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What are good linux laptops for 2018?

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Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#61

Post by cyberprunes »

System76. I have a 2017 Oryx pro. Its fantastic. Not perfect, nothing is but as a developer it’s the best laptop I’ve owned. The specs trounce anything Apple.

System76 is also one of the only companies that sells machines that is committed to Open source, linux and hardware. They recently released their own Linux distro Pop_OS!. Its a really well put together Ubuntu based distro. Great design and continuity.

They recently opened a factory and are designing and building their machines in house. You get lifetime support.

I don’t work for them but I really can’t say enough nice things about them.

They are worth a look.

1.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#62

Post by Gys »

cyberprunes wrote: post #61

System76. I have a 2017 Oryx pro. Its fantastic. Not perfect, nothing is but as a developer it’s the best laptop I’ve owned. The specs trounce anything Apple. System76 is also one of the only companies that sells machines that is committed to Open source, linux and hardware. They recently released their own Linux distro Pop_OS!. Its a really well put together Ubuntu based distro. Great design and continuity. They rec…

Thank you for this. Looks very interesting !

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#63

Post by orteam »

I'm quite happy running ubuntu on hp spectre x360 15 2017. Good build quality. I was surprised that the rotating touch screen and the tent/notepad modes work so well with ubuntu. Had to fiddle with bios during install to handle the SSD, ended up removing windows. The MX150 graphics card is not in use, but I guess if I were gaming I would find a way to use it. It's not a cheap option, but was way cheaper (roughly half the price) than the equivalent MBP.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#64

Post by hbogert »

T480s. No weird issues with the laptop itself. The Thunderbolt dock can be finnicky. It loses USB of the dock sometimes; that's about it. Kernel patches are underway I believe. Thing is an absolute joy under linux. Don't get me wrong, it excels in nothing. But it's 4 out of 5 for everything.

- Battery is fine

- Weight is fine

- Dimensions are fine

- You can add a ram stick for 24GB total (8GB is soldered on).

- Thunderbolt

- Fan management is fine.

- Thermals are almost fine.

- Exception: The speakers are embarrassingly bad.

For context, I came from a Macbook Air 13.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#65

Post by timbit42 »

godot wrote: post #58
lykr0n wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would try Fedora 28, or if you are a bit more technical- Arch. I'm running Arch on a 13" and it works flawlessly. I've had a lot better experiences using Fedora when compared to Ubuntu.

If you want to use Arch but are not that hardcore-technical (command line installer etc.), try Antergos. It's like Arch ez-mode -- GUI installer, installs with a GUI of your choice (Gnome by default), uses all the Arch packages. I am running Antergos on a Lenovo Ideapad 720s and it's a pleasant experience.

Any thoughts on Manjaro vs. Antergos?

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#66

Post by vertwo128 »

RaleyField wrote: post #57
eat_veggies wrote: post #8

I put linux on my x1 carbon (gen 5) and it works well enough. Some notes, in no particular order: * great keyboard * kind of shit trackpad * trackpoint is pretty nice at least * hidpi is a pain in the ass to set up ..* looks great once you get it working ..* some apps like Zoom refuse to scale up, so the buttons are tiny * light weight * really long battery

Google Superfish. Seriously.

Just did it. It says the Thinkpad line was never affected. Seriously.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#68

Post by scmurcott »

stevesimmons wrote: post #33

I bought the new Dell XPS15 with 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and Nvidia GPU the week it was released, and straightaway installed Ubuntu 18.04. It is powerful enough to last me three years and the price was good. I am mostly happy with it - superfast, great screen. The two problems I had were when installing the Nvidia drivers, plus the fans stay on more than I think they should. Rather than waste hours trying to solve these,…

Regarding the loud fan you should be able to run with NvidiaPrimus or Bumblebee - I provision laptops like this for my developers and switching off the Nvidia graphics to only use it when it's specifically requested really saves on battery. Also there is the TLP configuration which can extend your battery to a decent amount of time.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#69

Post by zwarag »

Hands down: T,W,X,L-ThinkPad-Series from Lenovo are IMO still the sweet spot.

The keyboard is the best, the trackpad is ok but far away from macs, the battery life is meh but good enough with an extended battery.

But what I value most is: it's a sturdy thing. You will not break it as easily as other laptops. It will not get hot and burn your legs. Most models can be opened, cleaned and upgraded. Depends on the Model, but you can get ALL the ports you need! And, AND the freaking docking station. I have one at home and one at work and I just put the Laptop in the Docking station and I get all the ergonomics of a desktop Computer (because of external screen and so on). It's true, they are not what IBM used to build. But as I said IMO still the best for people who want to get stuff done and value hipness very little.

XPS are cool and all but for me it's more for people who value the hip parts of a mac, like shiny and cool, but fundamentally they only got the better looks.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#70

Post by RaleyField »

vertwo128 wrote: post #66
RaleyField wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Superfish. Seriously.

Just did it. It says the Thinkpad line was never affected. Seriously.

That is utterly irrelevant. You can't trust company that showed malicious intent or wanton disregard to not screw with other products.
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