I’ve always been unlucky with regards to choosing a laptop that I can install Linux on. If it’s not the wireless card that’s not working out of the box, it’s the video card. Also, I’m still not able to hibernate my computer, close the lid and resume where I left off at a later point. I always have to shut down the laptop or leave it on.
Is there a laptop vendor that is considered to have the best trade off between performance and compatibility with Linux? If not, then what should I look for when buying a laptop?
Answers:
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Method 1
I’m not sure what issues you’re constantly experiencing but I run Gentoo on Lenovo Thinkpad without problems (fingerprint reader does not work) – with possible problems with removal of BKL in recent kernels (however 2.6.33 worked ok). Previously I used IBM Thinkpad.
From my small experience with them:
- Thinkpads seems to have a community which helps configuring them (IRC channel, website).
- Unless you need high-performace of graphics use intel. I had much trouble with getting ATI card (XPress 200M) to work (basic OpenGL was ok but there were problems with KMS – at least some time ago)
- Don’t trust windows recovery tool. Back up the position of partitions – it said it won’t change partions other then
C:but it deleted first secondary partition (/dev/sda5). Strangely grub was left on its place and data was undamaged (fortunatly I could reverse-engeneer the positions).
In addition to recommending linux laptops I can recomend Thinkpads (you asked) – I didn’t use many other laptops but they worked.
Method 2
You can check on this site: http://www.linux-laptop.net/
You look a lot of laptops and their level of “compatibility” with distributions of GNU/Linux that other user have tested, maybe you can find something that you like there.
Method 3
I’d suggest buying one with Linux preinstalled so you know the hardware is compatible. Dell still sells some, though not sure if you can still use the web interface… Rumor has it you have to call now…
Method 4
My experience is mostly with Dell latitude series of laptops. Looking for Linux compatibility, their actual series is a go, and, on Fedora, they work with all the power saving features (suspend, resume, disk spinning…)
I am not biased, but Intel hardware (Centrino brands, Core2 Duo, new Core i3, i5 and i7) are good to go, mostly because all of the hardware drivers are open source and kernel included (apart for firmware blobs of wifi cards), so they are a safe bet.
The same for netbooks (apart from the Poulsbo graphic adapter).
For a safe order, the Latitude or Vostro series with an intel wifi adapter should be ok.
Method 5
The problem with notebooks with Linux preinstalled is which distro comes with them.
I’ve bought one which had an unknown distro (Satux) that was Debian-based, but included proprietary drivers and no access to the sources for the distro or drivers.
When I finally decided to install Ubuntu over it, I started to have to chase drivers all around the internet, for the video adapter, and wi-fi (power-saving seems to be working).
But the wi-fi could not work reliably so I disabled the internal adapter and bought an external USB wi-fi dongle that works nicely (but with manually recompiled drivers, too).
Method 6
Always have a live USB/optical disk of your favorite OS handy, so that if you come across some laptop, you can boot off it and see how it fares. Ensure that you test problematic stuff like WiFi, 3G, and GPU (and maybe Bluetooth).
Method 7
There is no best laptop for Linux, because this heavily depends on your usage. I’d recommend getting a laptop with Linux preinstalled.
Other than that I can safely say that an Aspire Timeline 1810T runs Linux very well, but it is only a subnotebook.
Method 8
My Thinkpad X200 runs perfectly on Linux. Everything but the finger reader works out of the box with Ubuntu.
The suspend-on-lid closing works, the wireless resumes very quick and the connection is steady. Bluetooth works like a charm, the Battery life is huge (over 8 hrs).
So far, my experiences with Ubuntu, Arch and Gentoo on this laptop have been phenomenal.
Method 9
I am using Linux in my HP laptop, and it’s working very well. I would like to suggest you to buy Hp laptop but make sure if you buying new laptop it should be preinstalled with linux.
http://www.maintainmypc.com/technical-support/laptop-netbook-support.php
Method 10
As this thread is still alive I would like to add my experience here. For the past 1.5 years I have run Mint Mate (1st 14 then 17 now 17.1) on my ASUS X550C. I have 2 other newer but less powerful ASUS laptops and there I can run several Linux distros from live DVD or USB but none installs properly or works properly after install.
The Asus x550C sometimes has problems finding the network connection. Bluetooth still does not work nor can I install the Epson printer driver. Other than that, most problems, big and small, that have cropped up over the past 1.5 years have been resolved through regular upgrades or patches.
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