
Ask HN: What are some good laptops for Linux right now? - captain_vyom
I got an Asus few months back, only too find out Nvidia Drivers support is very bad for the graphic chip I have. Bumblebee project used to work for sometime, but its currently not working. Its been a pain since then, I'm running Ubuntu in 2D mode for more than a 2 months, will re-install 13.04 once its out to test my luck.<p>If the attempt fails, then I may be looking for a new laptop. So, which laptops in market has good overall Linux support, especially graphics.
======
secure
Most computers with an Intel GPU are fine. The ThinkPad series is very popular
and thus well-supported — note that I am only talking about the “original”
series, i.e. ThinkPad X and T, e.g. the X230 or T430.

Personally, I am running a ThinkPad X200 since 2008 with nearly no software
problems.

~~~
adnanh
My Edge 13 version with AMD had issues with fan control and overheating. Also,
graphic card drivers were bad compared to Windows :/

~~~
argonz
Second this, graphics-driver is an issue under Mint. Apart from this the E335
is wonderful.

------
Samuel_Michon
Most people I know who use Linux on a notebook have a MacBook Air or a 13"
MacBook Pro. Same for the tech conferences I attend.

All Mac notebook models have Intel HD Graphics 4000, which performs well and
has good support on Ubuntu. The other hardware in those notebooks plays nice
with Ubuntu as well, like WiFi and sound – no hacks necessary.

[http://www.maketecheasier.com/install-ubuntu-12-10-in-
macboo...](http://www.maketecheasier.com/install-ubuntu-12-10-in-macbook-
air/2012/11/08)

<http://www.apple.com/macbookair/>

~~~
Derbasti
Be aware that the multi-GPU models are not as great though, since BIOS
emulation mode does not allow for graphics card switching and the bigger GPU
uses a lot of battery.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
True, having a second, dedicated GPU isn't as useful as it once was, given how
good integrated GPUs have gotten. OP, take note: only the 15" MacBook Pros
have dual GPUs.

~~~
meric
Good as integrated GPUs maybe (as they can now accomplish more tasks), they
are still an order of magnitude away from mid-range dedicated GPUs.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Sure, but we're talking about notebooks. Putting a mid-range dedicated GPU in
a notebook would make it a mobile workstation (read: useless when not
connected to a power source). The second, dedicated GPU in a 15" MacBook Pro
isn't even mid-range while it does use _a lot_ more power than the integrated
GPU.

For most tasks, integrated graphics work fine. On my MacBook Air, I use Final
Cut Pro, AfterEffects and Blender. For many people, the most graphics
intensive thing they use their computer for is HD video playback.

~~~
meric
I agree, though I consider the dedicated GPU in the 15" Macbook Pro to be at
the bottom end of "mid-range". :)

Nvidia's GPU model numbers go from, at low end, X10, to, at the high end X90.
X50 is right in the middle.

Sorry, I just had to leave a comment here, because I found my Nvidia
integrated GPU in my 2009 13" Macbook Pro woefully inadequate for CUDA
computation.

------
kweinber
System76 is a company that is dedicated to making Linux hardware. You will
have the least driver trouble with their stuff.

~~~
dsr_
They ship with Ubuntu; you can easily put another Linux on. You can get more
power than a Dell XPS13 for less money, albeit at a substantial weight
penalty. Support is very good but hardware turn-around is not fast.

~~~
Ologn
I have a System76 laptop. I agree with DSR on all points. Turnaround is not as
fast as, say, HP.

They have a range of 4 basic laptops, each of which is configurable. I was
more concerned with power than weight so I got the second most powerful one.

I almost always have it plugged in when using it. I have used it on battery
two or three times, and it seemed the battery was used up rather quickly. I
have not spent any time looking into that yet, you might want to check what
people say about the battery. I might just need to enable power saving mode or
something.

I have been happy with it, it works well for me.

------
jitl
It's interesting to consider a Chromebook with the Crouton chroot package.
Crouton can get you a side-by-side system with ChromeOS for the specialized
kernel and power management, and a plain-jane Debian or Ubuntu system at the
same time. Worth a look.

------
girvo
I've been on the hunt myself. I've decided upon the Dell XPS 13, because of
Dell's Project Sputnik.

I'm picking up the older generation, can be found brand-new in-box for around
$800AUD here in Australia.

Gorgeous laptop to be honest, perfect ultra-portable for my needs.

It's main con is that the LCD panel is a bit average. The new generation has a
better 1080p panel, that is apparently brilliant, but I don't do enough
graphics work or watch enough video for it to matter for me.

Hope it helps!

~~~
trueheart78
I picked up this XPS 13 last month and have been quite happy with it (the
differences between the 1080p screen and this are amazing, clarity-wise, but
also more expensive than I could afford).

I loaded Ubuntu 13 on it, and it's running quite well. I was going to choose
12.04 LTS, but after reading that Dell's Sputnik changes were also rolled into
13 (prior, they were separate), it just made more sense to go that route. Has
been great ever since.

------
microwise
Personally I've found that HP and Dell laptops have good support for Linux,
almost all the PC's I have tested have run just fine without any major pains

~~~
raphman
I agree. I have a Dell Latitude E6420. With its all-metal case it feels even
more sturdy than the Thinkpad T-series. Like most Thinkpads, the E6420 has is
easy to disassemble and upgrade. Except for the fingerprint reader, everything
works out of the box on Debian. The laptop also ships with a pre-installed
Ubuntu. Acceptable keyboard and display, touchpad+trackpoint, optional built-
in Smartcard/RFID reader, VGA and HDMI port. It is also very silent and cool
most of the time.

At first I was sad that I couldn't get a Thinkpad at work. However, after
having spent one year with the E6420, I definitely prefer it over any Thinkpad
and Macbook Pro I previously had.

------
royunprofiled
As far as my experience is concerned, the graphics card drivers tend to give
problems, irrespective of nVidia or AMD. The Intel solutions are stable, heat
up a lot less and get the job done, in case you are not into some serious
graphics processing. The wireless card may be another issue, Broadcom support
has recently been built in into the kernel, but out of box support is still
not there(you need to download the firmware, which is proprietary). Rather, go
for an Atheros card, which has much better support. The rest of the hardware
should not be an issue. Had experience with a lot of machines, including Dell,
Acer, HP, Asus, MacBooks as well. Have found the systems with Intel graphics
to be most stable and usable. One particular system you may want to look into
is Dell Vostro, though am not sure of the Wireless Card in it.

------
eLobato
I have an Asus as well, I'm on 13.04 and my card is a NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 635M
with 2GB DDR3 VRAM. Bumblebee seems to work well with the latest nouveau
drivers, I normally use the intel chipset for everything but playing Counter
Strike. I spent a lot of time trying to fix this as well but nowadays it's
pretty easy, for me it was just installing the xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
driver from xorg-edgers then bumblebee and boom: optimus works.

If I had to recommend a laptop, I'd recommend this one, an Asus K56CM:

<https://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/K56CM/>

Probably like 3 or 4 months ago I would not recommend it, but these days
optimus support is decent at least for a typical setup.

PS: get an SSD for that computer and you'll have the ultimate linux dev.
laptop right there.

~~~
ratherbefuddled
If only it wasn't limited to 768 vertical pixels.

------
etfb
My experience with laptops is moderately recent. I've mostly had Toshiba, and
apart from the need to download drivers for wifi, ethernet and sometimes
video, they've been fine. I had a Lenovo Thinkpad L512, and it was fine too
and quite robust, but I wasn't thrilled with its speed. Had an Acer for a
week; returned it because it had half a dozen things wrong with it and my too-
late google research revealed very little chance of them being fixed.

In general, I've been happiest with Toshiba, but I know they're pricier than
some others. I hear from computer salesmammals that HP, Compaq and MSI all
have huge problems with returns, and of course Acer are horrendous for tech
support. Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo and Dell all have good names for Linux support,
but bleeding edge is always less well supported.

------
ronreiter
Macs, the old Thinkpads and Samsung series 9 have very good hardware. I would
stay away from the rest.

------
lake99
I used to have some driver annoyances with Nvidia GPU based desktops I built.
I switched to an ATI GPU based laptop, and had somewhat bigger driver
annoyances.

My latest laptop has an Intel CPU, chipset/GPU, wifi, etc. It works perfectly.
It's a business model; it has no bells and whistles that could potentially
give me driver issues. The only problem I ever had was when I visited Europe,
and the power adapter broke down (wire fatigue), the country's (HP) support
center plainly refused to have anything to do with my specific model.

I used to have overheating issues with AMD CPU based desktops. I have friends
whose AMD CPU based laptops get far too hot to touch -- over 100°C, as
reported by the sensors.

------
pimeys
I'm using the Asus UX32VD with extra 8 GB of RAM and a Samsung SSD. Everything
except the Nvidia Optimus works perfectly. I'm running Ubuntu 13.04 and with
downgraded xserver-xorg-core (1.13.3-0ubuntu2b1) the Bumblebee works just fine
and I can play my daily dose of Minecraft.

Everything else works like I said: perfectly. I love the gorgeous display
(1080p IPS), as good as Macbook's keyboard and a pretty nice touchpad. The
only problems I've had was the upgrade of xserver-xorg-core, which broke the
Bumblebee support once. I hope that there will be a bit more stable solution
for running the second GPU.

------
nixcraft
I am using Debian 6.x on Dell M6500 since 2010. No software problem. I just
updated ram to 32GB and installed Samsung 512GB ssd. Both Dell M6700 and M4700
are certified on RHEL 6.x and Ubuntu. Also check out:

* <http://www.lenovo.com/linux> * <http://www.ubuntu.com/partners/dell> * <https://www.system76.com/> * <http://emperorlinux.com/>

HTH.

------
lsiebert
Thinkpad T530 with Mint here. I believe everything works, though a few things
don't work out of the box (the discrete nivida optimius gpu needs Bumblebee,
which Isn't that hard to set up, and I haven't ever tried to use my
fingerprint scanner).

my screen is huge, and my battery lasts for hours. I believe smaller screens
do get better battery life.

If Bumblebee used to work, it's probably a config problem. I'd purge bumblebee
and reinstall both it and the driver.

------
Aldipower
I bought a ASUS X201E-DH01 11.6-Inch Laptop 3 months back and I am truly happy
with it. Ubuntu is preinstalled on it, all hardware is working out of the box.
The performance of the Celeron dual core CPU is more then adequate for my job
as a JS-developer using Sublime. I've changed the built in HDD against a SSD
to speed up the whole system. For this price and if you don't need 3d
acceleration, it's a really good deal.

------
leipie
My Lenovo Thinkpad W530's GPU set-up stinks at Optimus, because all external
monitor connectors are hard wired to the NVidia GPU. I need to switch
xorg.conf files and restart X to switch between internal and external
monitors. Be careful and read the manual before buying and search for the
parts about "dos mode" and the GPU.

My now left over Asus PL30JT played pretty nice with bumblebee and Gentoo set-
up though!

------
jnamaya
I have a Lenovo W520 and its horrible for Linux....the dual card setup is
crazy, I'm running Fedora 18 on that thing right now with the nVidia
proprietary drivers, and has many issues but is the most stable setup I have
gotten from Linux on this laptop..I also have a Lenovo T420 and no issues at
all with any distro...please stay away from nvidia crap.

~~~
DArcMattr
I have a T520 with the Nvidia graphic chips on it, and I have had an even
worse time of trying to get the thing to work up to its supposed potential.
The proprietary driver won't even work on the thing. Fedora/OpenSUSE is about
the best I can do for it, with Bumblebee working. I can't even get PC-BSD to
run on the thing, even with the Nvidia chips turned off in BIOS.

I'll make my next Thinkpad Nvidia free.

~~~
jnamaya
Do you use external monitors with your setup? As far as I know, you can't run
external monitors ( HDMI, VGA, etc ) with Bumblebee...I use discrete mode on
my laptop for my HDMI external monitor.

------
xradionut
Dell XPS 17 bought on sale.

Originally got it for MS SQL Server development work, soon switched to Ubuntu
and running the MS OSes under VMWare after a zero day exploit jacked the
Windows 7 install. (Fix your f __*king fonts Redmond!)

It's not light, but it's really a semi-portable desktop for on-site data
crunching and development. Doing more with Python and on Linux now.

------
coolsunglasses
Thinkpad T430 with intel chip and drivers (aka, RandR works fine), accept no
substitute.

Use it with my Crossover 27Q (2560x1440) and Xmonad.

------
nshankar
I use HP Pavilion for 2 years and X220, which works on Ubuntu 12.04. On HP,
the hardware support for some key aspects keeps dwindling and that is a
concern. I suspect the same with X220 (while updates, the Bluetooth driver
site was not responding. I don't know if Bluetooth would continue to work.

------
vu3rdd
Thinkpads have worked extremely well for me. I hear a lot of great things
about Dell XPS 13 Developer laptop which was recently launched.

My Thinkpad T510 has an nVidia chip but it is quite nicely supported by the
Free nouveau driver.

------
dawkins
I run a Toshiba Portege Z930 with Linux Mint 14. The graphics card is not very
powerfull (Intel HD Graphics 4000) but everything just works out of the box,
including suspending and hibernation.

~~~
johnjdoe
Hi dawnkins,

I have the same laptop then you and the same OS.

Unfortunately, I have two major problems: suspending/hibernation and 3G.

May I perhaps contact you directly by email? It would be nice if you could
give me some hints.

Thank you in advance!

------
nileshgr
I asked the same question to a hardware enthusiast and Linux user. He
suggested me one of the machines with AMD APUs. It seems they're supported
well via fglrx drivers.

------
gioele
How about a Samsung series 9?

Has anybody on HN tested one of those? Searching around the net shows that
there were small hw issues but they have been fixed in latest kernels.

~~~
ollyculverhouse
I am typing this on a Samsung Series 9 (900X3C) with Ubuntu and it is pretty
good. All drivers were preinstalled and it is a fantastic looking device. I
had to fiddle to get a few of the fn keys working however other than that, it
is fine. There is an issue with the battery status which is a bug with acpi
(<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi/+bug/971061>). However I
would highly recommend this combo and the Ubuntu wiki really helped
(<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SamsungSeries9>).

~~~
thrill
I have a 15" Series 9 which I use Unity on and it works great. I self upgraded
to 16G and 256G. Complaints are minor - the keys are a little "rattly", and
after about a year the CPU fan has a loud click when it starts up, which goes
away after 30 seconds or so - something I only notice because it's an
otherwise completely silent system (I'm guessing there's some dust in the
fan). If they'd ever release the higher-res 2560x1440 version they showed off
last year I'd buy it.

------
c0smic
My HP dv7 works great with Linux Mint 13 out of the box, 8GB of RAM and
running just a 1TB hard drive, with another slot I want to add an SSD to.

------
parbo
Dell XPS 13

------
jeffnappi
If you can handle the bulk: Thinkpad T series with Intel HD4000 graphics + a
dock at your desk. Don't buy the E/edge series..

------
linust
Chromebook Pixel

~~~
grumps
I use a Lenovo w520

------
malteseunderdog
Look at project sputnik from Dell

~~~
fdr
I would like to second this. It's imperfect, but a lot of the fiddly bits --
hot plugging monitors, web cams, et al -- work, and the bug reporting and
fixing is tracked:

<https://bugs.launchpad.net/dell-sputnik>

That's also a reasonably good overview of what bugs are on the system. I
recommend sorting by 'bug heat', which is probably the best idea in all
Launchpad.

------
daGrevis
Dell Inspiron 15R SE comes with pre-installed Ubuntu and works fine! :)

------
mablae
I would say I current Intel based Thinkpads are great.

------
vassy
I'm quite happy with Ubuntu on my Lenovo X1 Carbon.

