Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

51–60 of 440 posts

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

#52
post #2

Sorry to hijack, but I have a somewhat similar question: any recommendations for a SFF or Mini PC that can adequately run the latest Fedora for home productivity purposes? Web browsing mainly and light gaming.

There's a "HP EliteDesk 800 G2 Tiny i7-6700 3.4GHz" that can be had on ebay for around $200, that's a pretty powerful little box. My son had no problems using it for light gaming. Note that these can get a little toasty under long, heavy use and throttle, just because of the size. My one that does camera processing seems to need to run without the case on.

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

#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.

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

#54
post #2

Sorry to hijack, but I have a somewhat similar question: any recommendations for a SFF or Mini PC that can adequately run the latest Fedora for home productivity purposes? Web browsing mainly and light gaming.

I've been using the Beelink SER5 with Manjaro Linux since a month. It also comes preinstalled with Linux, but I got the Windows version. Runs smooth and perfect, no issues at all except for WIFI after suspend that had a small patch. Definitely recommend it. Much better than a laptop since portability isn't the main goal as I prefer a big monitor and use it as a daily use PC. For around $400, glad to have this little beast with 32GB RAM and Ryzen 5600H.

Beats buying a laptop for double the price and likely worse linux compatibility.

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

#56
post #19

I have had 0 problems with XPS Dell running Ubuntu. I've run it both as a dual boot with Windows and a standalone. Loved it so much I bought a second. The 13 in "Dell XPS 13" refers to the screen size. You can have a bigger screen. 15 & 17. My laptops are Dell XPS 17. I have heard good things about the Dell Precision as well.

I have an older XPS, the 9560, and compatibility with Linux has been pretty good, but the build quality has left a lot to be desired.

I had to replace the Killer wifi card with an Intel card, as the OEM one was flaky and this seemed to be a known issue that wasn't acknowledged by Dell.

The battery failed on me 3 times, and I eventually gave up on the warranty and bought a third party battery which I installed myself.

The power connector got loose, which required replacing the motherboard.

The case itself is not very stiff, so putting it over the edge of a knee or table means the touch pad won't click due to the flex.

Perhaps newer models have addressed these sorts of issues, but I'd be wary of buying another considering the Thinkpad I got for work has been very solid.

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

#60

None of above probably. Just buy a laptop which is known not to deviate from reference designs (from intel)

"Just"...

"Just build a retaining wall" my wife said. 13,000 lb of concrete block and 10,000 of dirt later, we had a retaining wall.

"Just buy a laptop which is known not to deviate from reference designs" ... how does one do that?

Post reply on HN