

Ask HN: Best Linux ultrabook? - humility


======
d0m
I feel like all laptop but the macbook or macbook pro are total crap. Linux
run perfectly fine on a mac.

~~~
humility
I really wanted to get a macbook air to run arch linux on, due to its form
factor, awesome battery life and reliability, but was dissuaded from doing so
by the good folks over at freenode.org/linux..

~~~
d0m
Really? I ran archlinux for 6 years on a mac. At the beginning it was annoying
to configure everything.. especially the non-standard stuff like the VPN in my
university. But then, after a few years everything worked just fine out-of-
the-box. The trickiest thing was to get the boot loader and the partition
right. Sometimes hibernate was a bit tricky too, mostly because if you don't
configure it right you need to restart the laptop, which is annoying. But
other than that, it was totally fine.

------
lugg
Wait til april. I've been waiting for a while, it looks like lenovo is going
to start shipping laptops with 16gb sticks around april (couple of non
official confirmations) (this will also cause the price of the ram to drop
down from its current 300usd price point I hope)

The main issue with most ultrabooks is they only get a single sodimm slot. Or
in other words have a hard limit of 8gb. These 16gb sticks[1] have been round
a while but an issue with the cpu's prevented them from registering, the
broadwell series has sorted that.

As for recommendations, I was tossing up between x1c 3rd gen and a macbook /
second air / 16gb mbp. I'm now holding out for april and likely going to go
with a thinkpad X250 - its a bit fatter but its 12.5" and has upgradable
insides (ram/hd.) This is mostly down to the fact that I prefer a solid
keyboard over anything else and the x1c just doesn't have the travel to make
it worth ditching apple. (I'd take another MBA over going with x1c)

Options:

\- x1c - nice but too thin for key travel like a fatter thinkpad, qhd will
kill battery life, at least it has track point \- x250 - fatter but small,
good kb with decent travel, upgradeable / replaceable insides + battery,
shitty screen \- mba - can't really complain, had my mba since late '11 no
issues what so ever. \- mb - nice everything, only a single port though,
depending on usage you might not be able to deal \- mbp - far better spec's
than all and still cheaper / thinner than lenovos (aus taxes destroy lenovo v
mac..)

All of the above will run linux but have some issues until problems get
sorted, nothing a deal breaker. For me, the x250 is in first place but I don't
mind a fattop and the keyboard is far too important to me. (I don't mind
crappy screens while coding so much) Trackpoint vs mac trackpad is a 50-50 for
me also but I wouldn't want anything less than either of those.

[1] [http://www.intelligentmemory.com/dram-modules/ddr3-so-
dimm/](http://www.intelligentmemory.com/dram-modules/ddr3-so-dimm/)

------
throwawayaye
I like the low-end Asus machines. They're not as nice as Asus Zenbooks but
still nicer than anything non-Mac in regard to build quality, keyboard feel,
and ports.

E.g., [http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-
vivobook-x202e-dh31t/](http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-
vivobook-x202e-dh31t/)

Once you swap in an SSD it performs well enough for normal dev work.

------
ze_dude
I'm running Ubuntu on a Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus
([http://www.samsung.com/global/ativ/ativbook9plus.html](http://www.samsung.com/global/ativ/ativbook9plus.html))
with no issues and battery life is good. Nearly all media keys worked out of
the box, as well as wifi.

~~~
Throwaway90283
I have a Samsung Series 9, which was renamed to the Ativ Book 9 in recent
years, so they may have improved on some of the below issues.

1\. Some of the media keys don't work on Windows 8, even with Samsung software
(laptop shipped with Windows 7, and they offered limited support with Windows
8).

2\. The touchpad is awful. I can click on some right sides of the touchpad and
it left clicks, or sometimes it right clicks when I click on the left side. My
old netbook and dell laptops had much better touchpads. Thankfully, the
touchpad is rarely used.

3\. Usb or mini hdmi devices sometimes disconnect if I wiggle or bump the
plug.

4\. Ports are too close together. I have 3 or 4 flash drives (some fairly slim
-
[http://www.testberichte.de/imgs/p_imgs/Mushkin+Ventura+Pro+%...](http://www.testberichte.de/imgs/p_imgs/Mushkin+Ventura+Pro+%2832+GB%29-617097.jpg)),
and none of them fit in the left port, because they hit the power cable. In
the right port, they're also tight if I have headphones plugged in. You really
need to be careful with the cables and devices you own, because you only have
a millimeter or two of clearance between them.

5\. The power cable on the side is annoying. When I move the laptop when it's
plugged in, the cable always wants to fold under the device. I guess it's
better than my dell, where the cable would pull out the back at the slightest
movement.

6\. Battery life is poor. I keep the battery saver enabled, which only charges
the device to 80%. It goes from 80% to dead in about 1 to 1.5 hours, with just
general browsing on the internet.

On the plus side, the screen is perfect, it's extremely lightweight, very
quiet, it's now my favorite keyboard, and it's fast enough for everyday work.
So, it has flaws, but it's the best laptop I've owned to date, and I'd either
buy the newer model or one of apple's offerings the next time around.

------
papaf
There was discussion on Slashdot yesterday about the Thinkpad X1 Carbon:

[http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/03/14/1454240/tested-l...](http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/03/14/1454240/tested-
lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-update-w-intel-broadwell-self-encrypting-ssd)

~~~
jensv
Sure if you want to do business with Lenovo in light of Superfish.....

~~~
humility
I concur, probably that's why they've offered a discount so close to the
release!

~~~
ldonley
I suppose its a good deal if you're willing to clean install.

------
fpierre
The new Chromebook ?
([http://www.google.com/chromebook/pixel](http://www.google.com/chromebook/pixel)).
I don't know if it's possible to replace ChromeOS for Linux...

~~~
welly
> I don't know if it's possible to replace ChromeOS for Linux...

It is, with Crouton.
[https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton](https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton)

Or to be more precise, run the two concurrently.

~~~
humility
I'm sure google has their own version of Superfish in there, waiting to be
found!

~~~
zingplex
The biggest problem with superfish was not the surveillance itself but instead
that it broke SSL and thus exposed all "infected" systems to a plethora of
attacks. Because Google controls both the operating system and the browser,
installing a malicious certificate would not be necessary to achieve similar
levels of surveillance.

------
ismailamca
i had the same problem and was looking around for a new notebook. ihad some
performance issues with my previous one, lackness of gpu proccessing and
couldn't run multiple monitors at the same time for a long time, i wasn't able
to calculate molecular foldings and handle very big chunks of data at the same
time with it, by the way that machine had a first-gen i5 and nvidia gt330m
(1gb of anciency). so i ought to buy a new laptop; my little goliath.

anyway this is what i am trying to say: define your needings then go shopping,
or ask with that way.

my needings was as yo can figure, was listed above. so i bought an lenovo a
z5070 <
[http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z50/?sb...](http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z50/?sb=:000001C9:00012E34):
>

you know there is a huge scandal and they are trying to cope with that with
giving huge discounts! i think it is a good time for buying a lenovo, if only
you'll run it as a linux box. by the i hate windows and i'm so lucky they
don't care. i think windows should be a keyboard company, their keyboards are
definitely awesome. < update was for keyboards >

~~~
humility
having used mac all my life, i have high expectations in terms of portability,
reliability, compatibility, aesthetics, etc etc. but seeing as the way macs
are built, it's very difficult locating apt replacements. Right now, I've
zeroed in on Toshiba Portégé z30, which is the closest approximation I could
find!

------
Calvein
What about the new Razer blade ? I'm in the same situation as the OP but my
company is keen to get me the laptop I want (my Zenbook was great but its 4GB
or unupgradable RAM is a bummer) so I don't really care about the price.

------
saluki
Another vote for going with macbook air.

Nothing compares to apple hardware for me.

------
adamgray
I've had great luck with the Asus Zenbook Prime series.

------
weishigoname
I am running double-system(windows 10 and ubuntu) at Samsung Ativ Book 8, they
both run smoothly, and battery life can reach about 7 hours for both system.

------
claudiug
dell xps 13'

~~~
rcrichton
Yup, I'm super keen for the new 2015 Dell XPS 13. It should start shipping
with Ubuntu shortly: [http://bartongeorge.net/2015/02/23/update-2-dell-
xps-13-lapt...](http://bartongeorge.net/2015/02/23/update-2-dell-
xps-13-laptop-developer-edition-sputnik-gen-4/)

~~~
iends
If you read the comments in the link you shared, the 2015 XPS 13 looks like a
train wreck. It could be months before those fixes are into the kernel. Barton
and his team seem to be doing a great job, but the greater Dell seems
apathetic.

------
dman
Lenovo t450s

