251–260 of 440 posts
I've used Arch on a MBA (2015), System76 (Galago Pro), and a Dell XPS 13 as well. Planning to upgrade to a M1 Air with Asahi soon, with my Steam Deck as a secondary linux portable machine. Once you fix the keyboard layout on Macbooks, it is quite pleasant. I would upgrade to Framework, but its impossible to get where I live, so M1 it is.
The build quality of the Thinkpad laptops is just generally very good, especially for the price, better than some of their more expensive competition in my opinion. I disagree with their Fn-key position, but luckily the UEFI allows you to switch it around to a more sane position (where the ctrl key is on their layout).
If you disagree and would like to try non-Lenovo laptops, any laptop that gets sold with Linux on it by default will save you a lot of working out config options. Just because the manufacturer threw Ubuntu on it doesn't mean that it'll work well (the same can be said of Windows, sadly) but the basic driver support is there. System76 laptops are the exception there, they generally work great with Linux but you pay for the privilege. I've personally also had a great experience running Linux on HP's ProBook line.
As for the macOS requirement, you can technically run macOS in a virtual machine or even make a Hackintosh if you pick the right device. Both are against Apple's TOS so I wouldn't use those in a professional context myself but they're an option if you need to build for iOS and friends.
Something to consider is to pay extra for the support contract. Dell, Lenovo, HP, and other big brands offer contracts where they will show up at your house, almost anywhere in the world, with either a replacement part or a temporary loaner laptop if something were to ever go wrong. Availability may be restricted to certain countries but the people I've spoken to were all incredibly pleased with the business support these companies offer, especially compared to Apple when the nearest Apple store is three hours away and you don't even know for sure if they'll be able to help you. Having someone come to you just adds a nice touch, I suppose.
Not on list but my Asus TUF 17" is consistently beating my expectations on driver compat and overall build quality
I love mine also, very impressive. My only issue is the audio needs tweaks, between the last 2 POPos updates the audio slider does not work, it is basicly on or off. Everything else works perfectly.
Everything works, including nvidia proprietary driver and mode switching.
It's honestly the best linux laptop since I got my XPS 13
I use the Mac M1 and wouldn't suggest it for linux unless all the functionality you need is explicitly supported. Most stuff does work for me as a java dev. However, Asahi doesn't support docking to a monitor which prevents me from using it solely as a linux machine.
Try a Lemur Pro https://system76.com/laptops/lemp11/configure
I've got a last-gen Lemur that I really like. (lemp10 / 11th-gen Core i7-1165G7, one generation older than jart's link.) I'd recommend their new one on that basis. I'm pretty happy with Pop OS. However, I'd say the decision between it and the Oryx (which OP has on their poll) is about OP's needs and preferences, rather than one strictly beating the other. It has a long battery life even after a few years of use, comp…
I've used Arch on a MBA (2015), System76 (Galago Pro), and a Dell XPS 13 as well. Planning to upgrade to a M1 Air with Asahi soon, with my Steam Deck as a secondary linux portable machine. Once you fix the keyboard layout on Macbooks, it is quite pleasant. I would upgrade to Framework, but its impossible to get where I live, so M1 it is.
How did you fix keyboard layout?
The hid_apple module supports swapping the alt/cmd and the fn/cntrl keys to match standard keyboard layouts. It's quite helpful if you use multiple devices and keyboards.
My real opinion would be "check out Tuxedo computers*," because every device I ever bought from them worked flawlessly (must be that vaunted German engineering), but of the options you listed I guess I'd go with S76, as they are all-in on GNU/Linux and I've heard good things about pop! OS. * https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en
Can't be too much German engineering in a Taiwanese (Clevo) machine
You could also completely replace your Linux Laptop with a Simula One.[1] :] [1] https://simulavr.com