
Linux Laptop Recommendations - kyledrake
http://jc00ke.com/2014/09/02/linux-laptop-recommendations/
======
kyledrake
I'm using the Dell Developer XPS 13, fresh installed with Xubuntu 14.04 (XFCE
is by far the best), with no problems. It's very competitive with the MacBook
Air line, similar lightness but with good performance. The keyboard types
really well, and doesn't have a lot of weird extra buttons like many PC
laptops do. It's also devoid of the legacy oddities many PC laptops have (red
nipples in the keyboard, VGA ports, etc).

I did have to make a slight tweak to the trackpad config, but I believe they
have fixed that with a recent change. If not, google for synaptics
AreaBottomEdge and that will give you what you need to tune it.

I previously had a MacBook, and decided to stop using Apple products after the
Bitcoin app ban fiasco (and because I don't agree with many of their
policies). Now that I'm comfortable with my Linux laptop, I like it a lot more
than my old MacBook. It's been a great experience, and it also means my
development environment is closer to my production one, so I'm happy with it.

Edit: Despite my reservations towards the legacy weirdness of the Thinkpad
line, I've learned through observation that they are kindof the industry
standard for Linux laptops right now, and people seem to like them. When I
meet someone running a Linux laptop, it's usually a thinkpad.

~~~
w1ntermute
> the legacy oddities many PC laptops have (red nipples in the keyboard

The TrackPoint is not a "legacy oddity," it's a far superior input method
compared to a trackpad, if you take the time to learn how to use it.

~~~
philsnow
> The TrackPoint is not a "legacy oddity," it's a far superior input method
> compared to a trackpad, if you take the time to learn how to use it.

IMHO the proper way to use a pointing device is "sparingly", which suits the
trackpoint _perfectly_.

------
CoffeeDregs
I've been using a Thinkpad X1 Carbon for 2 years (I pre-ordered one and then
upgraded it a year later). I have nothing but good things to say about it. I'm
an avid user of the Trackpoint and only use the mousepad for scrolling so
can't comment on the quality of the mousepad... Otherwise, the machine is
perfect. Build quality is good, performance is fine and it's got a nice sized
screen. Mini-DisplayPort. Excellent keyboard layout. Bog standard hardware, so
everything is well supported by Linux.

I have a hard time imagining a more suitable laptop for Linux.

~~~
nfmangano
I got the Carbon X1 Touch myself, and absolutely love it. I only have two
complaints:

(1) my battery only lasts for 2.5 hours in linux on a good day, while it lasts
over 6 hours in windows, and

(2) I develop touch-based apps, and ubuntu doesn't broadcast touch events to
its browser. The system itself can receive touch events (if you tap three
fingers on a window, it triggers the move mode), but the browsers themselves
only receive mouse events. The result is that I cannot use pinch-and-zoom on
touch-enabled webapps.

~~~
ShinyCyril
I had similar problems with battery life. Take a look at TLP [1] - my battery
life improved dramatically after installing it (mostly on default settings).

[1]
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XXVnP0Y...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XXVnP0YgIfAJ:www.kianryan.co.uk/2013/07/x1-carbon-
ubuntu-13-04/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk)

------
mindslight
Have shortscreens started to fall out of fashion _at all_ yet? I'm having a
serious case of tech-inadequacy after I got my mom an X230 and my girlfriend
decided she wanted one too. But looking at that X230 side-by-side with my
identical-width T61, I can't bring myself to give up _2.5 inches_ of vertical
screen real estate. (And the "14 inch" T440p is still a whole 1.5 inches
shorter, in addition to the whole thing being much wider).

I've seen the Chromebook Pixel is 3:2, which is hopeful. But going with a
machine that _erases your installation when it loses power_ seems like a
outright terrible idea (in addition to signaling Google that their locked down
computing is appreciated in the least)

I suppose I shouldn't get my hopes up at all, given that manufacturers have
moved on to even more terrible ideas like soldering a paltry amount of RAM to
the motherboard, and then removing one or even both sodimm slots. Maybe I just
need a NUC strapped to a car battery.

~~~
JoshTriplett
> I've seen the Chromebook Pixel is 3:2, which is hopeful. But going with a
> machine that erases your installation when it loses power seems like a
> outright terrible idea (in addition to signaling Google that their locked
> down computing is appreciated in the least)

It does not erase your installation when it loses power. If you switch into or
out of developer mode, it'll wipe user data, but otherwise your data is safe.

As for "locked-down computing", as long as Google continues to mandate
developer mode as part of their hardware requirements, that seems quite
sufficient to me.

~~~
mindslight
Erm, the following is a passage from the Gentoo Wiki:

> _[Chromebook Pixel] has a fatal bug - when battery runs out to zero, my
> Gentoo installation is erased. It 's some kind of security measure. After
> full discharge any non-signed OS is erased. And I need to install Gentoo
> again from scratch_

I have no firsthand experience, but I've heard the same thing other times as
well. Is it just a baseless rumor?

I wouldn't be worried about my data per se (backed up with unison, etc), just
the hassle of reinstalling and ultimately wary of electing into that kind of
user-hostile design.

"Developer mode" is equivalent to rooting your phone - something that most
users won't do, and that some misguided developers will even think they should
discriminate against (I believe some banking apps were recently mentioned
here). Even if you go out of your way to do it and suffer the oddities, buying
such a device sends an economic signal (to Google and developers) and social
signal (to less-clued friends) that the official locked-down experience is
desirable.

~~~
JoshTriplett
> Erm, the following is a passage from the Gentoo Wiki:

>> [Chromebook Pixel] has a fatal bug - when battery runs out to zero, my
Gentoo installation is erased. It's some kind of security measure. After full
discharge any non-signed OS is erased. And I need to install Gentoo again from
scratch

> I have no firsthand experience, but I've heard the same thing other times as
> well. Is it just a baseless rumor?

News to me; ugh. Quoting one of the Google posts on this: "The problem here is
that the flags that remember whether or not you're in dev-mode have to be
stored somewhere, and we chose to put them in the battery-backed CMOS. When
they're lost, we have to assume we should be in normal mode, or it opens a
security hole. The only other place we could keep them would be in the TPM,
but that's slow to access and would adversely affect boot times in normal
mode. We may be able to fix that in future Chromebooks, but changing the
verified boot security features generally requires a change to the read-only
BIOS, which isn't possible with an update.﻿"

That's really broken.

~~~
walterbell
> The only other place we could keep them would be in the TPM, but that's slow
> to access and would adversely affect boot times in normal mode

Has this delay been quantified? I've used Linux-based systems with dynamic
root of trust, with the TPM being queried at boot. There wasn't any noticeable
delay in boot.

------
kaji88
I might be the odd one out. I have a macbook pro retina running ubuntu 14
using parallels. Could not happier.

Assuming budget isn't an issue, I find many linux laptops (including the
13inch Dell) to have bad UX. Relatively short battery life, low res screen,
and may i say, terrible trackpad.

Apple trackpads are significantly better than all competitors.

On top of that, a lot of nice to have apps don't run on linux. Things like
screenhero. And apps that do have a linux build often don't work as well.
(Think skype, hipchat)

Running VM on macbooks is the best of both worlds, you get linux for
development and OSX for everything else.

~~~
dmix
What is the best VM software for OSX? I tried using VirtualBox but it seems
kind of slow and unreliable for daily use.

~~~
kaji88
Go with parallels, without a doubt the best you can go with. Very fast and
feels native.

The downside if you won't be able to use a windows manager like WMII. Because
parallels provide bindings for unity that makes the whole experience smooth
and they don't provide bindings for other windows managers

[https://www.parallels.com/](https://www.parallels.com/)

------
Pengwin
I'm using a Samsung NP900x3c with a plain ubuntu 14.04 install and I have to
say its the smoothest experience i've had with linux on a laptop so far.
Everything works out of the box and the most technical thing you have to do is
disable windows 8's securite/quick book options.

I would have really loved to use elementaryOS on it but without the 3.13
kernel the CPU and GPU refused to play nicely and the machine refused to
sleep. These issues were fixed in the 3.13 kernel.

The main problem I have found with laptops and linux is still GPU. Im
reluctant to use a laptop with anything but an intel GPU these days because
the last experience I had with an AMD GPU was simply terrible. The AMD drivers
refused to install on anything but a specific kernel and even when installed
the laptop performed better when i told the AMD control panel to always use
the intel chip over the AMD one.

Id like to be able to change my opinion, but AMD and Nvidia drivers on Linux
are still some sort of absurd joke.

~~~
brerlapn
I posted separately on my experience with my laptop, but I would vehemently +1
the driver issues for AMD Radeon. My laptop has Radeon 7700 graphics, which in
practice means I have had to wipe and reinstall Ubuntu four or five times in
the past year after a system upgrade broke the graphics. Catalyst drivers work
great, but they break completely upon some combination of upgrade (kernel? who
knows). I realize this was naive reasoning, but I assumed that AMD's
sponsorship of OpenSUSE would mean better support for Linux.

I didn't have trouble with my Dell e1505 running Nvidia drivers, but I didn't
tax it very hard, either, other than using Compiz for some desktop effects.

I thought having a proper graphics chip rather than integrated Intel graphics
would make for a snappier experience, but in the future I'll just stick with
integrated graphics and max out the RAM.

Edit: Good to hear the Samsung works so well. I remember seeing some issues
with those on the Ubuntu forums when they came out, which is why I opted for a
different brand, but I'd expect to revisit them on my next purchase.

------
infinotize
I have one of the old Lenovo X1 Carbons from when they first came out. It's
great, I had been considering a MacBook Air, but I liked the thin bezel on the
X1, a little more screen resolution, and Linux-ability (was also a couple
hundred cheaper at the time). I mainly use it for coding and web browsing and
the slowest CPU with 4GB memory and 128GB SSD does fine for a dual boot setup
with Win7 and Ubuntu. The overall look and feel, and the keyboard (pre-weird
function row thing) are the highlights, but the screen is not the best,
especially after using a MBP retina often. But it works and I'm happy with it.
The changed keyboard would make me question a new model, and I'm not
interested in a touch screen. Also, the touchpad is the best I've used on a
non-Apple laptop, and is of comparable quality. It has a trackpoint, but I
never use it.

~~~
vacri
I have a very old x201 that I love... except for that damned screen. The
visual angle is so small that even sited directly in front of it, looking
square on, the blacks around the edges look bad. Makes it hard to watch a dark
movie.

The other thinkpads I've seen don't have screens this bad, but this one is a
corker. Apart from that, I love the little thing.

~~~
NovaS1X
You can upgrade the screens on the x200 and x201 to an AFFS (IPS) model quite
easily.

~~~
vacri
Sounds like I have some thinking to do. I've had this laptop for 5-6 years,
and apart from the bad screen, the only fault is that the speaker started
failing about a year ago (so I've been using headphones). Spend some time and
effort fixing and upgrading this thing (new battery, screen, hunt for speaker
issue, perhaps ssd upgrade?) or just go for a new machine?

One of the big bonuses to the thinkpads is that very complete user manuals are
available free online, including exploded disassembly diagrams. Perhaps I
should do the upgrade just because it's possible :)

~~~
NovaS1X
Well that descision is pretty up to you. It depends on your needs and how much
you like the laptop.

I'll recount my recent story.

I started out with an x200, which I loved for the size and lack of trackpad (I
only use the trackpoint, I use keybinds and tiling wms heavily), and ran that
for a few months. I did the screen upgrade[0] and was extremly happy with the
mod. Unfortunatley a mishap at a hackerspace involving a large cup of beer
destroyed my poor motherboard. I had a descision to make: either buy a new
laptop or repair this one. I went with the rebuild plan. I squeezed in an x201
motherboard into the chassis instead of going with the same C2D mobo. I bought
a refurbed 120GB SSD and a new 4GB stick of RAM. On top of that I had to
replace my keyboard so that came as I also bought a new 9-Cell battery.

In the end I ended up with a near new x201 with an x200 chassis, an IPS
screen, SSD, full DIMM of RAM, and a kew keyboard with roughly 8-9 hours of
battery life all for about $550 out of pocket. I've spent about 2 years with
it like this and if I had to make the choice again I would absolutley do the
repair; I love my laptop. But I'm also only a sysadmin and compiling code and
major power isn't a conern for me. Portability and reliability is.

[0]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4hVYq9glKg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4hVYq9glKg)
: This mod is just under $200 but you get an IPS equivalent screen that covers
roughly 75-80% colour gamut. Way nicer to watch movies on.

~~~
vacri
Thanks for the info. Do you recall the model number of the IPS panel you used?

Poking around on youtube a bit more, here is the x201 TN screen (same as mine)
in a side-by-side with an IPS screen - it's quite a dramatic comparison:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzP3rFZXSgE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzP3rFZXSgE)

~~~
NovaS1X
Yeah, you can find these on ebay.

Brand is Hydis

HV121WX4-110 or HV121WX4-120

There's two screens you can choose from. The 120 is a matte finish just like
the stock screen (a little finer/nicer than the stock finish) and the 110 is a
glossy finish. Your preference.

The screen is a direct swap for the x200. For the x201 you need the
CCFL/screen controller from an x200. The x201 has an LED backlight and it
doesn't work with this screen. You need the CCFL controller from the x200.
Easiest way to do this is to source a broken x200 with the lid intact and swap
the screen into the lid, and then the lid onto the x201. Aside from that it's
a direct swap.

~~~
vacri
Beaut, thanks for the info.

------
nextos
I'm wondering if Google will update their Chromebook Pixel, which was almost
perfect.

~~~
jeorgun
I'm using a Chromebook Pixel running Arch right now. It works pretty well with
KDE, and almost perfectly with GNOME, with the exception of­— stupidly—
Chromium, which has pretty minimal high-DPI support.

~~~
nextos
That's interesting as I also use Arch and I'm looking forward to getting a
second hand one.

Have they solved the EFI glitch when power was lost?

What's the baseline power consumption (as reported by powertop)?

------
cik
Earlier this year, I raved about my System76, it blew my Macbook away. Then is
died a horrible death - thankfully, it was a client's.

Now, I've gotten a custom build Sager from ReflexNotebook (reflexnotebook.ca).
It screams, it's 13", it was fully supported out of the box by Ubuntu 14.04
and Mint 17, and more importantly, a full 3 year warranty.

Though, if you'd like to support the community, check out ZaReason. I'm done
buying from everyone else. Linux support is (shockingly) finally at the point
where usually, things just work.

~~~
aidenn0
I saw no notebooks with higher vertical res than 1080; that's a dealbreaker
for me.

------
CraigJPerry
I picked up a £200 refurbed thinkpad x201 at the beginning of the year as a
travel laptop that could get damaged and i wouldn't care.

Everything works perfectly, including integrated GPS and 3G modem. Here's the
setup instructions captured in Ansible so i don't need to do it manually when
wiping: [https://github.com/CraigJPerry/home-
network/blob/master/role...](https://github.com/CraigJPerry/home-
network/blob/master/roles/hardware/tasks/thinkpad.yml)

------
brerlapn
I'm running an Asus U38n, which has AMD chipset and graphics. I picked it
because I liked the Asus design, AMD made it substantially cheaper than the
Intel Asus Zenbook, and it allowed me to upgrade RAM and hard drive (unlike
the unibody Zenbook). However, I've had repeated problems with Ubuntu updates
breaking the Radeon graphics support, to the point where I've had to reinstall
from scratch several times (and currently have 400MB of delayed upgrades to
avoid going through that rigamarole again). 14.04 has greatly improved power
management, moving from 2.5-3 hours in earlier kernels to well over 4 hours
now, in part because my display brightness settings now work correctly.

Because of the problem with the Radeon graphics support, I wouldn't recommend
using a laptop with AMD graphics. I previously had a Dell e1505 with Nvidia
graphics that worked without trouble, and I've had no trouble with integrated
Intel graphics support.

Also, I have a 1.5 year-old Sony Vaio from work. The weird BIOS Sony uses is
completely borked for Linux, as I have not been able to so much as boot from a
USB drive, much less dual boot. Actually, I may have gotten it to boot to a
USB drive once using some dark voodoo magic, but you shouldn't have to
sacrifice a chicken to Jobu just to boot into Linux, so I strongly recommend
against even trying with the Sony laptops.

------
kristianp
This guy is a big fan of Samsung, despite the case cracking on his? Sounds
like a range of laptops to avoid.

I have a Thinkpad T410, it has been very solid, I don't think there is one
item that will physically wear out anytime soon, except for the power plug,
which is larger than most brands, but has started to become loose. Oh for a
magsafe power plug! Actually the little bumps on the trackpad are starting to
wear off in the middle, but this doesn't seem to affect it's function.

~~~
mindslight
> _except for the power plug ... has started to become loose_

Another great thing about Thinkpads is they're quite easy to fix.

I assume you mean the jack? That should be a separate piece, attached to the
motherboard with a cable. If it's just wobbly, then it just needs to be
tightened, possibly even without opening the laptop. If it's a poor
connection, then you should be able to get a new one for <$5. On the T61, both
of these things are dead easy, but check the T410 Hardware Maintenance Manual
for the details.

(of course, now I'm thinking about the prospect of replacing this piece with a
magsafe connector...)

------
cjbprime
Here's a blog post I made about Linux on modern Ultrabooks, including the one
I ended up with (Fujitsu Lifebook U904):
[http://blog.printf.net/articles/2014/02/02/fujitsu-
lifebook-...](http://blog.printf.net/articles/2014/02/02/fujitsu-
lifebook-u904-review/)

------
tdicola
I would also add Macbook Air with Parallels/VMware/etc. running Linux. Price
is in the $900 range for an entry level one, build quality is great, and
battery life is amazing. Running Linux in a VM is nice because you get working
power management, touchpad, etc. from the host OS without any screwing around.

~~~
pan69
I'm also running Linux (XUbuntu) as my development environment of a MacAir.
It's been pretty sweet so far. The only thing it could use is more memory. A
32GB option would actually be nice in the MacAir but there might be hardware
limitations for this.

------
gue5t
I can't fathom why so many laptops feature half-height arrow keys. Do all
important consumer segments use vim keybinds?

Plus, the images of the products are always at oblique angle that make seeing
the keyboard unnecessarily difficult. Nobody gives two shits what a laptop
looks like 85%-shut from the corner.

------
scythe
These look pretty nice, especially the 1920x1080, despite the 14.1-inch form
factor --
[https://system76.com/laptops/model/galu1](https://system76.com/laptops/model/galu1)
\-- especially if you're weary[1] of configuring binary drivers for the 9001st
time, and again whenever you install a new distribution. I've never actually
met anyone who has a system76, though, and personally, I think that installing
Debian on a MacBook is a big pain (REFind notwithstanding), though it is nice
once you get it going.

Only problem is that system76 seems to be stuck in the early 2000s, making
laptops which are simply bigger than anyone really wants these days. Pixel
density on the small ones, at least, has come on par with many PCs, but still
lags Apple.

------
davidy123
Would need more qualifiers; do you want a big screen, minimum size+weight,
etc?

I just got a "new" Thinkpad T530. It's a two year old model, but the last of
the Thinkpads with physical mouse buttons, essential for using the Trackpoint.
Got it for $550 with three year warranty after rebates; the specs are
comparable to a current model. It takes up to 16GB RAM and supports up to
three dedicated storage devices. In general Thinkpads run Linux very well.
This was mainly for the larger screen, I saved enough I can wait for a travel
computer in early 2015 based on Broadwell.

~~~
whopa
Where'd you get a "new" one? I'm in the market for a new laptop, but I'm
highly disappointed with the changes made to the current Thinkpad line.

~~~
davidy123
You can find them from various closeout locations. They aren't usually such a
great deal (value of unremoved features aside) but the 2392APU I got for an
effective $550 is a very good deal.

[https://www.google.com/search?output=search&tbm=shop&q=t530&...](https://www.google.com/search?output=search&tbm=shop&q=t530&oq=t530&gs_l=products-
cc.3..0l4.1121.1830.0.2037.4.3.0.1.1.0.299.487.1j1j1.3.0....0...1ac.1.52.products-
cc..0.4.491.-UoNTx5imEc#spd=10962619076324271852)

------
userbinator
If you don't mind a slightly slower CPU and less RAM, the Thinkpad X60 is
probably the only laptop that can run 100% free software:

[http://www.fsf.org/news/gluglug-x60-laptop-now-certified-
to-...](http://www.fsf.org/news/gluglug-x60-laptop-now-certified-to-respect-
your-freedom)

This also means that you shouldn't have any issues with running Linux distros
on it. I have one and it is more than enough for the things I'd use a laptop
for - email, SSH, programming, light web browsing.

~~~
Anthony-G
As I need a new laptop, I was excited to see this – even more when I followed
the link and saw that you could buy one with 3GB RAM and an SSD hard drive.
What killed it for me was the screen size: 12 inches is much too small for me.
:(

------
PostOnce
I got a secondhand laptop, works great for the bulk of my work. HP 6910p,
2.4ghz core2duo, 4gb ram, $160. Pretty magnesium case and a ton of features
and a trackpoint, easy sell for me, I'd have to spend ~$1500 that I consider
much of an improvement.

Running Lubuntu 14.04 -- most of my work is Python related at the moment. I'm
happy with this setup -- if I need more power I can always use the desktop
which is a Core i5, $1500 to carry that around with me wasnt convincing

------
zanny
Aw man, I guess I have to be the sweaty neckbeard...

The right notebook for Linux is a Linux notebook. Vendors of such machines are
still boutique, but unlike in the past they actually exist. Just a few are
Zareason, Thinkpenguin, and System76. I personally have an off brand Clevo 740
SU (same model as the System76 Galago) because I had confidence in the
notebooks ability and got it OSless since I'd have to install Arch anyway.

But recommending all these Samsung and Llenovo _Windows_ machines is a
disservice to everyone. It is a disservice to the Linux ecosystem because you
cannot guarantee hardware support and using a non-Windows OS will void your
warranty most of the time (at least if they catch you with it). It means that
you get a bad impression of the experience due to any bugs or glitches you
encounter, and rather than acknowledge you crossed into the land of dragons
and took the risk many end up blaming the ecosystem that cannot provide
hardware support realistically for any parts the vendors do not support in
kernel themselves - especially those that are actively hostile to attempts to
implement hardware support (video drivers - Android ones are really bad right
now, but Nouveau had to wage a tangible uphill battle to get where it is
today, but a lot of wifi cards, pci cards, etc can have no vendor support).

It also means you are paying your MS tax, and getting a Windows license you
intend not to use. I'm not even going to argue the price aspect, because we
know it really does not matter - if Linux were ever a threat (and really, it
already is with Windows talking about version 9 possibly being free or ultra
low cost with the looming threat of Android) they would just give away
licenses, and that combined with bloatware contracts would provide the vendors
more revene than just shipping Ubuntu (or whatever distro).

What I care about is the message. Every Linux Thinkpad fanboy is one bullet
point in the Llenovo board meeting affirming the need not to ever ship a non-
Windows notebook (except in countries like Germany that actually force them
to). It sends the message "go ahead, bill me for a Windows license I'll never
use, and make me fight the hardware to make it work, but I will _still buy
your stuff_ because having a pleasant straightforward and painless Linux
experience is not one of my priorities.

It also obscures how large the market segment is, because to these vendors
every machine sold is a mark that Windows is still king. If they do not see
retailors selling real Linux machines (including the Dell one) they have
absoutely no reason to ever fathom selling Linux native machines themselves.

And that hurts _you_ , because that means there is less adoption, fewer
options, and less pressure towards more widespread use of the platform. And
for whatever your reason, you want to use Linux right now, and buying these
Windows machines denies others from having the chance to even know it exists,
and supports the continued monopoly Microsoft has on the personal computing
industry (and Apple is not even on that radar).

So please, when you are looking for a new notebook with the intent to run a
Linux distro on it, give some consideration to the vendors actually selling
Linux machines, with support, as first class citizens. If you cannot find one
that meets you needs so be it, but don't go out of your way to buy a Windows
notebook and _hope_ it can run a Linux distro flawlessly.

~~~
jc00ke
One important factor for my choice in laptops is the physical attributes of
the machine. IMO, Samsung and Apple, and to some extent Asus, have very well
designed machines. Maybe I'm a little bit vain, but I'd like for my Linux
laptop to look good too. That's one thing Apple always got right. The ThinkPad
X1 Carbon is rad, but I don't really like the way it looks. I'm not sure how
to reconcile that.

ZaReason and System76 are awesome companies! I purchased a small notebook from
ZaReason back in '08 but returned it because it was too underpowered. I would
_happily_ buy a laptop from either ZaReason or System76 _if_ it was in the
same vein of well designed hardware like the 3 companies I mentioned above.

I'm also very familiar with the Windows tax. A few years back I tried, very
hard, to get HP to refund the Windows license on 2 desktops I bought for my
dad. It was futile. Here are the blog posts from '09

HP Refund for Windows Tax: So far so good -
[http://bit.ly/wy4zC](http://bit.ly/wy4zC) HP Refund for Windows Tax: No
refund policy - [http://bit.ly/1a0FW1](http://bit.ly/1a0FW1)

Trust me, I hate seeing the little Windows 7 sticker and Windows super key on
my laptop, but the hardware is good and I have no compatibility issues. Ideal?
Nope. But good enough, and unfortunately that's what we Linux users have to
contend with for now.

~~~
zanny
> unfortunately that's what we Linux users have to contend with for now.

And my point is that any sale of a Lenovo Thinkpad does zilch to solve it, and
only reinforces their position of Windows-only. So if you do go and buy that
ASUS / Samsung / Apple notebook, and put Linux on it, that means the next time
you are looking for a notebook, you will have to do the _exact_ same thing
because nobody is buying Linux machines to show the market there is any
demand.

~~~
jc00ke
Well, if some company out there would kick it up a notch wrt design and not
just compatibility, I'll buy it. Different strokes...

------
codemac
Thinkpad t440s has been great for me besides SATA link power management issues
(which I had on my linux macbook air as well).

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bluedino
The Acer C720 does a really good job of running Ubuntu natively and can be had
for under $199 USD if you search around

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xkiwi
I have t42p, t43p, t60 and t61 running CentOS and Ubuntu.

#All of them has up time for more than 500 days. #T42p been on since 2007. #I
am missing old IBM laptop, almost everything are serviceable.

I believe in "user-serviceable" of anything, Cars, Washing Machines and old
IBM/Lenovo laptops.

~~~
bd_at_rivenhill
I had to take my old T60 apart last summer to clean out all the fans and apply
more heatsink compound. Runs smooth now, but had an annoying habit of crashing
during heat waves before I did this.

~~~
xkiwi
I use compressed air to clean the fans every 6 months, also applied new Arctic
Silver 5 cpu paste.

I have fans controlled not to run unless CPU or GPU over 52C.

Looking for a replacement like Thinkpad is extreme hard.

------
edtechdev
By chance is there a detachable/convertible tablet that anyone would recommend
that runs Ubuntu well?

There's a detachable Ekoore Python S3 tablet which triple boots to Ubuntu,
Windows, and Android, but it doesn't appear to be available in the U.S.

------
RossM
Does anyone have any recommendations for a 10-11 inch netbook for ultra
portable hacking? It's rather hard to find places that still sell them
nowadays (lots of tablet-a-likes with a keyboard attached). Basically going to
be a vim-box.

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w0uld
Linux (various flavors) runs exceptionally well on my Lenovo Y580 with Nvidia
GTX660M.

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hadoukenio
Thinkpad. Period.

~~~
vhost-
Seriously! I'm very surprised Thinkpads (outside of the x1) were not mentioned
at all. This blows my mind!

~~~
tbatterii
Yep, for under 2K that w540 would be awesome. I had the previous version and
it was probably my favorite laptop ever, ran linux like a champ.

~~~
hadoukenio
I'm on a w530 and I want to be buried with it. Debian runs flawlessly with it.

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hnriot
T440p, works great with Ubuntu 14.04. I've not figured out the driver for the
fingerprint detector yet though. Not that I care much about that. The SSD
makes it super fast to boot and autologin (~7 seconds)

~~~
secstate
I've got the t440s. Not sure the readers has the same specs, but this got it
working on mine:

[http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_enable_integrated_finge...](http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_enable_integrated_fingerprint_reader_with_fprint)

------
zihotki
I personally recommend Asus N550JV - IPS screen, good CPU and GPU, a lot of
memory, very good build quality, not expensive, and runs Ubuntu as well as
Mint (and probably other Debian-based distros)

------
Mikeb85
I've got a ThinkPad (albeit a T530) and it runs Linux flawlessly...

------
ck2
What about that $130 refurb chromebook.

I think people have been putting ubuntu on it.

------
jjsz
For under $1000 one can get a year or two late Gigabyte on Newegg or wherevere
with ram for dedicated graphics.

I'm not affiliated with them, I just own an U2442, and am extremely satisfied.

