[GTALUG] Ubuntu

[Charles Profitt]

Irwin:

See my responses in-line.

On Tue, 2016-11-22 at 15:53 -0500, Irwin Barrer via talk wrote:
> Dear Talk List Members
> 
> I am brand new to Linux, open source, etc. I am a user, not a
> developer.

Glad you are giving Linux a try. It is an excellent OS and platform for
computing.

> I am interested in buying a laptop and installing Ubuntu on it—I like
> the idea of a free alternative to Windows or MacOS, and price is a
> big factor.

I do not know what your price range is, but I assume it is less that
$949 (US) since that is the cost of the Dell XPS 13.

want to throw out a couple of decent options:
 * System76 Lemur ($699 w/ Ubuntu Installed) - https://system76.com/lap
   tops/lemur
 * Shop the Lenovo Outlet - http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/laptops/
   #facet-1=1,2&facet-3=14,19

The Lenovo T540/440 and 550/450 units are known to be Linux friendly.
You would have to search to see how Linux friendly the 560/460 range
is. 


> A while back I saw some relatively inexpensive laptops on Dell with
> Ubuntu preinstalled. Unfortunately these are no longer available and
> only a high-end developer system is available with Ubuntu
> preinstalled.


Dell also has a good document on installing Ubuntu:
http://www.dell.com/
support/article/us/en/19/SLN151664/en


> So I have started looking into laptops with Chrome OS (Chromebooks)
> and installing Ubuntu. I’ve done some research, but still uncertain.
> Intel processors seem to be a must and 4GB RAM—which is the most I
> can find on a Chromebook.

I would personally trend away from the Chromebooks due to their having
a much smaller hard drive. With research you can likely find out if the
sub $400 laptops made by Dell still work well with Ubuntu or not.

Charles