Linux friendly hardware recommendation - Laptop, available in NZ now

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JockTheKiwi

29 posts

Geek

#290630 24-Nov-2021 12:03

I have no idea on hardware and given the shortages in NZ I am looking for suggestions of Linux friendly hardware that is available. Looking to spend sub 2k for each device.

I plan to buy a new laptop for personal use and want to use Linux. Have decided to start with POP!_OS to begin with. I am a tinkerer but have little patience so do not want to feck around with the OS, it just needs to work after installing.

I am also getting a new laptop for my daughter and likely to di the same for her. She has used Windows and Mac but does not care about the OS. I checked and almost everything she does is in the browser (GDocs, Netflix, Youtube, etc.)

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476 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2818441 24-Nov-2021 12:44

Long-time Linux user here but if I had to buy a new laptop I would go for a M1 Macbook. I would hate to spend so much money, including the Microsoft tax, to find out find out issues due to of lack of driver support. Otherwise an ex-lease bussiness grade Dell or HP, as older laptops have good hardware support.

hamish225

1418 posts

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#2818453 24-Nov-2021 13:07

marpada:

Long-time Linux user here but if I had to buy a new laptop I would go for a M1 Macbook. I would hate to spend so much money, including the Microsoft tax, to find out find out issues due to of lack of driver support. Otherwise an ex-lease bussiness grade Dell or HP, as older laptops have good hardware support.

An M1 macbook? I didn't realise they supported anything other than MacOS!

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

gzt

17168 posts

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#2818461 24-Nov-2021 13:28

I'm not a current Linux user. Dell has good support for Linux:

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-nz/000138246/linux-on-dell-desktops-and-laptops

gzt

17168 posts

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#2818462 24-Nov-2021 13:30

No mainstream distribution supports M1 at this time.

marpada

476 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2818467 24-Nov-2021 13:45

MacOS is based on FreeBSD so it's Unix-like. Can you install a Linux distro? No, but for the most part you can use the same tools. According to the reviews hardware-wise the M1 Macbooks seem to be good value compared with Intel-based laptops on the same price range, that's why my suggestion.

chevrolux

4962 posts

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#2818498 24-Nov-2021 15:02

I am a tinkerer but have little patience so do not want to feck around with the OS, it just needs to work after installing.

That sentence should never follow "want to use Linux".

Sounds like your daughter could just get a decent Chromebook!

openmedia

3334 posts

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Trusted

#2818500 24-Nov-2021 15:07

There is still a world of different between running OSX and running Linux - I've worked with both but I've been using Linux of Lenovo laptops for 15+ years.

Thinkpads tend to have excellent support as both Red Hat and SuSE teams use them day2day. Just watch for specialised HW like NVidia graphics which can still cause some pain.

I'm currently on a T480s but should be getting my T14S Gen2 in December.

Lower price consumer class devices tend to be a bit problematic where the hardware might not be as widely supported. For example my wife's Dell Latitude webcam doesn't have a Linux driver.

It is possible to get Lenovo laptops with Fedora pre-loaded provided your vendor can access the correct SKUs.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

openmedia

3334 posts

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#2818503 24-Nov-2021 15:18

chevrolux:

I am a tinkerer but have little patience so do not want to feck around with the OS, it just needs to work after installing.

That sentence should never follow "want to use Linux".

Sounds like your daughter could just get a decent Chromebook!

I agree. If you want something that just works and isn't expensive a Chromebook is a great option.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

darylblake

1162 posts

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#2818505 24-Nov-2021 15:22

I would probably go for HP or Lenovo business machine. A lot of them have support for at least RHEL or Ubuntu as these machines are optionally sold with linux.

That way you wont end up with strange docking station problems or bits of hardware being in-compatible or difficult to sort out.

I am a heavy linux user, but personally prefer macOS. Hopefully will be purchasing an M1 Pro Macbook Pro shortly. I find the gui for linux is just not that good or buggy in some way. Windows and Mac seem better, and it just works. I spend most of my time using the terminal anyway.

Good Luck.

Bananabob

511 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#2818568 24-Nov-2021 15:42

Got a Lenovo Thinkpad E15 GEN 2 back in March from their website. Got wonderful customer service there as well.

Installed Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition and have no problems, except that I needed to update the Linux kernel from that provided with the download, and that is easy to do.

Wish I had bought two, this one was for my wife and now I am envious of her 😀

I currently am using an HP Pavillion 15-ab257TX bought back in 2016 with Linux Mint Cinnamon, no problems there either.

Also installed Linux Mint LMDE release 4 on my wife's old HP Pavilion dv6-6023TX bought back in 2011 and it runs fine.

Linux certainly keeps those old beasts running for ages and ages.

By the way Linux Mint is due for an upgrade in December so you may want to hold off installing till then.

ANglEAUT

2329 posts

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#2818793 24-Nov-2021 20:24

JockTheKiwi: ... Have decided to start with POP!_OS to begin with. ...

Been using Pop!OS for over a year now. Very light weight & default UI is very responsive. Transplanted the SSD from one PC to another & no hiccups. I also live primarily in the browser. As I have many other & large files, I prefer a file manager of sorts. If all of your daughters files are GDocs / GSheets, then a Chromebook might actually do the trick. All files are stored in the cloud & moving to a new machine in the future is simply a matter of logging into a new Chromebook. As a bonus, updates happen transparently in the background without user intervention.

One thing I have not investigated yet, is how to automate the installation of the Pop!_Shop updates. I suggest you find a way to automate this for your daughter.

AFAIK, most Linux systems now also support online / cloud accounts in the GUI

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

rphenix

986 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#2818797 24-Nov-2021 20:36

While you can apparently run this on a M1 now, GPU accelerated driver support is still being reverse engineered. I wouldn't make it my first choice.

You could check the Ubuntu Certified Laptops

Dell do support Linux laptops. Lenovo has very good support in my experience the only recent hardware issue I've ran into is the fingerprint reader (which eventually did work). Lenovo support matrix here - plenty of the ones not listed work just fine.

nitro

658 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2818989 25-Nov-2021 09:04

chevrolux:

I am a tinkerer but have little patience so do not want to feck around with the OS, it just needs to work after installing.

That sentence should never follow "want to use Linux".

Sounds like your daughter could just get a decent Chromebook!

true that.

it does seem like your daughter would be better off with a chromebook. anything else will be over her current requirements.

as for linux, we use hp zbooks at work and hp actually has ubuntu as an option when buying them. not cheap, but good stuff (get your daughter a chromebook and use the money saved to top up your laptop budget, maybe?).

JockTheKiwi

29 posts

Geek

#2819433 25-Nov-2021 22:04

chevrolux:

I am a tinkerer but have little patience so do not want to feck around with the OS, it just needs to work after installing.

That sentence should never follow "want to use Linux".

Sounds like your daughter could just get a decent Chromebook!

You are probably correct on that but a person can dream. I also have the idea that I can write code but it never works out.

JockTheKiwi

29 posts

Geek

#2819439 25-Nov-2021 22:16

openmedia:

There is still a world of different between running OSX and running Linux - I've worked with both but I've been using Linux of Lenovo laptops for 15+ years.

Thinkpads tend to have excellent support as both Red Hat and SuSE teams use them day2day. Just watch for specialised HW like NVidia graphics which can still cause some pain.

I'm currently on a T480s but should be getting my T14S Gen2 in December.

Lower price consumer class devices tend to be a bit problematic where the hardware might not be as widely supported. For example my wife's Dell Latitude webcam doesn't have a Linux driver.

It is possible to get Lenovo laptops with Fedora pre-loaded provided your vendor can access the correct SKUs.

I just don't know enough about hardware, well I know enough to not buy anything with NVIDIA. The T14s Gen2 looks good, now I see I can get an Apple Air with M1 for around the same price. But I dont really want to give apple any money.

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