

Ask HN: What is the best laptop for Linux? - rayalez

Hi! I am looking for the best laptop that I can buy to run ubuntu on.<p>Macbook seems perfect, except for the fact that some people say I might have issues installing ubuntu on it(single boot).<p>The best alternative I could find is t440s, but there are some complaints about screen and trackpad.<p>Should I get macbook air, t440s, or there are some other, better alternatives?
======
notduncansmith
Buying a Macbook only to put Ubuntu on it seems like a bit of a waste. You get
Unix out of the box, and the battery performance is stellar. The gesture
support is awesome, but I don't know if the drivers available for Ubuntu will
help you maximize that. There's also quite a lot of very good software
available for OS X that's not available for Ubuntu (Alfred, Tower, F.lux, and
Dash come to mind).

This isn't to say that Macs are the superior choice, but from what I can tell
you'd be throwing away a lot of the above by switching to Ubuntu, and those
are a big part of the value proposition of the Macbook. If you're going to
shell out for the Macbook, just use OS X.

~~~
benzesandbetter
In my experience, some software installs are easier with apt, relative to
brew. Also, there is some advantage to having an environment installed on my
dev machine with the same package manager as in production.

That said, if you don't mind the overhead, you can achieve a similar outcome
running a virtual machine inside of OS X.

~~~
notduncansmith
True on the package management point - I can see the advantage there. Still, I
stand by my point that if you're going to buy a Mac, it makes the most sense
to use it as a Mac. As great as the form factor is, it alone doesn't justify
the price point for me.

------
collyw
I see a lot of people suggesting Macbooks.

I have a Macbook air I got from work. The lack of buttons on the mouse is a
serious pain in the arse if you ask me. Then you have to buy an adaptor to
plug it in to a monitor. No ethernet either (who uses ethernet these days? The
hotel I was staying in in Germany supplied me with internet via ethernet).

Installing Linux was less than straightforward (the reason I am using Ubuntu
and not another distribution, though I did have the same problem with an Asus
laptop, and secure boot).

I preferred my more traditional Lenovo laptop that I had before this, but a
lot of these are personal niggles, and depends how you want to use the
machine.

~~~
meowface
Macbook Air owner here as well.

When you're talking about the mouse, do you mean the separate Magic Mouse? If
so I agree; any standard PC mouse is way easier and better to use. If you mean
the touchpad, then I honestly have no issues with it. It responds to clicks
just fine.

The lack of an Ethernet port was definitely a downside for me, but it hasn't
hurt me yet since everywhere I've gone with Internet has always had wireless.

Honestly, my biggest gripe is the Command key. The position is where the Ctrl
key normally is...some applications, both terminal and GUI, have Mac keyboard
shortcuts with Command serving in place of Ctrl, and then some others still
use Ctrl. I constantly find myself forgetting which to use when I'm in an
application I use less frequently.

~~~
collyw
I should have said trackpad.

I can emulate a second button (right click) with two fingers, but it is pretty
fiddly, and I often mess up with fat fingers. And I really miss having a third
button for pasting from the current buffer.

------
vamega
I'd highly suggest the Dell XPS 13 developer edition [1]. It's actually sold
with Ubuntu pre-installed. High end machine, and it's actually cheaper than
the Windows version with the exact same specs.

Another great option is the Acer Aspire S7. According to the Arch Wiki,
everything just works [2].

[1]
[http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd](http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd)

[2]
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_Aspire_S7-392](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_Aspire_S7-392)

~~~
fian
I have a Dell XPS 15z which came with Windows 7. I installed Kubuntu on it
dual-boot. The only time I boot into Windows is to do my tax (Aus Tax Office
tool was Windows only for a long time - that might have changed now though).

Not quite everything works on the 15z. The external HDMI out will not work
unless you restart (no hot plug for an external monitor). The Nvidia/Intel
hybrid graphics system was also poorly supported until recently.

Otherwise everything seems to work fine. I rarely need to reboot (usually only
after a kernel upgrade).

It might be a good idea to check out the Ubuntu Hardware Support Wiki before
you buy, for example:

[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Laptops/Del...](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Laptops/Dell/XPS/15z)

------
schrodingersCat
In general, macs have great linux hardware support. Also, they have an
unrivaled track pad. Seriously, I will keep buying macbooks until I find
another multi-touch track pad that is better. Btw, does anybody know of one?
To tzury's point, the "homebrew" package manager basically makes it so a mac
can act as a decent dev machine. Virtualbox will help fill in those gaps.
FWIW, check out the Dell XPS 13 developer edition:
[http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd.aspx](http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd.aspx).
It comes from the factory with Ubuntu loaded and supposedly good developer
friendly features

~~~
habitue
This is kind of false. Thunderbolt is not properly supported in the kernel.
The keyboard is funky etc. You _can_ run Linux on an MBA, but you're honestly
better off going with a hardware that isn't actively hostile to open
standards.

Re trackpads: The trackpad on the thinkpad X1 series is great

~~~
schrodingersCat
That's a good point. Given that I seriously never use my TB port, I totally
forgot that driver support is not great. Rumor has it that the existing
patches
([https://github.com/anoever/thunderbolt](https://github.com/anoever/thunderbolt))
will make it into the 3.17 mainline.

And I'll have to check out the X1. Thanks for the tip!

------
ninthfrank07
I currently have a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display running OS X
Yosemite. I also have a Thunderbolt Display (27-inch).

I wish I could buy an open hardware laptop similar to the Novena laptop
([https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-
laptop](https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop)), but made more
for software developers. It would look like a Macbook Pro but have official
support for Linux. It would have a 256GB SSD drive, a 64-bit ARM processor,
16GB of RAM, a 15-inch Retina display (touchscreen), wifi 802.11ac, USB 3.0,
Bluetooth 4.0, stereo speakers, headphone port, SD card reader, HDMI,
microphone and a webcam. My budget would be as much as $3000. I would install
Ubuntu 14.04 on it (ideally it would be officially supported and even pre-
installed).

I've seen rumors of a new MacBook Air with Retina display, a touchscreen and
an ARM processor in mid-2015. It will probably be my next laptop unless
someone starts a crowdfunding for an open hardware laptop.

I also have a Chromebook Pixel from I/O 13 but I wish Google would release a
new version that's more polished and with better specs. It's actually a
fantastic laptop.

------
lukebaker
I like my Lenovo X1 Carbon. It's nice and light but still quite capable for my
needs (web development). Everything just worked for me, with the exception of
an external display which I spent about 20 seconds trying to get to work. It
could easily have been user error given my lack of experience with external
displays.

~~~
brickmort
I've had the opportunity to play with X1 Carbon not too long ago and found it
to be pretty damn impressive. Haven't used it with linux, but if I was to get
a high-end laptop, I would definitely get an X1. Nice to see that it's also
linux-capable.

~~~
agranig
I'm using one since over a year, can't recommend. No proper support for the
docking station (which goes via USB3 and doesn't support video output), power
plug wears out really fast and causes ubuntu to reboot quite often when
plugging it due to some short circuiting, disk is really slow for an ssd and
working with vagrant sucks due to it, 802.11n driver doesn't work properly,
etc etc.

It looks well, feels well, but it's not suitable for devs. I'm a long time
lenovo x200 line user, and the X1 is really bad compared to those models.

Can't recommend.

------
canterburry
I redid my Lenovo T520 into a Ubuntu 14.04 machine. A few observations:

The pros: 1\. Super fast boot 2\. Super fast just about everything 3\. Awesome
command line 4\. great for development

Cons: 1\. Battery life sucks on Linux. No optimizations of any kind. In
windows, I was able to work for 3+ hours on my battery, now I am happy if I
get 1 hour on Linux.

2\. Nvidia drivers are still a pain. I tried the built in Ubuntu driver and
got super slow refresh rates on a dual 24" setup. On the other hand, the
native Nvidia drivers freeze the machine every now and then. Guess I'll just
have to live with it

3\. Docking the machine sometimes screws up the resolution. Boot the machine
undocked, and then dock it seems to be the trick. Not sure if other systems
have this issue.

~~~
moystard
Did you try installing tlp
([https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TLP](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TLP))
for your battery problems? I usually get the same battery life as if running
windows.

~~~
canterburry
Awesome recommendation! Thanks so much. Installed!

------
moystard
I have wondered the same thing for quite some time now and I decided to simply
install Ubuntu on my 2013 Macbook Air. Everything works out of the box (except
the iSight webcam), and with a bit more polishing, you get good battery life
and trackpad gestures.

Before taking that decision, I had read plenty of reviews of various models,
but could not find a decent PC out there that would be both light, and
powerful, with a good screen (something the MBA might not be best at to be
honest). The best results I found were the Yoga 2 Pro (but Linux compatibility
does not look great), and the Asus NX500 that has not yet been released, and
that appeared to be disappointing based on pre-production version reviews.

~~~
gumballhead
I have a Yoga 2 Pro and can at least confirm that Linux compatability isn't
wonderful, though it is usable. The main problem is that HiDPI is a serious
issue for lots of software that I use everyday, like Chrome and Android
Studio. I almost wish I would've bought a MacBook Pro.

------
ollyfg
I use a Dell XPS 13 and it works like a charm :)

------
api_or_ipa
I just ordered a System76 galago- it's a 14' machine with a 16 gbs memory, i7
quad core processor and runs Ubuntu out of the box. On the other hand, my 2010
MBP has done me well until now.

------
caw
My coworker just bought a Schenker s403 because he was looking for a
replacement laptop to run Ubuntu on. European company, but they ship to the
US, and they'll happily throw in a US power cable if you request one in
comments when purchasing. I'm pretty sure you don't have to pay VAT either, so
that gives you an extra discount there.

------
andor
The 1080p IPS screen of the T440s is supposed to be really good, I guess the
complaints are about the 1600x900 TN version?

Here's a review of the screen: [http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Update-
Lenovo-ThinkPad-T...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Update-Lenovo-
ThinkPad-T440s-20AQ0069GE-Notebook.110564.0.html)

------
tzury
This may not be the answer you are looking for, but after more than a decade
of all models of thinkpads and few dells I've realized the best Linux laptop
is a MacBook Pro with virtual box that is running my Linux server.

This way I get the best UI shell and have all my Dev work done on Linux.

~~~
habitue
Try a tiling window manager and you won't go back to that fluffy Mac drop
shadow frivolity ever again. It looks very pretty, but for getting work done,
managing windows is a needless chore, and animations on everything just slows
you down.

------
flowerpot
I have an asus zenbook and it was super easy to install ubuntu (also single
boot) and no driver issues at all.

------
dllthomas
I've been happy with the offerings from System76. Haven't done a tremendously
rigorous comparison.

------
phantom_oracle
Not a recommendation for the best laptop, but perhaps a useful tool to see
which tools Ubuntu themselves recommend:

[http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/](http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/)

------
facorreia
Have you considered an Asus Zenbook?

See
[http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=asus_zenb...](http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=asus_zenbook_ux301la&num=1)

------
benzesandbetter
We're running Debian on two of our MacBook Airs, one dual boot, one mono. No
major complaints or issues. Quite a nice experience, and seems to be a
conversation starter in cafes and coworking spaces.

------
superuser2
The issues you encounter installing Ubuntu on an MBA should be resolvable with
Google and not a whole lot of effort.

However, hardware compatibility and installation issues are more or less what
you're choosing when you choose Linux as a desktop OS. If that sounds like a
fun project (and it really does to a lot of people) then you'll be fine with
an MBA. If you want something that "just works" then, sadly, you want a
proprietary OS.

If you get enough RAM on your MBA, running Ubuntu in a full-screen Virtualbox
window all the time will get you a Linux machine without the driver/wifi/power
issues.

System76 is also worth looking into, since they claim to provide a "just
works" UX for Ubuntu directly on top of hardware.

------
wtbob
I was very happy running Ubuntu on a System76 laptop (less happy running
Debian on it) and have been so happy with my ZaReason desktop that I'll
probably get one of their laptops in a few years.

------
gtani
you could start with various hardware compatibility lists, but the only recent
recurring issues i remember is with some wireless chipsets, ATI graphics
chipsets and off-brand printers.

And my HP Pavilion that i couldn't get wifi to work on, seems ot have made it
onto this list anyway:
[http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/make/HP/?categor...](http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/make/HP/?category=Laptop)

------
ReLrO
I agree. Macbook is the best option in my opinion. It also enables you to
enjoy from all worlds - Mac OS, Linux and Windows...

------
tarminian
I have a Lenovo Y500 ideapad and my partner has a Lenovo thinkpad edge
(e530?). Both are great.

