Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 71 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#51

Post by lake99 »

I used to have some driver annoyances with Nvidia GPU based desktops I built. I switched to an ATI GPU based laptop, and had somewhat bigger driver annoyances.

My latest laptop has an Intel CPU, chipset/GPU, wifi, etc. It works perfectly. It's a business model; it has no bells and whistles that could potentially give me driver issues. The only problem I ever had was when I visited Europe, and the power adapter broke down (wire fatigue), the country's (HP) support center plainly refused to have anything to do with my specific model.

I used to have overheating issues with AMD CPU based desktops. I have friends whose AMD CPU based laptops get far too hot to touch -- over 100°C, as reported by the sensors.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#52

Post by jnamaya »

DArcMattr wrote: post #37
jnamaya wrote: post #34

I have a Lenovo W520 and its horrible for Linux....the dual card setup is crazy, I'm running Fedora 18 on that thing right now with the nVidia proprietary drivers, and has many issues but is the most stable setup I have gotten from Linux on this laptop..I also have a Lenovo T420 and no issues at all with any distro...please stay away from nvidia crap.

I have a T520 with the Nvidia graphic chips on it, and I have had an even worse time of trying to get the thing to work up to its supposed potential. The proprietary driver won't even work on the thing. Fedora/OpenSUSE is about the best I can do for it, with Bumblebee working. I can't even get PC-BSD to run on the thing, even with the Nvidia chips turned off in BIOS. I'll make my next Thinkpad Nvidia free.

Do you use external monitors with your setup? As far as I know, you can't run external monitors ( HDMI, VGA, etc ) with Bumblebee...I use discrete mode on my laptop for my HDMI external monitor.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#53

Post by Samuel_Michon »

meric wrote: post #48
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, having a second, dedicated GPU isn't as useful as it once was, given how good integrated GPUs have gotten. OP, take note: only the 15" MacBook Pros have dual GPUs.

Good as integrated GPUs maybe (as they can now accomplish more tasks), they are still an order of magnitude away from mid-range dedicated GPUs.

Sure, but we're talking about notebooks. Putting a mid-range dedicated GPU in a notebook would make it a mobile workstation (read: useless when not connected to a power source). The second, dedicated GPU in a 15" MacBook Pro isn't even mid-range while it does use a lot more power than the integrated GPU.

For most tasks, integrated graphics work fine. On my MacBook Air, I use Final Cut Pro, AfterEffects and Blender. For many people, the most graphics intensive thing they use their computer for is HD video playback.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#54

Post by trueheart78 »

girvo wrote: post #32

I've been on the hunt myself. I've decided upon the Dell XPS 13, because of Dell's Project Sputnik. I'm picking up the older generation, can be found brand-new in-box for around $800AUD here in Australia. Gorgeous laptop to be honest, perfect ultra-portable for my needs. It's main con is that the LCD panel is a bit average. The new generation has a better 1080p panel, that is apparently brilliant, but I don't do enou…

I picked up this XPS 13 last month and have been quite happy with it (the differences between the 1080p screen and this are amazing, clarity-wise, but also more expensive than I could afford).

I loaded Ubuntu 13 on it, and it's running quite well. I was going to choose 12.04 LTS, but after reading that Dell's Sputnik changes were also rolled into 13 (prior, they were separate), it just made more sense to go that route. Has been great ever since.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#55

Post by nsm »

secure wrote: post #4

Most computers with an Intel GPU are fine. The ThinkPad series is very popular and thus well-supported — note that I am only talking about the “original” series, i.e. ThinkPad X and T, e.g. the X230 or T430. Personally, I am running a ThinkPad X200 since 2008 with nearly no software problems.

another +1. I'm on a x230 with SSD and everything is flawless.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#56

Post by argonz »

adnanh wrote: post #14
secure wrote: post #4

Most computers with an Intel GPU are fine. The ThinkPad series is very popular and thus well-supported — note that I am only talking about the “original” series, i.e. ThinkPad X and T, e.g. the X230 or T430. Personally, I am running a ThinkPad X200 since 2008 with nearly no software problems.

My Edge 13 version with AMD had issues with fan control and overheating. Also, graphic card drivers were bad compared to Windows :/

Second this, graphics-driver is an issue under Mint. Apart from this the E335 is wonderful.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#57

Post by jason_slack »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #17

Most people I know who use Linux on a notebook have a MacBook Air or a 13" MacBook Pro. Same for the tech conferences I attend. All Mac notebook models have Intel HD Graphics 4000, which performs well and has good support on Ubuntu. The other hardware in those notebooks plays nice with Ubuntu as well, like WiFi and sound – no hacks necessary. http://www.maketecheasier.com/install-ubuntu-12-10-in-macboo... http://www.…

I have often wondered why, when you have a MacBook Air or Pro that the Linux user doesn't run OS X as the host and Linux in a virtual machine?

Can anyone explain why this setup isn't more mainstream among those that prefer Linux?

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#58

Post by thraxil »

jason_slack wrote: post #57
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #17

Most people I know who use Linux on a notebook have a MacBook Air or a 13" MacBook Pro. Same for the tech conferences I attend. All Mac notebook models have Intel HD Graphics 4000, which performs well and has good support on Ubuntu. The other hardware in those notebooks plays nice with Ubuntu as well, like WiFi and sound – no hacks necessary. http://www.maketecheasier.com/install-ubuntu-12-10-in-macboo... http://www.…

I have often wondered why, when you have a MacBook Air or Pro that the Linux user doesn't run OS X as the host and Linux in a virtual machine? Can anyone explain why this setup isn't more mainstream among those that prefer Linux?

I can't really speak for anyone else, but I run Ubuntu on a MacPro as my desktop machine at work. I prefer Linux to OS X primarily because of the user interface. I know it's heresy, but I hate OS X's (and Windows, to be fair) UI. I've run XMonad for years and Ion for years before that and now any time I have to use a machine that doesn't have a tiling WM and sloppy focus, I kind of want to throw it out the window. (I'm running on Apple hardware because for various bureaucratic reasons, we have a very limited selection of vendors that we're allowed to purchase from)

Re: Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now?

#60

Post by Ologn »

dsr_ wrote: post #41
kweinber wrote: post #38

System76 is a company that is dedicated to making Linux hardware. You will have the least driver trouble with their stuff.

They ship with Ubuntu; you can easily put another Linux on. You can get more power than a Dell XPS13 for less money, albeit at a substantial weight penalty. Support is very good but hardware turn-around is not fast.

I have a System76 laptop. I agree with DSR on all points. Turnaround is not as fast as, say, HP.

They have a range of 4 basic laptops, each of which is configurable. I was more concerned with power than weight so I got the second most powerful one.

I almost always have it plugged in when using it. I have used it on battery two or three times, and it seemed the battery was used up rather quickly. I have not spent any time looking into that yet, you might want to check what people say about the battery. I might just need to enable power saving mode or something.

I have been happy with it, it works well for me.

Post reply on HN