device.
Yeah meanwhile my kid stepped on my metal cased Dell when he was 3 and bent the metal, cracking the screen
Chinese so not a great option
So there are safe countries and non safe countries now? Whats the difference?
I would avoid non Democratic countries. I especially wouldn’t use Huawei as they have been cause putting backdoors in network equipment. You could argue that they got the idea from the NSA but I don’t think the answer is to fight fire with fire.
Check out https://laptopwithlinux.com/ - new or used.
I will say that a second-hand ThinkPad is a great option. They can be real cheap, but you can also get a pretty decent new one for your budget.
You can likely find great T480-T495 that fits your needs really well.
I would vote against getting something like a T490 as it has one memory slot soldered onto the motherboard and it has the same processor as the T480 anyways iirc.
A T460 is good as well.
I HIGHLY recommend against the T495. That thing has a great keyboard, fingerprint sensor, okay camera and mics, okay ports. But it is underpowered af, and Thinkpads always have the Thinkpad price.
It has a great chassis, but my coreboot Clevo NV41 has double the performance and kinda same battery life.
I disagree with it being underpowered for regular office use and media consumption. If you can get your hands on a 16 GB RAM one, it should be able to handle just about anything other than gaming.
The RAM doesnt matter, it has 8GB builtin (or is there a 4GB model??) and one slot flexible.
Yes the CPU is okay for regular office stuff. But the AMD linux support was suboptimal, I had regular suspend-resume issues where the lockscreen would freeze and I needed to hard shutdown.
And… for some reason that thing doesnt even boot anymore. Removed the battery, using official charger. Doesnt boot into the BIOS anymore, no idea what I could do honestly.
Maybw the mobo is damaged…
Another vote for the T480. I have a T480s running Mint and it’s been lovely. No driver issues and for office/light media creation/consumption it seems to work without a hitch.
I’m farting around on a T480 for school and light retro gaming. Works great! Super easy to upgrade too
Agreed, I love mine.
Sounds like you need a higher end chromebook. I used Mr. Chromebox to load linux onto my Lenovo.
Go team red would be my advice.
Old Intel systems are solid as well. Something 2022 or older
If it were me, I’d first be looking at used Thinkpads (with the caveat to make sure the specific Thinkpad has hardware which is generally supported). I’d also look into Linux-friendly manufacturers, like frame.work or System76.
Ive had great success with their all amd systems, and older machines go on sale often, so you can score a Ryzan 6850 w/ 16GB of RAM for 700-800CAD if little else matters.
Used ThinkPad or Framework laptop should be a copypasta at this point.
My mantra with Linux hardware is “as normal as possible.”
I make sure it doesn’t have certain brands of Wi-Fi card in them :/ miserable times with broadcom leave me wary
Refurbished ThinkPad. The answer is always a refurbished ThinkPad
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, what’s a good place to buy them, ebay? I’d be using it mainly for web browsing and playing sames through moonlight
I’m not sure, I got my current one through our tech guy at work, not sure where he gets them
Look at frame.work they have good documentation about various Linux distros on their machines
Their firmware updates are pretty late and they ditched coreboot.
But I guess the hardware is awesome. Keep in mind that these thunderbolt adapters suck quite some battery, so having a laptop simply with the ports you need uses up less battery. Also, the modularity may not be needed and causes it to be less stiff.
They ditched Coreboot?
They gave some coreboot devs laptops but didnt invest anything apart from that, afaik. The result was not working well enough, so they use insyde (which has pretty cool features but also past security vulnerabilities and it is backdoored by Intel & the NSA)
Like, UEFI being backdoored by the NSA is not a conspiracy. “Persistence” in “end user device data retrieval” was one big goal. Persistence means than an OS reinstall, Secureboot, boot integrity, QubesOS disposable Cubes etc. will all not protect you, as that shit is in the firmware!
No security or privacy without coreboot. Google knows that and has all their servers on coreboot and also all Chromebooks. Android is ARM so that is different but also WORLDS more secure than any secureboot garbage.
deleted by creator
It looks like work is still being done on Coreboot for the Framework. They got it running on the AMD version. It’s not ready for use yet, but at least there is some progress.
Nice! Thanks for the note!
Frameworks sound like a really cool idea.
Can you disable ports like on hardware? It would save a good amount of battery
I have, unfortunately they’re too expensive for me.
deleted by creator
Tldr Amd & amd
