What are good linux laptops for 2018?
I'm a developer who's getting a bit sick of the high price of apple laptops. Their hardware used to be more reliable and I could justify the price for a great trackpad (the best I've ever used honestly), good battery life and OSX. I realize though I spend most of my time in chrome and the terminal and in theory I could be spending a lot less for something almost as good. (Maybe something with a better keyboard?)
It's been years since I've looked at the PC ecosystem and I frankly it scares me. I have no idea what's a marker of quality and what I can trust.
What are good linux laptops for 2018?
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[ 6.7 ms ] story [ 144 ms ] threadGood points:
- Strong hardware
- Looks nice
Bad points:
- M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux
- Nvidia graphics card is a pain on Ubuntu. Do a Google search for nouveau.modeset
- The fans are on most of the time, even during idle. The machine isn't hot either - it just likes to run the fans
- The 1920x1080 screen isn't that great and a "4K" option is quite expensive
- The carbon-fibre looking plastic looks cheap and is a magnet for finger prints. It does not look good and is difficult to clean
- It's not a great machine to move about with. Mine weighs almost 2KG
- No Ethernet port unlike a T470. You need a USB adapter
> - M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux
No BIOS fiddling, except for disabling Thunderbolt security for docking station to work (external monitor, network card, USB ports including keyboard, second sound card (though no volume control here)). But this is because Linux kernel doesn't support it yet.
Or maybe I did change its "RAID" to something that's not a lie, I don't really remember.
> - Nvidia graphics card is a pain on Ubuntu. Do a Google search for nouveau.modeset
Mine has Intel. I had no problems with running it.
> - The fans are on most of the time, even during idle. The machine isn't hot either - it just likes to run the fans
Quiet most of the time.
> - The 1920x1080 screen isn't that great and a "4K" option is quite expensive
1920x1080 gives way too small bitmap fonts on a 14" screen. I'd rather have 1280x800 or similar, but nobody ships that resolution anymore.
> - The carbon-fibre looking plastic looks cheap and is a magnet for finger prints. It does not look good and is difficult to clean
The plastic seems OK, but maybe I don't know what to look at.
> - It's not a great machine to move about with. Mine weighs almost 2KG
1.5kg
> - No Ethernet port unlike a T470. You need a USB adapter
Ethernet port present.
The 15 I have has two fans: one I presume for the CPU and another for the Nvidia GPU (which I don't use). However, once both have started neither shut off until the machine is suspended. There is a suggestion that this is due to a firmware bug related to suspend/wake and it doesn't happen from cold boot. I haven't tested it out, will give it a go next week.
I've also been used to MacBooks and so the XPS does fall short somewhat in comparison - minor flexing and creaking and much less heat dissipated via the chassis (plastic vs aluminium). I have an Intel i7 in the XPS that appears to consume quite a lot of power. I'd much rather change it for a less powerful, more frugal i5 but alas it is too late.
Thermals are shit. Even after a repaste, throttles a lot. Many people at my work have had hardware issues. My batteries are clean dead after a year of use.
> M2 SSD requires changing some BIOS preferences to work on Linux
I never had to do this. That is weird.
> Nvidia graphics card is a pain on Ubuntu. Do a Google search for nouveau.modeset
This is true but it affects all computers Ubuntu with NVIDIA and Intel integrated graphics and is not unique to Dell laptops. This screws up our desktops at work that have integrated graphics.
> The fans are on most of the time, even during idle. The machine isn't hot either - it just likes to run the fans
I think you do not have the power mode drivers setup properly. Mine doesn't do that.
> No Ethernet port unlike a T470. You need a USB adapter
I use a USB-C docking station at my desks. Once you get a docking station that connects everything, including power via a single small USB-C you never go back. You just need a dongle when traveling.
Which dock do you use?
Windows 10 Pro Edition comes with WSL, a Linux subsystem which is pretty decent for my deep learning implementation and small scale test. With Xming, I can do some visualization as well. There will be downsides. If you get a laptop that just comes with Ubuntu or any Linux distro, you are good to go.
If your development is cloud based, Google is push Chrome OS into a Linux friendly direction. Chromebooks are pretty good choices, price-wise, functionality-wise and portability-wise, you name it. At the time of writing (July 20s, 2018), Pixelbook and a few more Chromebooks receive the support of Linux container. More will be supported.
https://www.neverware.com/#introtext-3
https://guide.neverware.com/supported-devices/
ChromeOS supports Linux via a custom container or VM. So you have access to all ChromeOS APIs. I assume virtualized graphics hardware will be accessible as well. Android Studio with device debugging bridge should also be available shortly. As will the ability to run most apk binaries.
Main concern is probably in choosing a 64-bit ARM based laptop. Such as the hexacore Samsung model. Eventually I can foresee running into a portability issue. Perhaps with a library dependency. Or digital content creation tools such as Blender or Adobe. Will always have a cloud instance or backup gaming laptop running Win10 to fall back on. But for mobile development and meetings in cafes, I think it will prove ideal.
Cracking little machine for massively less than an Apple machine with a faster processor and until recently twice the max RAM the 'Pro' could have.
The i7-8550U benches about equal to my i7-7700HQ in real world use at half the TDP (so better battery life) though I'd be curious to see how it holds up under load for my workloads so perhaps they won't bother with a T480P, I've not seen any rumours so far.
My criteria for too thick/heavy is "can I use it on my knee for a few hours without it feeling like someone parked a deathstar on my legs?" in that realm the T470P is just fine.
Aesthetically they are marmite though especially when put next to my GF's Asus Zenbook (One looks like it came from an advanced society, the other like it's used by the engineers of that advanced society).
The really strange one for me was that the T470P lacks a Thunderbolt 3 port despite the 470's having it.
Not a big issue for me because I drive a 4K display with DP just fine, I'd also have liked to have not gotten the 940MX, nothing wrong with it I just don't use it, the onboard intel graphics are absolutely fine for 99.9% of what I do.
Honestly I love the thing, it's been the least hassle, nicest laptop I've had since (ironically) my last Thinkpad around ~2003.
* great keyboard
* kind of shit trackpad
* trackpoint is pretty nice at least
* hidpi is a pain in the ass to set up
..* looks great once you get it working
..* some apps like Zoom refuse to scale up, so the buttons are tiny
* light weight
* really long battery
`xinput list` gave me my trackpoint device's name. Mine is "TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint"
`xinput list-props "TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint"` gives a list of properties you can change.
"libinput Accel Speed (302):" looked promising, so I changed it via:
`xinput set-prop "TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint" 302 0.2` where 302 is the code given in parentheses above, and 0.2 is the speed.
Overall, a really nice laptop (except wtf is that terrible trackpad doing in there?). Didn't find any compatibility problems except the fingerprint scanner. But I didn't try very hard.
Relevant, recent discussion on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17547817
edit: good stuff, it works!
https://reprep.io/writings/20180621_lenovo_t480_linux_review...
I ended up installing NVidia's proprietary driver which let me disable the MX150 and use the Intel video card instead. Machine seems to run a little cooler since.
I was pleasantly surprised that Ubuntu auto detected my network printer. It also played nice the first time I plugged into the RJ45 port.
I'm still underwhelmed by the audio quality of the built-in speakers. It's sufficient for video conferencing, but it's a little sad when playing music.
Another minor annoyance is that when restoring from suspend, the laptop briefly flashes the previous desktop before showing the lock screen.
I have a very minor cosmetic defect from manufacturing, but HP is allowing me to send it off for repair or get a complete replacement. I choose a repair since it can be done in under a week compared to 2-3 weeks lead time on a replacement.
That's my home machine. At work I have a 2015 MacBookPro. Comparing the two the only downside of the System76 is a trackpad about 70% as good and heat management design isn't so great so the fan spins up more and louder. (and the fat bezel around the screen, but whatever, the pixels that are there are good)
They are suprisingly well supported on linux, in addition to being very good all-around ultraportable at a small price.
I am mostly happy with it - superfast, great screen. The two problems I had were when installing the Nvidia drivers, plus the fans stay on more than I think they should.
Rather than waste hours trying to solve these, I have decided to wait patiently and see what the community and Nvidia come up with.
Would I recommend others to buy one? Yes, though perhaps wait a while if any of your key requirements are not yet fully supported.
1. The webcam placement is terrible. If I'm taking notes during a call, everyone else gets a great shot of my fingernails.
2. I have to carry dongles for Ethernet and HDMI.
It is thin, light, long battery and I feel like I am not making any performance sacrifices.
http://www.pixelmonkey.org/2017/09/01/lenovo-linux
Hope it helps.
A year ago I tried setting up a vanilla XPS-15, wiping the Windows install and doing my own Ubuntu setup, and gave up hope after a couple of weeks that I'd be able to make the trackpad not suck, or for sleep to not screw the system to the point that it was easier just to shut the machine down every time instead of sleeping. That machine was also fairly heavy (normally I don't care much about that, but it was definitely noticeable).
I imagine the other models are also pretty good.
What tipped me over the edge is the repairability and modifiability of the laptops. After an ASUS laptop broke and I was only able to fix it because some random eBayer was selling a working keyboard, I swore off non-business laptops. There's a whole community of people who do nothing but mod Thinkpads, and companies that just refurbish ones (which have often been sitting in some office somewhere and are in great condition). Linux runs fantastically on it as well.
As for the trackpad...well, it's not great, but I use the trackpoint which I've always preferred. The keyboard on the other hand is amazing.
The setup itself involved a lot of gotchas, I wrote a post about it: https://medium.com/@bigilui/installing-antergos-linux-on-a-l... Hope it helps if you decide to do it.
What I like: 32GB RAM option. No dedicated GPU. Good trackpoint and great keyboard. Arch runs like a charm.
Note regarding the batteries: Internal and external battery, both easy to exchange. It however drains the most healthy battery first (down to 5%) before it starts draining the second one. I'd rather have it always drain the external battery first since that one is easier to replace.
System76 is also one of the only companies that sells machines that is committed to Open source, linux and hardware. They recently released their own Linux distro Pop_OS!. Its a really well put together Ubuntu based distro. Great design and continuity.
They recently opened a factory and are designing and building their machines in house. You get lifetime support.
I don’t work for them but I really can’t say enough nice things about them.
They are worth a look.
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