Ask HN: suggested sweet laptops for running Ubuntu?

Historically Thinkpads have been the best option for a Linux laptop. I have a Sandy Bridge X220 that is mostly ok, but there have been issues like this xorg-video-intel bug that was recently fixed:

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48525

and I still get occasional compiz window manager crashes but they are few and far between these days. If you want something along the lines of an Air have a look at the Thinkpad X1 Carbon.

My current one is based on a Mecer http://www.mecer.co.za/notebooks - No problem at all (except a little bit too noisy when fan is on).

I'm a big fan of System76's laptops: https://www.system76.com/ -- they're well priced for the power they pack, and I've never had a hardware problem. Plus they come pre-configured with the appropriate drivers for their webcams, fingerprint readers, and the like. Smoothest-running Linux laptop I've ever had (although I defintely heavily customized their shipped config).

I asked people on Reddit, and they answered in this thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/yue0s/what_laptop_sho...

Good luck!

DELL VOSTRO V3360 RED :)

Thinkpads are excellent for Linux. I've had many, currently the T520.

All the bells and whistles are supported, like the Trackpoint, web camera, special keyboard keys, LED light, etc. The only gotchas I've run into are with NVIDIA graphics drivers.

I'd definitely recommend a thinkpad. However if you buy a high-end model with optimus graphics, you'll need to use some workarounds like these:

http://sagark.org/optimal-ubuntu-graphics-setup-for-thinkpad...

http://sagark.org/thinkdisp-about-installation/

*Disclaimer, I wrote this guide / app

I put Ubuntu 12.04 on a Lenovo T410. It's not thin and it's not that speedy, particularly when it comes to 3D graphics performance, but everything worked out of the box with absolutely no configuration or fuss, and on that basis I would recommend it.

system 76

I've been using two Dell laptops over the past 5 or so years with Ubuntu. Usually they work fine, but every release breaks some little thing that used to work before. Sometimes it gets fixed with an update, but more often than not you're stuck with an annoyance for the next 6 months, until it gets fixed and a new annoyance pops in.

For example, in upgrading Karmic my previously-working Intel graphics card was blacklisted for some reason; in the Pulseaudio release (Jaunty? Lucid?) I had to have "killall pulseaudio" bound to a hotkey because it shat itself so often; in Oneiric my previously-working AMD graphics card failed to update window titles, making the system unusuable; in Precise Compiz crashes every few hours and window previews don't work any more.

Basically, if you can configure your laptop to use as much Intel hardware as possible, you should be OK. Whatever you do don't get AMD graphics (I've been dealing with it for two years now and it's my biggest regret in my laptop) and make sure to get Intel wifi. Do a quick Google search for every piece of hardware just to double check, and you'll be OK.

I'm currently running Crunchbang on Acer 14inch laptop with an i7 processor and 4gb ram, I removed the stickers so I don't know the model number but this machine runs like a beast when using Crunchbang. The distro is based on Debian but I'm sure ubuntu or any other GNU/Linux distro will work fine with it too. I'd recommend it, its pretty fun to use and portable too (14inch screen is just the right size for programming whilst also maintaining true portablity, you don't want to be running around with a 17inch laptop do you?). Also its pretty affordable too, I got it around 10 months ago for £550 which was a great deal

    apt-get install chromium

I'm jumping ship from an Air to a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/x-series/x...

It's a standard Intel kit, so it should run Linux just fine. Unfortunately, roughly the entire stock bound for the US has been held up in manufacturing and isn't expected to be properly released for another two weeks.

Sony VAIO VPCF1 and Dell Vostro 3700. Both have been running Ubuntu 11.10 and are now running 12.04 with kernel 3.5.2. The only thing with VAIO is it freezes completely whenever I unplug the power, but I sort of learned to live with it.

I dual boot 12.04 on a Lenovo X230, very pleasurable experience. Great laptop overall. I've also used a W510 without any problems.

I recommend samsung np900x3c-a01. It has actually better screen than MB Air. Though you'll need to return preinstalled windows within 2 weeks from purchase.

I quite like my 15" Samsung 9, though there's room for improvement - the vertical angle on the screen is limited (horizontal is good), and the keyboard, while I'm used to it, could be a little quieter. I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 and have come to love the bomb, err, Unity. Only recently have I found settings that disable the touchpad while typing. I was planning to self upgrade it to a 256G SSD and 16G memory, but Samsung's recent showing of a new Series 9 with a 2560x1440 resolution matte 13" screen makes me think they'll probably have a 15" with improvements soon enough.

Lots of endorsers of Linux+Thinkpad. See my comment link below for my not-so-great experience running Ubuntu on an X220. I'll admit that I'm someone who just wants things to work (a mindset I probably owe to Apple).

tl;dr Fan spun constantly, machine ran hot, trackpad was basically non-functional. May just be X220-specific. Not sure.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4428967

[laclinux](http://laclinux.com/gnu/Laptop) is where I got my Lenovo Thinkpad. Recommended.

Asus Zenbook Prime works fine with a few tweaks. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AsusZenbookPrime

I'm running Linux Mint on an Asus Zenbook (basically a cheap copy of a MBA). The only real issues I'm having is that I haven't worked out how to get the laptop to sleep, and there's a weird order of steps I have to take to get an external monitor working. Oh, and the keyboard isn't great.

After a few months I've got used to the problems, but I do miss OS X. (I'm more than happy to give Apple my money to make things Just Work.)

I've had a great experience with the Thinkpads (Lenovo). Can't praise them enough. They are ugly, though.

I use an old Toshiba NB255 with a SSD.

With the SSD I moved to btrfs, a mistake (look into dpkg, fsync and btrfs before going there.)

Everything brand/netbook specific resolved in the 11.X versions. But a screen with bellow ~768 vertical resolution isn't well supported (odd since I think Unity started in the netbook distribution?)

Samsung has some nice high resolution small screens.. But I'll be waiting for SATA3 and USB3 to permeate the low end before my next upgrade.

I've got the Lenovo ThinkPad T430s (The i7 edition that includes a thunderbolt port).

"stock" Ubuntu 12.04 runs great, bar an issue with suspend/resume.. But - Grabbing the official test packages[1] for the 3.5.0 kernel have sorted everything..

I don't have any Thunderbolt devices to test with, but DisplayPort monitor's certainly work on the Thunderbolt port..

EDIT: I should add.. avoid ANY laptops from ANY brand that include "dual" graphics eg NVidia "Optimus" etc. I've got the Intel HD 4000 card, it runs Unity perfectly..

[1]: http://packages.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/223/build...

The ASUS zenbook primes with 13" 1920x1080 screens sure look nice, but I've seen mixed reviews of Linux compatibility. Does anybody have any experience here?

They seem like serious MacBook Air killers with similar hardware and much, much better screens. But they'd have to run Linux, of course, because they can't be taken seriously if they're crippled with Windows.

thinkpad's work well.