Help me buy a linux friendly laptop

[ExquisiteCorpse]

Looking for a linux friendly laptop. I know there was that kerfuffle about UEFI but I'm not too read up on UEFI. From what I heard though it's microsofts attempt at locking in the bios to the OS......Rage.

Anyway my choices at the moment seem to be:

Optimus V - Price £780

this laptop which has the nvidia 860m but looks clunky and really ugly. The upside is that the screen is a QHD+ IPS Panel

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/optimusV-13/

Or

Ideapad U430

Apparentally the screen is not that great however it has a slim and nice design and weighs a bit less than the 2kg Optimus at 1.8 kg

It runs the nvidia 735m so won't be rocking as many games yet it looks far sleeker and nicer and around 30 quid cheaper

Vote now and help decide the fate of my wallet!

 

[TrashyMG]

I would personally would go for the ideapad, but that's just because I'm more familiar with Lenovo's offerings and expected quality.

 

[Grench]

At the price points you're looking in - go for a Thinkpad.

 

[Björn]

I got a Lenovo ThinkPad E540 and it's not that great. The first device they sent me had a factory error in the touchpad. The second device had a dead pixel in the screen (but i kept it anyway).
While Linux runs ok, i've encountered ACPI problems (ACPI was made by the devil -.-). When it goes into suspend, theres a 50/50 chance that it freezes and you have to reboot. If it wasn't for that, it would be a pretty good device, it's got an intel chipset (WLAN, Bluetooth and graphics) which works well under Linux.

 

[TrashyMG]

I got a Lenovo ThinkPad E540 and it's not that great. The first device they sent me had a factory error in the touchpad. The second device had a dead pixel in the screen (but i kept it anyway). While Linux runs ok, i've encountered ACPI problems (ACPI was made by the devil -.-). When it goes into suspend, theres a 50/50 chance that it freezes and you have to reboot. If it wasn't for that, it would be a pretty good device, it's got an intel chipset (WLAN, Bluetooth and graphics) which works well under Linux.

I never had anything other than the T or W series.. so personally never seen anything from their economy line.

 

[Björn]

Well, the production flaws could just be bad luck, but i still wouldn't recommend this laptop, because of the annoying ACPI problem.

 

[ThinkPad]

If you are on a tight budget, my advice is to get the one with the biggest warranty. (business or entry level business class, laptop)

At this moment, here in Eastern Europe, The cheapest ones that comes with 3 years warranty are the entry level business class - DELL Latitudes (Not The E series).

They are coming with Ubuntu or Win 8 Pro (legaly downgradable to 7 Pro), So in general, the Linux compatibility should not be a problem here,

Some HP ProBooks and EliteBooks are also coming with Open Suse.

The most expensive models of these "non E series" Latitudes are equipped with i5 Haswells, 2GB GDDR5 128 bit AMD GPUs, and 1080p LED IPS matte displays. Their price is up to ~800 Euros, and all of them are coming with 3 years warranty out of the box.

Unfortunately I do not know what is the situation in England, but here the cheapest Lenovos that comes with 3 year warranty are the L-series Thinkpads,

and they are way more expensive then those "non E series" Latitudes.

Just for comparison, The ThinkPad Edges are coming with 2 years warranty for home users, and 1 year for business users... just like the HP Probooks.

On the next price level are "the E series" Latitudes, Thinkpad T-Series, EliteBook P-series...

These are professional business class laptops so they are alot more expensive becouse their chassis are way more superior and robust.

Also keep in mind that the quality of some of those is getting worse with every generation.

In exaple, the chassis of the newest ThinkPad -T540/440 from 2014 is worst then T510/410 from 2011... but still T540/440 is a very good and reliable laptop by today standarts.

Do not ever think about buyng IdeaPad, Inspirion, Vostro, Satellite, or any kind of similar piece of wood.

Those are consumer class laptops with poor quality! Their chasis are hopeless and almost all of them have overheating and noise issues, even brand new, on normal load.

Most people are jumping on these becouse they are equiped with powerfull hardware and their price is low, but the catch is the crappy chassis.

Also, Do not ever buy a laptop equipped with AMD CPU !!! - This is axiom !

 

[comradekingu]

Thinkpad anything other than X T and W -series is not even once.

The laptop you linked is a Clevo W230ST or W230SS   which isnt to say the quality will be bad, just that i've never seen them do anything but subpar stuff.

Compal is slightly better at the same thing.

thinkpad x201 or HP elitebook 2540p were the last laptops, everything after that has been bad/worse. (to my knowledge)

Warranty is worthless if you come from a industrialized country where consumer rights far overshoot the warranty anyway.

Check out the novena laptop. Get the bare board and build one yourself.

Also AMD kaveri laptops are going to be nice. They have some 19W APUs that are nice. 35W 7600 for some gaming is also ok.

Coreboot support is more likely to land on a new AMD laptop, since they are more helpful than intel is.

 

[sebt3]

Warranty is worthless if you come from a industrialized country where user rights far overshoot the warranty anyway.

If you buy from bad companies, that's your problem. If you continue, it's even worst...

Also AMD laptops are going to be nice. They have some 19W APUs that are nice. 35W 7600 for some gaming is also ok.

AMD sucks as far as linux drivers is concerned. Intel all the way

 

[Björn]

Some HP ProBooks and EliteBooks are also coming with Open Suse.

I would have loved to get an EliteBook. I've tried them out at a previous job and they were great. But i could'nt find a shop that sells them, so i thought they were only sold to business customers.

 

[levi]

Yeah, I used an Elitebook and a Latitude last time I had laptops at work. The HP really felt like a premium product, while the Dell felt all plasticy and I lost a key off the keyboard within a few weeks. That said, the Dell did survive an (accidental) full body slam in icy weather (in a laptop bag) without a scratch, and I'm not the lightest of guys.

 

[ThinkPad]

@comradekingu

The Mobile CPUs of AMD sucks by default because, for all this years they do not have a single mobile CPU which is stable, reliable and do not have overheating issues (~60 - 70 C in idle is a normal thing for them)

It will be great if they finaly manage to bring a good mobile CPU to the market. I do not have any experience with the mobile version of their APUs but as far as i can see, all of them are put in consumer class laptops.

I usually prefer AMD over Intel in the desktop form factor, and Intel over AMD in the mobile (laptop) form factor.

@Björn

Try the HP official site or Amazon. Keep in mind that It will be hard to find a professional business class laptops in a general store for consumer class electronics, like refrigerators, TVs, and stuff.

@Levi

Which model Latitude, because there are quite a few series, and they are in different classes...

In terms of durability the Latitude E series and ElitteBook P are on the same level. Оf course the price is arround the same (HIGH).

The main difference is the EllitteBook P has aluminium body that really catches the eye, they really put some craftsmanship in it.

On the other hand, the Latitude E has magnesium body which is superior in terms of scratch resistance and ruggedness.

For me it will be the tough choose to point which one is superrior between these two. Both are really great and reliable laptops by todays standarts.

 

[N3Cr0]

Some HP ProBooks and EliteBooks are also coming with Open Suse.

I would have loved to get an EliteBook. I've tried them out at a previous job and they were great. But i could'nt find a shop that sells them, so i thought they were only sold to business customers.

You can buy them directly from the HP shop, or if you are from Germany and student/teacher/professor, at campuspoint.de

Yeah, I used an Elitebook and a Latitude last time I had laptops at work. The HP really felt like a premium product, while the Dell felt all plasticy and I lost a key off the keyboard within a few weeks. That said, the Dell did survive an (accidental) full body slam in icy weather (in a laptop bag) without a scratch, and I'm not the lightest of guys.

There is a difference between the e5xxx and e6xxx series. The e5s have a black plastic case. The e6s have a magnesium alloy frame.

EDIT:

Thinkpad was faster

 

[levi]

It was a metal case, though it looked suspiciously like plastic until you put it to the test.

 

[ThinkPad]

It was a metal case, though it looked suspiciously like plastic until you put it to the test.

Only a Panasonic Toughbook will do the job for you my friend