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What are good linux laptops for 2018?

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What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#1

Post by reconbot »

I'm a developer who's getting a bit sick of the high price of apple laptops. Their hardware used to be more reliable and I could justify the price for a great trackpad (the best I've ever used honestly), good battery life and OSX. I realize though I spend most of my time in chrome and the terminal and in theory I could be spending a lot less for something almost as good. (Maybe something with a better keyboard?)

It's been years since I've looked at the PC ecosystem and I frankly it scares me. I have no idea what's a marker of quality and what I can trust.

What are good linux laptops for 2018?

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#2

Post by meguest »

I have a Dell XPS 15 and to be frank I would advise against it.

Good points:

- Strong hardware

- Looks nice

Bad points:

- M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux

- Nvidia graphics card is a pain on Ubuntu. Do a Google search for nouveau.modeset

- The fans are on most of the time, even during idle. The machine isn't hot either - it just likes to run the fans

- The 1920x1080 screen isn't that great and a "4K" option is quite expensive

- The carbon-fibre looking plastic looks cheap and is a magnet for finger prints. It does not look good and is difficult to clean

- It's not a great machine to move about with. Mine weighs almost 2KG

- No Ethernet port unlike a T470. You need a USB adapter

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#3

Post by frankensteins »

Here's my experience. If you develop everything locally, get a decent laptop with Ubuntu or Windows 10 Pro.

Windows 10 Pro Edition comes with WSL, a Linux subsystem which is pretty decent for my deep learning implementation and small scale test. With Xming, I can do some visualization as well. There will be downsides. If you get a laptop that just comes with Ubuntu or any Linux distro, you are good to go.

If your development is cloud based, Google is push Chrome OS into a Linux friendly direction. Chromebooks are pretty good choices, price-wise, functionality-wise and portability-wise, you name it. At the time of writing (July 20s, 2018), Pixelbook and a few more Chromebooks receive the support of Linux container. More will be supported.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#4

Post by dozzie »

meguest wrote: post #2

I have a Dell XPS 15 and to be frank I would advise against it. Good points: - Strong hardware - Looks nice Bad points: - M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux - Nvidia graphics card is a pain on Ubuntu. Do a Google search for nouveau.modeset - The fans are on most of the time, even during idle. The machine isn't hot either - it just likes to run the fans - The 1920x1080 screen isn't that gr…

My company-supplied Dell Latitude 7480, running Debian stable with its stock kernel:

> - M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux

No BIOS fiddling, except for disabling Thunderbolt security for docking station to work (external monitor, network card, USB ports including keyboard, second sound card (though no volume control here)). But this is because Linux kernel doesn't support it yet.

Or maybe I did change its "RAID" to something that's not a lie, I don't really remember.

> - Nvidia graphics card is a pain on Ubuntu. Do a Google search for nouveau.modeset

Mine has Intel. I had no problems with running it.

> - The fans are on most of the time, even during idle. The machine isn't hot either - it just likes to run the fans

Quiet most of the time.

> - The 1920x1080 screen isn't that great and a "4K" option is quite expensive

1920x1080 gives way too small bitmap fonts on a 14" screen. I'd rather have 1280x800 or similar, but nobody ships that resolution anymore.

> - The carbon-fibre looking plastic looks cheap and is a magnet for finger prints. It does not look good and is difficult to clean

The plastic seems OK, but maybe I don't know what to look at.

> - It's not a great machine to move about with. Mine weighs almost 2KG

1.5kg

> - No Ethernet port unlike a T470. You need a USB adapter

Ethernet port present.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#5

Post by deltron3030 »

frankensteins wrote: post #3

Here's my experience. If you develop everything locally, get a decent laptop with Ubuntu or Windows 10 Pro. Windows 10 Pro Edition comes with WSL, a Linux subsystem which is pretty decent for my deep learning implementation and small scale test. With Xming, I can do some visualization as well. There will be downsides. If you get a laptop that just comes with Ubuntu or any Linux distro, you are good to go. If your dev…

If he owns an older compatible Macbook and want to get a taste for Chrome OS, He could try Cloudready from Neverware (Chromium OS), basically Chrome OS for other laptops.

https://www.neverware.com/#introtext-3

https://guide.neverware.com/supported-devices/

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#6

Post by meguest »

dozzie wrote: post #4
meguest wrote: post #2

I have a Dell XPS 15 and to be frank I would advise against it. Good points: - Strong hardware - Looks nice Bad points: - M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux - Nvidia graphics card is a pain on Ubuntu. Do a Google search for nouveau.modeset - The fans are on most of the time, even during idle. The machine isn't hot either - it just likes to run the fans - The 1920x1080 screen isn't that gr…

My company-supplied Dell Latitude 7480, running Debian stable with its stock kernel: > - M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux No BIOS fiddling, except for disabling Thunderbolt security for docking station to work (external monitor, network card, USB ports including keyboard, second sound card (though no volume control here)). But this is because Linux kernel doesn't support it yet. Or mayb…

7480 looks like a much better Linux machine than the XPS I have. I should be switching to a ThinkPad next week!

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#7

Post by benbenolson »

Buy a T-series Thinkpad. They're sturdy, have really good Linux support, and even the older ones are extremely robust. Look for an older one, such as a T420; or, if you want a newer one, the T480. Those are going to have easily-replaceable memory, battery, and storage.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#8

Post by eat_veggies »

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

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#9

Post by yoz-y »

benbenolson wrote: post #7

Buy a T-series Thinkpad. They're sturdy, have really good Linux support, and even the older ones are extremely robust. Look for an older one, such as a T420; or, if you want a newer one, the T480. Those are going to have easily-replaceable memory, battery, and storage.

T series Thinkpads only come with U class processors. This is fine for many usages but depending on what you want you might need to go for the P-series.

Re: What are good linux laptops for 2018?

#10

Post by nieksand »

I'm typing this on my Lenovo T480 running Ubuntu. Here is a little review I wrote after a couple of days with the machine:

https://reprep.io/writings/20180621_lenovo_t480_linux_review...

I ended up installing NVidia's proprietary driver which let me disable the MX150 and use the Intel video card instead. Machine seems to run a little cooler since.

I was pleasantly surprised that Ubuntu auto detected my network printer. It also played nice the first time I plugged into the RJ45 port.

I'm still underwhelmed by the audio quality of the built-in speakers. It's sufficient for video conferencing, but it's a little sad when playing music.

Another minor annoyance is that when restoring from suspend, the laptop briefly flashes the previous desktop before showing the lock screen.

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