Re: [PLUG] Inexpensive laptop

From: "Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List" <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>
To: "Drew DeVault" <sir@cmpwn.com>
Cc: "Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List" <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>, "Tom" <tlbox@verizon.net>
Sent: Tuesday, 16 June, 2020 02:48:39
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Inexpensive laptop

On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 10:08 PM Drew DeVault via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> wrote:
What I don't like to roll the dice on is Linux support. Drivers, UEFI,
firmware, and more can be super spotty on a lot of laptops, and it's
hard to tell in advance if you'll get screwed. ThinkPads, on the other
hand - I'm running Alpine Linux, NetBSD, Haiku, and Plan 9 :)

Pre/Post COVID, load a thumb drive with the live install of the distro of choice. Take it to Best Buy and boot the display model of the laptop you’re interested in from the thumb drive. If everything works then you’re golden. The only caveat might be a password protected BIOS that doesn’t have “boot from USB” enabled. Good luck
David

Used Thinkpad, they last forever. I've been through 6 or more units for myself or installed Ubuntu on units purchased for friends.

The sub-model ( screen type, etc ) sometimes matters for compatibility.

Yes you'll need new batteries, more RAM, and such, but still very inexpensive.

I've had luck with several X200 netbook size units, X-61 tab / convertible, then upgraded to X-230 tablets.

For business use, I'm looking now that the newer X-1's but that is lot of money. I just can't stand anything without a track-point.

Lee

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