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Buying a new computer to run Linux on - suggestions?

Hello. I have never used Linux before in my life, but this post isn’t really about the software. I know there are many guides and threads out there explaining how to set up Linux for beginners.

My question is more about what computers you guys suggest for Linux. I don’t have any old computers lying around at home, I only have a computer assigned by my school that I’ll turn in next year. To my understanding, Linux should be able to work on almost all computers, so I haven’t thought about a specific brand.

My top priorities are (in order):

  • good/great battery life
  • quiet
  • compact and lightweight

Preferably a 13" or 15" screen, though I prefer the former. Just a small machine with a great battery life that also doesn’t make much noise when several apps are open at once. I have looked at Asus before, but I’m not sure what the general consensus is of this brand, so I was hoping to get some suggestions. I’ve also looked at Framework computers, but honestly it’s a bit expensive for me. My budget is ~1000$ (10 000 SEK).

Might be unnecessary information, but: I will be using this computer mainly to write documents, make the occasional presentations, browse the web, and watch videos and movies. So no photo- or video editing nor gaming at all. Like everybody, I hope to buy a computer that will last many years and survive many student theses. Cheers and thanks!

CMDR_Horn ,

Look at frame.work they have good documentation about various Linux distros on their machines

clark OP ,
@clark@midwest.social avatar

I have, unfortunately they’re too expensive for me.

nichtburningturtle ,
@nichtburningturtle@feddit.org avatar

a cheaper version

boredsquirrel ,
@boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net avatar

Their firmware updates are pretty late and they ditched coreboot.

But I guess the hardware is awesome. Keep in mind that these thunderbolt adapters suck quite some battery, so having a laptop simply with the ports you need uses up less battery. Also, the modularity may not be needed and causes it to be less stiff.

Chef6652 ,

They ditched Coreboot?

boredsquirrel ,
@boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net avatar

They gave some coreboot devs laptops but didnt invest anything apart from that, afaik. The result was not working well enough, so they use insyde (which has pretty cool features but also past security vulnerabilities and it is backdoored by Intel & the NSA)

Like, UEFI being backdoored by the NSA is not a conspiracy. “Persistence” in “end user device data retrieval” was one big goal. Persistence means than an OS reinstall, Secureboot, boot integrity, QubesOS disposable Cubes etc. will all not protect you, as that shit is in the firmware!

No security or privacy without coreboot. Google knows that and has all their servers on coreboot and also all Chromebooks. Android is ARM so that is different but also WORLDS more secure than any secureboot garbage.

cmnybo ,

It looks like work is still being done on Coreboot for the Framework. They got it running on the AMD version. It’s not ready for use yet, but at least there is some progress.

boredsquirrel ,
@boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net avatar

Nice! Thanks for the note!

Frameworks sound like a really cool idea.

Can you disable ports like on hardware? It would save a good amount of battery

Strit ,
@Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show avatar

I will say that a second-hand ThinkPad is a great option. They can be real cheap, but you can also get a pretty decent new one for your budget.

You can likely find great T480-T495 that fits your needs really well.

boredsquirrel ,
@boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net avatar

I HIGHLY recommend against the T495. That thing has a great keyboard, fingerprint sensor, okay camera and mics, okay ports. But it is underpowered af, and Thinkpads always have the Thinkpad price.

It has a great chassis, but my coreboot Clevo NV41 has double the performance and kinda same battery life.

Strit ,
@Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show avatar

I disagree with it being underpowered for regular office use and media consumption. If you can get your hands on a 16 GB RAM one, it should be able to handle just about anything other than gaming.

boredsquirrel ,
@boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net avatar

The RAM doesnt matter, it has 8GB builtin (or is there a 4GB model??) and one slot flexible.

Yes the CPU is okay for regular office stuff. But the AMD linux support was suboptimal, I had regular suspend-resume issues where the lockscreen would freeze and I needed to hard shutdown.

And… for some reason that thing doesnt even boot anymore. Removed the battery, using official charger. Doesnt boot into the BIOS anymore, no idea what I could do honestly.

Maybw the mobo is damaged…

mortalic ,

Agreed, I love mine.

BarrelAgedBoredom ,

I’m farting around on a T480 for school and light retro gaming. Works great! Super easy to upgrade too

Kalcifer ,
@Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works avatar

A T460 is good as well.

ryannathans ,

Tldr Amd & amd

propter_hog ,
@propter_hog@hexbear.net avatar

System 76

sunzu ,

Their laptops ain't as good as their Desktop which are premium from what I gathered from comments

boredsquirrel ,
@boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net avatar

That depends on where you live.

In europe I recommend Novacustom or 3mdeb if you want coreboot, Starlabs too.

In the US System76.

0x0 ,

No Tuxedo?

boredsquirrel ,
@boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net avatar

Tuxedo has coreboot in some of their laptops afaik.

Their chassis’ are waay better than the clevo garbage I currently have, but

coreboot >> design

velox_vulnus ,

If you can afford to pour in a little bit more money, get a Thinkpad T14 Gen 5/T16 Gen 3 AMD variant. You can also get the T14 Gen 4/T16 Gen 2 AMD variant, but the RAM will be soldered. The X13 laptop is probably what you’re looking for, if screen is a big deal for you, but they have soldered chipsets, and the only thing modular is the NVME storage. Then there’s the HP Elitebook 835, 845 and the 855, and also the Acer TravelMate (I don’t remember the exact model). By the way, Framework is also available in Sweden, so you may also look into that.

asap , (edited )
@asap@lemmy.world avatar

www.asus.com/us/…/zenbook-14-oled-um3402/

22 hours battery life.

AMD.

Slim, gorgeous. Runs Linux like a champ.

I have bought only Asus for my last 4 laptops (previously I was Thinkpad), and I have never regretted any of them. Since switching from Windows to Linux earlier this year (Aurora-DX) I have had no issues.

If you want to go even smaller and lighter, this one is awesome but is Intel and doesn’t have as long battery life.

Telorand ,

Unrelated question: I like Bazzite, but I would really like to also have the Dev tooling of Aurora DX. Does Aurora use the same fsync kernel as Bazzite? Have/do you do any gaming on Aurora? If so, how has it been?

asap ,
@asap@lemmy.world avatar

I believe you can run one of the ujust scripts to add all the same dev tooling to Bazzite.

I have a Steam Deck for my gaming, which is funnily enough the thing that got me into Linux in the first place.

Telorand ,

I’ll have to check. I have a laptop running Bazzite, but I don’t recall its ujust recipes including dev tooling. I think Aurora/Bluefin and Bazzite have different sets of commands.

haui_lemmy ,

Depending on your budget, I would suggest tuxedo‘s aura 15 gen 3. starts at around 800 bucks and is linux first and made in germany.

If you have a lower budget I would go used as someone suggested since a new laptop is nice but unnecessary if you have budget constraints.

Wish you tons of fun.

Agility0971 ,
@Agility0971@lemmy.world avatar

I can reccomend huawei laptops with metal chassis. I’ve had my matebook x pro for around 6 years. My past laptops made of plastic disentegrted over time

pastermil ,

Clearly you never have a Thinkpad.

cizra ,

Once I a very sleepy adult human happened to accidentally stand smack in the middle of my ThinkPad P50, with plastic everything. It’s 7 years old now, and still works fine.

wheresmysurplusvalue ,
@wheresmysurplusvalue@hexbear.net avatar

I’ve got a similar use case and went with an X13 Thinkpad (AMD). It’s good for hardware support, but if you want a good experience for watching videos, I’d look somewhere else. The display and audio are not that good.

HEXN3T ,
@HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Used ThinkPad or Framework laptop should be a copypasta at this point.

circuitfarmer ,
@circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

If it were me, I’d first be looking at used Thinkpads (with the caveat to make sure the specific Thinkpad has hardware which is generally supported). I’d also look into Linux-friendly manufacturers, like frame.work or System76.

Omega_Jimes ,

Ive had great success with their all amd systems, and older machines go on sale often, so you can score a Ryzan 6850 w/ 16GB of RAM for 700-800CAD if little else matters.

HotsauceHurricane ,

Sounds like you need a higher end chromebook. I used Mr. Chromebox to load linux onto my Lenovo.

cRazi_man , (edited )

I’ve just been through the process you’ve described and bought a laptop. Your budget is way overkill for your use (documents, browsing, video watching).

I recently bought myself a “like new” second hand Dell Latitude (5300, I think), 8th gen i7, 16GB Ram for £150 and it is amazing with OpenSUSE.

I got my wife a new HP Aero 13 (Ryzen) a couple of years ago and even that was £580 brand new and has been great.

Consider the secondhand market. A lot of laptops will meet your criteria.

clark OP ,
@clark@midwest.social avatar

You’re right. I actually bought my current Pixel phone secondhand, so I’ll check out the market for computers. Do you know of any red flags to watch out for in secondhand computer ads?

borari ,

I wouldn’t buy a used MacBook from an individual seller unless I could meet in person to verify there’s no BIOS/TPM lock going on that would prevent me from doing a secure erase and wiping the SSD to start fresh. A laptop with a replaceable ssd is probably less of an issue, but I’d still feel more comfortable having a picture of the BIOS showing no password set or anything, and a picture of it booted to desktop at minimum so you know it isn’t a stolen laptop that has a password no one knows. If you’re buying from like a second hand recycler or something, anyone that sells through significant volume of devices, I’d be much more comfortable just pulling the trigger sight unseen.

cRazi_man , (edited )

I used eBay so I could get a refund if the laptop wasn’t as advertised. I spent weeks looking at new listings looking for a good deal. I eventually found an amazing deal from a hospice that was selling excess stock. I’ve worked in a hospice before and know this would have only ever been used sparingly in an office and be very well looked after.

On eBay I would avoid anyone who hasn’t written out a complete description and detailed pictures of condition and specifics. Like the other comment says, the BIOS being unlocked is very important. Read descriptions carefully. People fall victim to buying expensive things that can’t be returned because it was mentioned in the listing (e.g. buying a box only for a very expensive price). For any laptop I find, I search for forum posts from other users about how that model works with Linux and videos for a teardown to make sure that RAM, WiFi module, etc can be upgraded. Make sure the charger is included.

Search eBay for “8th Gen 13 inch 16GB”, then sort by lowest price for buy-it-now. That’s what I did for a number of weeks. Got one for myself and a great one for my dad as well. Good experience both times.

avidamoeba ,
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

Used/off-lease ThinkPad T-series.

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