

Ask HN: What is the best laptop for Utbuntu - 12.04 - nshankar

I am using an age-old laptop which runs 12.04 out-of-box.
HN, Please suggest age-new laptop that runs 12.04 out-of-box and it has a great portability, battery life and weight. I am a Linux developer and heavy on Vim, Git and Tomcat / LAMP stack.
======
kaolinite
I use a Thinkpad. Not only are they some of the best laptops around, they also
have great compatibility for Linux and are well regarded by Linux-users - so
support for new Thinkpad hardware is regularly added. Still, you'd be advised
to search around first just to be sure they're compatible. I'm using one of
their cheapest machines, a Thinkpad Edge E520. It's a great machine with full
compatibility with Linux (running Ubuntu 11.10 with Gnome 3). The build
quality is the best I've ever had and the battery life is 15+ hours (of fairly
heavy use, not just when idle). It only cost me £340 (including a battery
upgrade) :-)

~~~
nshankar
Thanks. I am looking at something that is very light and small.

~~~
khyryk
How much are you willing to spend? The ThinkPad X220 is an excellent machine
with an option for a 12.5" IPS display.

Have a look:
[http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6056&re...](http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6056&review=lenovo+thinkpad+x220)

------
fexl
I'm using a Lenovo LC2430HD that I ordered from LinuxCertified.com about a
year ago. It has a Solid-State Drive, so no moving parts except the occasional
fan and it's whisper-quiet. Good battery life too -- about 6 hours I think. It
came pre-installed with Ubuntu 11.10 or so, and it worked perfectly out of the
box, but I did re-install Ubuntu anyway with the Alternative CD because I
wanted to encrypt the hard drive.

It's a great machine!

(Here's where I got it: <http://linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html>)

~~~
pasbesoin
Currently, I'm seeing a LC2430BL listed there. The largest photo I see is not
that large, but the laptop appears to have a "chicklet" type keyboard. I
believe I've been noting their introduction to some recent Lenovo product
lines.

Does your unit have this, and if so, do you have any observations about how it
compares to the traditional ThinkPad/Lenovo keyboard? I've been wondering
whether Lenovo is/will go the "chicklet" route, and what that might mean for
keyboard comfort and usability -- a prime concern, for me.

~~~
nshankar
I will surely look forward to a laptop that comes with SSD. Let me see if it
is still available. What is your concern @ the chicklet keyboard? I thought
they were the best keyboard designs. The slightly inward keys are found nicely
by our fingers.

~~~
pasbesoin
I don't like the feel of many such membrane keyboards, although to be fair, I
haven't used one extensively. The keytops often feel less certain to me, as
does as well the keys' "action" when being depressed.

IBM, now Lenovo, "traditional" laptop keyboards have had a reputation for very
good feel. But the laptop industry seems to have been moving en masse towards
membrane (aka "chicklet") keyboards. If Lenovo's now making the same move, I
wonder whether they've managed to overcome what I perceive as these
deficiencies.

Also, many of the membrane keyboards I've seen do not curve the keytops. This
seems to make the center of the key less find-able by touch, and keystroke
registration when hitting the edge or the corner of a key can feel and/or be
less certain, in my admittedly anecdotal and limited experience.

------
kisom
I've got a Thinkpad T410 (integrated graphics) that's fully supported by
OpenBSD 5.1; if it's fully supported by OpenBSD I'm very confident that it
will be supported by Ubuntu. The Thinkpad X-series are very similar to the
T-series and are much smaller and lighter.

------
jonrob
I have a Toshiba Equium R630 and it works well. It's small and lightweight,
although not quite ultrabook standard, and it feels very well put together. I
think this model is EOL now, but you can find newer ones. Everything just
works.

------
factorialboy
Well, there's always System76 <http://www.system76.com> customized, dedicated
Ubuntu laptops. ;-)

------
grumps
I've never used them... but there is also: <http://www.ohava.com>

A DC/VA startup.

