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Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

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Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#431

Post by fnl »

smarmgoblin wrote: post #292
Jnr wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even though M1 MBP runs Linux, it has a very basic GPU driver, no hardware acceleration for video decoding/encoding. The "Fastest CPU + GPU + battery life" probably will not be true if using Linux on it. Would be great if Asahi users could provide regular benchmarks between MacOS and Linux on M1, to see how it is progressing. When it comes to Thinkpads and other similar laptops - get one without the dedicated Nvidia…

> When it comes to Thinkpads and other similar laptops - get one without the dedicated Nvidia GPU. That is just a nightmare on Linux. Second this. I got a Thinkpad P1 off eBay (basically the X1C with a dedicated GPU) from a similar recommendation thread on HN somewhere and actually have gotten it to work but this aspect has been difficult to sort out.

Using Oryx Pro with Nvidia, and it is a breeze. Depends on your manufacturer supporting your hardware, I guess.

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#432

Post by fnl »

I prefer System76, because it ensures that hardware and software work together flawlessly. Most threads here seem to complain about that, but I never had an issue on that front with my Oryx Pro.

Only hardware complaints are that it can become noisy with (Nvidia!) GPU use and that the battery life is short (at least if you are used to MBPs…) But for example, I have had no serious headache with the Nvidia GPU, only some driver update juggling.

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#433

Post by Lio »

vkoskiv wrote: post #225
8jy89hui wrote: post #53

My framework laptop has served me very well for the last year or so. This is one of the few pieces of open source hardware that is genuinely better (IMO) than many other larger hardware brands. The entire device is just so well built and the upgrade path is so well defined.

> This is one of the few pieces of open source hardware that is genuinely better (IMO) than many other larger hardware brands. Is the Framework OSHW? I thought it was just very repairable, but proprietary. Have the PCB schematics and other designs been released?

(I'm not a Framework user) Checking on the website you can apply for the schematics.

https://knowledgebase.frame.work/availability-of-schematics-...

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#434

Post by notpushkin »

boneitis wrote: post #153
mjcohen wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the call was recorded in the cloud?

I assume he means OBS or some such running locally.

Yeah. Zoom's built in recording didn't work for some reason (and tbh I'm not sure that would be in cloud either).

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#435

Post by lultimouomo »

chem83 wrote: post #429
lultimouomo wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have it and it's definitely a powerful and solid laptop with a great screen. But out-of-the-box linux support was not great at all. I am usually a debian user, but since it shipped with Ubuntu I thought I'd give it a try (there were other distro choices when ordering the laptop, but Ubuntu was the only debian-based one). The laptop came a couple of months ago with Ubuntu 20.04. I upgraded to Ubuntu 22.04, which was…

Just to confirm: are we talking about the same laptop? Can’t seem to find on Lenovo’s website that any distro is officially supported (although I may be missing something obvious). Someone who has been interacting with their support a lot is reporting good compatibility with some workarounds: http://null.rip/2022/09/linux-on-the-thinkpad-z13-all-amd-al...

When you order a Thinkpad Z13 from Lenovo you get the option to get it with Ubuntu preinstalled. To me that's "officially supported".

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#436

Post by rendall »

Lio wrote: post #424
rendall wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dell only support the XPS 13 for Linux. They won't refuse to repair it. It's identical in all ways except for the screen size, so. If something really weird happens, they might kick it back to you, but nothing really weird is going to happen. > My advice for buying any Linux laptop would be always get one that comes with Linux out of the box even if you're going to replace it. Or get a Dell XPS 17 and install your…

It’s not the warrantee, it’s the device drivers. All the parts of the XPS 13 are expected to work well with Linux. They've been selected specifically for that and they’ll receive firmware updates to improve that situation. That’s not the same on the XPS17. On an XPS 17 the parts just have to work with Windows. They might work or they might not. If something doesn’t work with Linux on the XPS 13 or Precision model it’…

So you missed the part where I wrote that I've run Linux on 2 of them for years with no issues. I didn't mention that I use it daily.

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#437

Post by mciancia »

smarmgoblin wrote: post #292
Jnr wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even though M1 MBP runs Linux, it has a very basic GPU driver, no hardware acceleration for video decoding/encoding. The "Fastest CPU + GPU + battery life" probably will not be true if using Linux on it. Would be great if Asahi users could provide regular benchmarks between MacOS and Linux on M1, to see how it is progressing. When it comes to Thinkpads and other similar laptops - get one without the dedicated Nvidia…

> When it comes to Thinkpads and other similar laptops - get one without the dedicated Nvidia GPU. That is just a nightmare on Linux. Second this. I got a Thinkpad P1 off eBay (basically the X1C with a dedicated GPU) from a similar recommendation thread on HN somewhere and actually have gotten it to work but this aspect has been difficult to sort out.

P1 is based on X1 extreme, not X1 carbon, just FYI

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#438

Post by mr_person »

cs702 wrote: post #323
nine_k wrote: post #269

I see very disparate use cases for these laptops, so the competition is not really that fair. - Fastest CPU + GPU + battery life, x64 not needed, money no object: M1 MBP. - Reliable, serviceable, upgradeable, fashion-despising: T14 / T480 / T490. - Serviceable, upgradable, but sort of new kids on the block, and less fashion-oblivious: Star Labs Starfighter, Framework, System 76 Oryx Pro. - Sleek-looking at the expens…

I would add the System 76 Lemur for an open-source, under-user-control, thin, and light laptop.

Agree, as long as you use a v6 kernel. I have had many months of hard lockups and reboots on v5 installs, all of which disappeared on kernel upgrade.

Besides that, I love my Lemur Pro

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#439

Post by [deleted] »

rendall wrote: post #436
Lio wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the warrantee, it’s the device drivers. All the parts of the XPS 13 are expected to work well with Linux. They've been selected specifically for that and they’ll receive firmware updates to improve that situation. That’s not the same on the XPS17. On an XPS 17 the parts just have to work with Windows. They might work or they might not. If something doesn’t work with Linux on the XPS 13 or Precision model it’…

So you missed the part where I wrote that I've run Linux on 2 of them for years with no issues. I didn't mention that I use it daily.

[deleted]

Re: Poll: What's the best laptop for Linux these days?

#440

Post by chem83 »

lultimouomo wrote: post #435
chem83 wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to confirm: are we talking about the same laptop? Can’t seem to find on Lenovo’s website that any distro is officially supported (although I may be missing something obvious). Someone who has been interacting with their support a lot is reporting good compatibility with some workarounds: http://null.rip/2022/09/linux-on-the-thinkpad-z13-all-amd-al...

When you order a Thinkpad Z13 from Lenovo you get the option to get it with Ubuntu preinstalled. To me that's "officially supported".

Is this in the US store or elsewhere? I swear I can’t find that option. :(

Thanks.

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