Best ultrabook for linux? [April 2013 edition] • Hacker News Board

Re: Best ultrabook for linux? [April 2013 edition]

#101

Post by alcuadrado » Mon, Apr 08, 2013, 8:32 PM UTC

tammer wrote: post #33

gambiting wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really work that long with Linux? I have the 13" Air(2012 Ivy Bridge model) and while on Mac OS and only using Eclipse/XCode for work I never get it past 6 hours mark. But in any case, I honestly don't see many reasons why would I install Linux on it in favour of Mac OS. I can see why would I swap Windows for Linux,but I find myself able to do 99% of linux stuff on MacOS just fine. It's got the terminal, it's…

It's really a preference thing. I have the opposite feeling, i.e. why keep OS X when you can run Arch? As for battery life, Linux can very greatly depending on settings and distro. Don't expect to beat Mac OS without any configuration/tweaking, but if you go far enough you can get match it or do better.

Someone that thinks like me! I'm not alone!

Re: Best ultrabook for linux? [April 2013 edition]

#102

Post by peatmoss » Tue, Apr 09, 2013, 1:48 AM UTC

cjbprime wrote: post #75

jonnydover wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, the $250 ARM Chromebook is among the very best things you could do for development (in my opinion). I can use ChromeOS for when I'm not doing anything hardcore and then just open a chroot jail (via crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton ) with a full xubuntu/xmonad install when I really want to get cracking. Both open so quickly it's almost disorienting, either from start or from sleep. It's the same…

It's 1366x768, which is the worst resolution available on modern laptops. The resolution makes it unusable for development, in my opinion. (I have one too.)

If Samsung makes this model laptop with a high res display, I will happily buy it as my next machine. The wife has the current model and loves it, but the screen is not quite up to scratch. Otherwise, a brilliant little device.

Re: Best ultrabook for linux? [April 2013 edition]

#103

Post by mbergins » Tue, Apr 09, 2013, 1:50 AM UTC

codemonkeymike wrote: post #64

Thinkpad T430, +1600x900HD screen upgrade +All function keys are compatible with all major distros of linux +Best keyboard on a 14-13 inch I have used +Upgradeable battery lasts 8-9 hours(in text editors/browsing the web) Avoid System76 if you need battery life, which was the main reason I chose the T430 over the Gazelle

I'll second the T430 series. I've had good luck with the T430u with the base configuration and ubuntu. Ubuntu installation was simple using a bootable USB drive and the latest Ubuntu desktop.

The screen on the T430u is not full HD, but cheaper than the regular T430 though.

I believe an SSD is available as an upgrade, but I suspect doing the upgrade yourself would be easy. I upgraded the RAM to 8 GB, which was an easy upgrade following the manual. The hard drive looks to be similarly easy to upgrade.

The keyboard is acceptable and I have found that I have adapted to it quickly.

I haven't pushed the battery life, but I would estimate 4-5 hours with web browsing and the screen brightness up.

Re: Best ultrabook for linux? [April 2013 edition]

#104

Post by codemonkeymike » Tue, Apr 09, 2013, 4:39 AM UTC

mbergins wrote: post #103

codemonkeymike wrote: post #64

Thinkpad T430, +1600x900HD screen upgrade +All function keys are compatible with all major distros of linux +Best keyboard on a 14-13 inch I have used +Upgradeable battery lasts 8-9 hours(in text editors/browsing the web) Avoid System76 if you need battery life, which was the main reason I chose the T430 over the Gazelle

I'll second the T430 series. I've had good luck with the T430u with the base configuration and ubuntu. Ubuntu installation was simple using a bootable USB drive and the latest Ubuntu desktop. The screen on the T430u is not full HD, but cheaper than the regular T430 though. I believe an SSD is available as an upgrade, but I suspect doing the upgrade yourself would be easy. I upgraded the RAM to 8 GB, which was an easy…

I too upgraded the ram, just have to find one with the same timing on Amazon and pop it in(4gb stick). And as for the SSD I got myne on Newegg for $85 (128gb Samsung 840) also very simple to put in, remove a screw pull out the old and mount the new.

Re: Best ultrabook for linux? [April 2013 edition]

#105

Post by leashless » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 10:45 PM UTC

thelittlelisper wrote: post #72

thelittlelisper wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just 3 things: - Install powertop and enable all suggested tweaks - Depending on your kernel you should downclock your i915 graphics card and force pcie_aspm - Later kernels (>3.6?) have a power regression which leads to higher consumption in Sandy Intel architectures

These are my energy tweaks for a 2008 MacBook, I don't have my x220 here, although they are machine independent: echo 5 > /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save for i in /sys/bus/ /devices/ /power/control; do echo auto > $i; done for i in /sys/class/scsi_host/ /link_power_management_pol…

Ahahah. Ok, ok, yes, I'm running Unity on off-the-shelf Ubuntu. I bet you're getting much better battery performance than I am!

Re: Best ultrabook for linux? [April 2013 edition]

#106

Post by thelittlelisper » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:18 PM UTC

leashless wrote: post #105

thelittlelisper wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are my energy tweaks for a 2008 MacBook, I don't have my x220 here, although they are machine independent: echo 5 > /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save for i in /sys/bus/ /devices/ /power/control; do echo auto > $i; done for i in /sys/class/scsi_host/ /link_power_management_pol…

Ahahah. Ok, ok, yes, I'm running Unity on off-the-shelf Ubuntu. I bet you're getting much better battery performance than I am!

Well, running a lightweight desktop helps. I cannot say how much, though. Try monitoring wakeups using powertop while your machine is iddling. Anything above 30 or 40 is bad.