

Ask HN: What are the best Linux-based laptops?  - sadanapalli

Who has the best Linux laptop - System76 or ZaReason or Dell or anyone else?
======
fingerprinter
I've stuck to ThinkPads. They are great....or were great. They recently
changed the keyboard (bad) and also got rid of the physical mouse buttons
(NOOOOOO! BAD LENOVO!).

With those gone, there isn't anything particularly compelling about the
current ThinkPads. In that case, just pick most anything and go with it.
Ubuntu should run great on most anything these days.

------
egor83
A couple of links containing reviews, tests etc:

[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/Laptop](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/Laptop)

[http://www.linlap.com/](http://www.linlap.com/)

\-------------------------

And a bunch of earlier HN discussions:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6514512](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6514512)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5088260](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5088260)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5503047](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5503047)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4847720](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4847720)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4262106](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4262106)

------
trouserpants
Are you aware that you can install a Linux distribution on just about any
hardware? System76 are OK, I've never been wowed by them. Realistically, I
would just go with a Thinkpad, unbeatable keyboard and great build quality
(though lately Lenovo has been messing up on both of those)

~~~
sadanapalli
Yes, I am aware of that. I am talking about things just working out of the
box. It depends on which linux distro you use. I am not talking about just
installing linux here.

There are choices - Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, OpenSuse etc. and each distribution
differs in user interface and the hardware support (graphic
cards/wifi/bluetooth etc.). So far, Ubuntu seems to have a slight upper hand
on hardware compatibility.

------
aosmith
I just bought an x1 carbon and loaded it with ubuntu. Just about everything
worked out of the box, less microphone mute button and sleep button. It's
pretty flawless and hands down the fastest machine I've owned. Battery life is
also awesome (5-6 hours).

------
cjbprime
ThinkPads have a historically good reputation because kernel developers tend
to use them. But as trouserpants says, almost all of the machines from major
manufacturers will work fine.

~~~
nycticorax
I'm sorry, but this just does not agree with my experience. Yes, if you work
at it, you can probably get 80-90% of things on your machine to work. But even
getting to that point takes some effort. And quite often, there is that 20-10%
that just doesn't work quite right. Like not being able to wake from sleep
reliably. Or having popping noises when you play audio. Or having some of the
audio jacks not work. And it just frustrates me to see this kind of blithe
assurance: "Oh, don't worry, everything will work."

It's the same story with distributions. So often, someone asks what the best
one is, and several people say something like "They're all good---you can't go
wrong!". Which, again, doesn't agree with my experience. There's always
something janky no matter what distro you choose. But the good ones (like
Ubuntu pre-Unity) had considerably less jankiness.

I wish we lived in a world where you could install any Linux distro on any
random hardware and have everything just work. But that is not the world we
currently live in.

------
drill_sarge
If you want some 100% no issues working, just get something with Intel CPu and
GPU. Although the free Radeon drivers are pretty good now too. Avoid some kind
of integrated GPU+extra discrete chip combination. Otherwise there isn't
really anything special to worry about or to buy a special "built for Linux"
machine (which I consider marketing bullshit).

------
thekevan
Honestly, I just install it and don't pay much attention to the brand of the
machine. The issues I have had installing an OS seem to be about even whether
I am installing Windows or Ubuntu.

The only issue I had with my Toshiba Satellite P855-S5312 was getting around
secure boot, which is easier now. I've been running Ubuntu on it for about 15
months with no issues.

------
lsiebert
I use a ThinkPad. Mine is a t530, and a good balance of the things I want.
16gb ram and a discrete video card are nice.

Best is vague. Best bang for your buck? Best ultra portable? Best workstation?
Best battery life?

------
jamespcole2
I have owned a couple of System76 machines and they have always been pretty
good, I currently have the Darter and I have no complaints.

If you want something small and portable my Asus X202E works well.

------
niftylettuce
[http://niftylettuce.com/posts/linux-mint-ubuntu-nodejs-
hacke...](http://niftylettuce.com/posts/linux-mint-ubuntu-nodejs-hacker-
setup/)

------
lbarrett
I got the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition. I like it.

~~~
thaweatherman
Same here. It's been solid so far for me!

