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Best laptop for linux (probably Ubuntu)?

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Re: Best laptop for linux (probably Ubuntu)?

#12
post #6

I'd like to know experiences using a newer model Thinkpad T460S or T460P with discrete graphics experiences using any distribution of Linux. Does sleep, suspend, hibernate work well? Dual display? The retina (? pixel scaling?) work well? What doesn't work?

I have a T440p and dual boot Win10 and Ubuntu. Everything works out of the box, except the Nvidia GPU. Switching between Intel and Nvidia is possible, but for some unknown reasons I can't boot with Nvidia activated. Configuring the Xserver was not straight forward for my use cases (dock with 1 monitor/laptop only).

Re: Best laptop for linux (probably Ubuntu)?

#13
What I find painful in modern laptops are the crap chiclet keyboard layouts. Why can't we just have a classic, compressed keyboard like on the thinkpad t420 or x220? I get cramps from the keyboard of my dell e5570 I have from the workplace, I started using external keyboards 2 days after starting on it.

Here's hoping for a retro thinkpad next year. Until then, I'll hold onto my money or just invest in an ergodox keyboard.

Re: Best laptop for linux (probably Ubuntu)?

#15

I've had the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu installed for a few weeks now and love it. It works as well as you could hope any Linux laptop could work.

Got myself the XPS 13 standard and it seems to work well. Fonts at 3200x1800 looks as great as on a smartphone and I was dubious about the touch screen but it has won me over.

Lazily poking the screen for browsing the web is a mobile paradigm that I welcome on the desktop.

The only thing that annoys me is not having a dedicated home, end, page up and page down buttons. They're mapped to the arrow keys + Fn.

Speaking of Thinkpads. My first is a T450 which I got for work recently. It's solidly built but lacks a premium feel to it. Also the display has awful viewing angles.

Re: Best laptop for linux (probably Ubuntu)?

#18

Take a look at System 76 ( https://system76.com/ ) machines which are sold as Linux (Ubuntu) machines. I bought one to use as a work travel machine. It has been (and continues to be) a good machine.

I too have a system 76. It is overall pretty solid. It has trouble with 2 external monitors though (more a ubuntu issue then the company). I also wouldn't want to travel with it too much as the chassis is all plastic and pretty flexible. I would worry about accidentally bending the screen or something. I love the company though, and hope that they can keep improving their stuff.
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