[ale] May need purchase Laptop - Linux Friendly

[Ted W.]

On 08/25/2013 11:07 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> 
> 
> "Ted W." <ted-lists at xy0.org> wrote:
> 
>> On 08/24/2013 09:29 AM, Tom Freeman wrote:
>>>
>>> I've been running an ASUS my daughter gave me (she couldn't stand
>>> Windows 7 and went back to Apple) with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
>> Unfortunately,
>>> there seems to be some instability developing (not sure - it isn't
>> very
>>> common), and my local pusher of used laptops has closed up the nearby
>>> store front. Assuming that I can not get to the bottom of the ASUS's
>>> challenges in the next month or so, I will be looking for a laptop.
>>>
>>> My preference from the past is a 2-4 year old ThinkPad. Solid builds
>>> with 2-4 years of life left with fine linux compatability in my
>> limited
>>> experience. Assuming I find one of those from a dealer I have some
>>> history with (or will have with), this question is probably
>>> wasted/redundant. However...
>>>
>>> Is there a line of new Laptops in this era of Windows 8 and the fancy
>>> security boot scheme which is 1) Linux friendly enough to trust a
>>> distracted individual with (me) 2) robust enought to risk loading on
>> the
>>> back of scooter transportation?
>>>
>>> Thanks to all for the use of their bandwidth
>>
>> I've found Thinkpads to really be the best, hands down, at supporting
>> Linux. Microcenter typically has used/refurbished Thinkpads in stock
>> for
>> < $300. My normal recommendation for anyone looking for a good Linux
>> laptop is to get one of those, max out the RAM (usually only 4GB) and
>> grab a 60GB or 120GB SSD. All in you'll probably spend ~$450 less tax.
>>
>> This endorsement brought to you by a guy using a 7 year old Thinkpad
>> X61.
>>
>> --
>> Ted W.
> 
> Are there any manufacturers or niche vendors that put Linux on right from the start?  I thought Dell was doing that at one point.
> 
> Ron
> 
> 
> 
> --
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> Ron Frazier
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Dell used to have a line of XPS13 ultrabooks under the "Sputnik" program
but I don't know if that is still going on. I can say, however, that I
use an XPS13 for work and run Ubuntu 12.04 without any major issues. One
that comes to mind, however, is the backlight brightness doesn't adjust
(but it doesn't bother me so I haven't tried fixing it). My only other
complaint (and I /think/ this is no longer the case but have not
investigated) is that when I first got the machine earlier this year it
had trouble running anything except Ubuntu very well and even it
required a Dell Sputnik specific PPA. My understanding was that this was
due to a variety of drivers not being in the mainline kernel at the time
of release. I've heard that these are now available in the stock Ubuntu
in v.12.10 and up but I stick with the LTS release cycle on work
machines so have not tested this myself.

I have also run Fedora, Mint and Ubuntu on my 11-inch Macbook Air and
found they ran with varied degrees of success. Fedora 18 ran well but
had some power management issues which, according to the changelogs,
were fixed in F19 but I have not tried it since 18. Ubuntu and Mint ran
fantastically. The only thing they didn't do as well as OSX was save
battery while in suspend. Where as OSX gives me a week or two of
suspend, Mint and Ubuntu would only do a few days tops.

Hope that helps,
--
Ted W.