Re: [PLUG] Linux laptop

My current work Dell laptop (E5440) can be a PITA. It has an Intel Haswell video as well as an Nvidia video. For a long time only LXDE/Lubuntu (64-bit 16.04) and Mate desktops would run properly in a setup with an external Display Port monitor & laptop screen at work, and just the laptop screen at home (every other desktop had a different issue, although all worked well if I used only the laptop screen). It took me a half hour or more of fiddling with drivers and combinations of settings to get the Plasma/Kubuntu deskop (and others) to work properly, and even then there are occasional random problems (like sddm needing to be reinstalled to work correctly after the latest kernel patch yesterday). It's a good laptop for someone who likes to fiddle with things; not as good for someone who wants it to Just Work™.

Regards

-- Bhaskar

On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 12:05 PM, Jason Plum <jplum@archlinuxarm.org> wrote:

I have a ThinkPad x260 (skylake) as a work laptop for GitLab, and almost everything has worked out of the box. I have not _yet_ tried it with Ubuntu, but considering it didn't take me more than a few hours to get it all up and running (including power management) on Arch, 16.04.1 / 16.10 of Ubuntu flavors should work. It's on the smaller, quite portable side, and with extended battery is still quite light with a very long battery life.

Jason Plum
WarheadsSE

On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 12:02 PM, Greg Helledy <gregsonh@gra-inc.com> wrote:
I don't know all the specs but a Dell Laptop might fit your needs.
Someone already mentioned the XPS 13 Developer Edition which comes with Ubuntu. I think you'll find that things on Dells will tend to "just work" in linux. I was looking for a small laptop and got an Inspiron 11 which has served me well so far and had zero install issues with MX (a Debian variant).

My recommendation, since they all come with Windows and backing up the restore partition doesn't work is this:
*buy the cheapest drive option you can get with the laptop
*buy the SSD you really want
*first thing when you get the laptop is take out the drive it came with and put it away for safekeeping, install linux on your SSD
*if you have a hardware issue while under warranty, swap them back

--
Greg Helledy
GRA, Incorporated
P: +1 215-884-7500
F: +1 215-884-1385
www.gra.aero

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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug