Hey all.
I’ve booted Linux Mint Debian Edition and Arch on to a couple old machines including my old laptops. The performance is still rather brutal because these machines are so old and their battery lives are rough. They are also bulky and uncomfortable to carry around.
So, I’ve been thinking about getting a more modern laptop and putting Linux on it but I’ve been out of the laptop market for so long now I have no idea what’s good and what’s not anymore. Any recommendations?
I think I’ve heard decent things about Chromebooks but how’s the hardware of those? Are they relatively locked down and don’t play nice with Linux? I’m just looking for a machine for daily use (browser, light coding, remote connecting to my desktop for heavier stuff)
Thanks in advance
EDIT: Thank you to everyone for responding, I did not expect so much discussion! I’ve certainly changed my mind on Chromebooks and will look into the options recommended below in the coming months. Thanks!
If you haven’t already bought something:
What do you have now?
I would generally recommend against chromebooks. They’re often aimed at the lowest end of the market and have esoteric processors and boot processes that will make you frustrated.
I would generally recommend against small laptop manufacturers like framework etc. because of parts availability. People will say that you can get parts from the manufacturer but for how long? People will say you can make the parts themselves because the design is open source but I have a board etching setup, hot air station and injection molding machine and I don’t do that.
Obviously if you just want to “vote with your dollars” the above doesn’t matter.
If you want to get a laptop that’s gonna run linux well and last a long time get a used business class machine. There will always be a huge market for parts and they have almost always had someone put the effort in to document getting their distro to work right on their work assigned computer.
The black sheep option is to get a mac. Parts are everywhere for cheap and every microsoldering and computer repair shop will work on them because so many people have them and want to get them fixed. Obviously do your research first, but asahi is coming along and you’ve always got a Unix system to fall back on if it isn’t working out.
My current laptop I use when I’m away from home is a surface pro (one of the ones from like 2017). It just doesn’t hold more than two hours of charge now and constantly freezes just simply browsing.
After reading the replies here, I’m currently considering a refurbished framework 13 because I value its repairability though you do make salient points about their supply chain if they go under.
I may also wait a bit as I think I can hold off without a laptop for bit longer. All depends on where my job takes me in the coming months. Or if I still have one :/
Check out https://old.reddit.com/r/LaptopDeals/ daily until you find something that suits you needs and budget.
Here’s a gaming laptop from Walmart with a 4070 for only $900.
You have plenty GNU/Linux compatible OOTB laptop manufacturers like:
Also check this for buying preinstalled libreboot laptops (some of the upper ones already do) minifree.org and here how to do yourself if you feel confident libreboot.org
Also you can consider buying a Dell laptop or Lenovo Thinkpad
I strongly recommend buying a laptop with AMD graphics, either integrated or external, for getting the best compatible machine for GNU/Linux, and avoid Nvidia, and Intel too if possible
I’d recommend avoiding all of these companies.
They will charge you a premium for inferior hardware and an OS they don’t have to pay licensing fees on.
You can buy a Lenovo gaming laptop with a 4070 for $900 from Walmart that will run Linux without issues. Don’t give these scumbags your money. They’re banking on you being stupid.
have you even read my comment? dont listen to this guy OP. Get yourself an AMD graphics
Get the best product for the cheapest price.
Don’t be a fanboy.
I don’t know where you live, but AMD is much cheaper than Nvidia, and everybody knows that. So maybe you’re the fanboy here. AMD is simply better on GNU/Linux because of open-source drivers. You’ll avoid many issues that, while easy to fix, someone getting a computer for GNU/Linux can easily avoid just by buying AMD graphics. I use two RTX 3090s on my main machine, btw
No, you’re the one definitely fanboying. You’re upset that someone is recommending a product from a company you’re not loyal to, so you will never stop responding until you have the last word.
If you can find a comparable laptop to what I linked for a similar or cheaper price, great. Link it. Otherwise you’re just fanboying while pretending you’re not.
If your next reply isn’t a link to a comparable laptop or an apology, I’m just going to ignore you.
Arguing with you people gets tiresome and it’s up to rational adults to see you for what you are.
I just sold my Framework 13 after daily driving it for a year. The HiDPI display bugs and workarounds just got too annoying.
I went back to my old Dell XPS 13 9310 and I’m loving it.
Good choice.
Framework always seemed like a meme.
Framework. Check the refurbs shop and get a great deal.
Stay away from Chromebook anything unless you get it for free.
I’ve shopped around for a 12+ hour Linux laptop, I think you should wait a little while to pull that trigger, Qualcomm isn’t exactly great /w Linux, RISC is currently tripping on its own laces and people just aren’t interested in making this kind of thing exactly, yet.
I’m guessing that in a few years a lot is going to change with low power laptops that can still compute efficiently.
I have a 5 year old laptop that when I set it to highest efficiency can get almost 4 hours as long as I’m not doing 200 things, which is fine most of the time.
Plus I’ve read in a bunch of places that putting standard Linux on Chromebooks is way more complicated than it ought to be, so I’m not sure I’d pull the trigger on that without first researching the specific laptop you’re looking into.
Not that I’ve tried personally, just the Internets.
Framework
Yeah, I am thinking about getting one of those too, but I’m probably going to wait for the next generation before I buy one.
Unless they have a flash sale before the next release ;-)
