[GTALUG] Recommendations for useful laptop suitable for Ubuntu

[Giles Orr]

On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 at 23:18, Alex Beamish via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> My Windows 10 laptop died pretty close to its fifth birthday, so I'm
> planning on replacing it with a Linux laptop. I've used it for conference
> calls (hosting the Toronto Perlmongers meeings), and some light Libre
> Office work, so I need something better than a Bare Bones laptop, but not
> as wicked as a big fat gamer's rig.
>
> Refurbished is OK, and pre-loaded with Linux is also fine. Budget is
> perhaps $600-$800.
>

My impression, from both this list and years of looking at reviews to buy
laptops for myself, is that if you want durability you should be looking at
either Asus or Lenovo Thinkpads (as Don Tai said: not Lenovo's consumer
models, just Thinkpads).  My two main laptops are both relatively recent
Asus ultrabooks - mostly because I wanted the reduced weight, but also
because the premium on Thinkpad reliability is so high (ie. same specs,
greater cost).  I've found Asus's products to be extremely reliable, but
(as I think I've mentioned previously) in the odd case where their product
breaks, their support sucks.  Having never owned a Thinkpad I can't address
their support, but I imagine it's good.

Like Hugh, I have a touch screen on one of my laptops and I barely ever use
it - but then, I'm a command line guy.  Also like him, I highly recommend
getting a screen that's at least 1080p - although my aging eyes don't find
anything higher than that terribly useful.  Along those lines, the big
trade-offs have been partially covered: a big screen is great - especially
if your eyesight is getting worse, but my back isn't great and if the
laptop weighs more than three pounds (excuse me, "1.4 kg") it's too damn
heavy and I don't want to carry it anywhere.  You can of course get an
ultrabook: I love them for the (lack of) weight and the thinness, but - as
Hugh points out - they're totally un-upgradeable and un-repairable by
normal humans.  My compromise has been to settle - for now - on the 14" or
15" ultrabooks with as much memory as I can get in them when I buy them.

As for compatibility with Linux - pre-installed Linux (despite it being a
free OS) generally costs you _more_ than a Windows laptop while offering
less choice in hardware.  I generally spend a lot of time trawling (not
trolling) the forums looking for user experiences for the models I'm
interested in.  I've had bad luck with touchpads: a new piece of hardware
works fine on Windows, but may be weeks or months waiting for a new driver
under Linux (I have one six year old laptop with a touchpad that still
doesn't work under Linux).  Look for owner commentary on installing Linux
on the exact model you're contemplating.

Best of luck.

-- 
Giles
https://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr at gmail.com
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