[GTALUG] Recommendations for useful laptop suitable for Ubuntu

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 11:04:14AM -0400, Giles Orr via talk wrote:
> 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.

Hmm, I haven't dealt with Asus laptops in a while.  I know support was
fantastic 10 years ago, but things change.  Back then the service depot
was in Markham, so it was trivial to just drop it off to be fixed.
I think now they have to be shipped to texas or something like that.

I don't have a clue what Lenovo thinkpad support is like.  I have never
needed it.

> 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.

Sounds right to me.

-- 
Len Sorensen