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Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

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Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#31

Post by krakensden »

drakenot wrote: post #22
wyldfire wrote: post #19

I can endorse the Dell XPS13 9343: small, light, great battery life, great screen/keyboard. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. Some folks decided to replace the Broadcom wifi with Intel, because it's not ideal for linux. I believe that the newest XPS13 uses Intel instead.

How is the build quality? I've had Dell laptops in the past given to me by my employer and the screen hinge has been a source of failure on two of them.

Better than the HP Elitebook I had previously, and no problems after 9 months.

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#32

Post by maelito »

drakenot wrote: post #22
wyldfire wrote: post #19

I can endorse the Dell XPS13 9343: small, light, great battery life, great screen/keyboard. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. Some folks decided to replace the Broadcom wifi with Intel, because it's not ideal for linux. I believe that the newest XPS13 uses Intel instead.

How is the build quality? I've had Dell laptops in the past given to me by my employer and the screen hinge has been a source of failure on two of them.

The touchpad on the skylake 13 is bad (not sure if it is broken).

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#33

Post by alexgandy »

drakenot wrote: post #24
starikovs wrote: post #16

I use MacBook Air and Vagrant to run Linux (Ubuntu). Everything I need from Linux is a shell :) For other things OSX is enough.

What things do you do in Vagrant that you couldn't do in your OSX shell? I'm just curious.

I'm in the same boat, and I have to use Vagrant + VirtualBox for just about anything docker related.

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#34

Post by krakensden »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #29

Chromebook Pixel has been an awesome sometimes-Linux laptop for me. I'm still spending most of my time in ChromeOS, but the crouton project/extension allows me to have another linux chroot running for when I need to do work. There's a number of supported distros, although I've stuck with Ubuntu and XFCE, mostly because it stays out of my way. The fact that you can have the entire chroot or an individual app run in a…

Does the pixel do the thing where your linux partition gets wiped out if you ever run down the battery? Because that scares me.

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#35

Post by notacoward »

grigio wrote: post #6

Probably chromebook pixel 2,asus ux305 or xps13

Ditto for the Pixel. I also have a ux305 and it's nice in a lot of ways but doesn't really have the battery life I want. The Pixel (what I'm using now) does, beating even my old MBA. As a bonus, I get to run low-maintenance ChromeOS and real Linux simultaneously via Crouton, including niceties like clipboard integration. Haven't missed either the MBA or the ux305 once since I got this.

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#36

Post by dikaiosune »

I was going to get the XPS 13, but decided to perform some upgrades on my desktop at the same time. So to save a few bucks I got an X250 from Lenovo, and I've been very happy with it. It's a little bulky since I also got the large second battery, but the battery life is absolutely phenomenal, and everything works great on Arch.

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#37

Post by precision »

krakensden wrote: post #34
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #29

Chromebook Pixel has been an awesome sometimes-Linux laptop for me. I'm still spending most of my time in ChromeOS, but the crouton project/extension allows me to have another linux chroot running for when I need to do work. There's a number of supported distros, although I've stuck with Ubuntu and XFCE, mostly because it stays out of my way. The fact that you can have the entire chroot or an individual app run in a…

Does the pixel do the thing where your linux partition gets wiped out if you ever run down the battery? Because that scares me.

The Pixel 1 did, but not the Pixel 2.

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#38

Post by daveguy »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #29

Chromebook Pixel has been an awesome sometimes-Linux laptop for me. I'm still spending most of my time in ChromeOS, but the crouton project/extension allows me to have another linux chroot running for when I need to do work. There's a number of supported distros, although I've stuck with Ubuntu and XFCE, mostly because it stays out of my way. The fact that you can have the entire chroot or an individual app run in a…

Can anyone comment on how difficult it is to put Linux on a chromebook? Is it locked down with a need to "root"/jailbreak or is it just a matter of some startup keys? I have avoided chromebooks because ChromeOS always seemed like a limiting factor and potential privacy issue. Can someone summarize the ChromeOS -> Linux process and pain factor?

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#39

Post by RKoutnik »

daveguy wrote: post #38
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #29

Chromebook Pixel has been an awesome sometimes-Linux laptop for me. I'm still spending most of my time in ChromeOS, but the crouton project/extension allows me to have another linux chroot running for when I need to do work. There's a number of supported distros, although I've stuck with Ubuntu and XFCE, mostly because it stays out of my way. The fact that you can have the entire chroot or an individual app run in a…

Can anyone comment on how difficult it is to put Linux on a chromebook? Is it locked down with a need to "root"/jailbreak or is it just a matter of some startup keys? I have avoided chromebooks because ChromeOS always seemed like a limiting factor and potential privacy issue. Can someone summarize the ChromeOS -> Linux process and pain factor?

I've done it, it's an absolute cakewalk. No need to do crazy rooting.

Re: Ask HN: Best ultrabook for Linux?

#40

Post by aesthetics1 »

drakenot wrote: post #22
wyldfire wrote: post #19

I can endorse the Dell XPS13 9343: small, light, great battery life, great screen/keyboard. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. Some folks decided to replace the Broadcom wifi with Intel, because it's not ideal for linux. I believe that the newest XPS13 uses Intel instead.

How is the build quality? I've had Dell laptops in the past given to me by my employer and the screen hinge has been a source of failure on two of them.

I have one. Build quality is excellent! No complaints.
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