Voice of the Masses: What are the best laptops for running Linux?
We know that quite a few Linux Voice readers run Linux on MacBook Pros, but with Apple now removing ports, removing keyboard softness, and indeed removing most other “pro” features, many users will be looking elsewhere. So for our next podcast, we want to hear from you: what laptops do you recommend for running GNU/Linux?
Perhaps you’re rocking a Dell XPS 13/15, or maybe you’re a hard-core ThinkPad fan. Possibly you’re using lesser-known hardware but want to tell the world about it, or perhaps you only buy laptops from companies that pre-install and support Linux. Let us know about your portable computing setup in the comments, and we’ll read out the best in our podcast!
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About The Author
Mike Saunders
Mike stores his data by printing out hex dumps and laminating the sheets. He's the author of The Haynes Linux Manual and the creator of MikeOS, an operating system hand-built from assembly language.
Laptops can be expensive items but my last two machines were free! Yes, I recycle other peoples off casts.
Once Windows gets slow and the owner casts it away for a shiny new laptop, I take over their slow old computer and install Linux (Mint).
The only problem is when they see their old machine, apparently running faster than than the new one! I may loose a valuable source of computers!
Definitely not MacBook Airs! Yes, you can do it but it takes a lot of work and maintenance, most of your hardware won’t work and every time Apple releases an update to OSX, you basically have to wipe the lot!
Definitely not upset I’m replacing my mid-2013 model with a HP Spectre.
ThinkPads, e. g. the good old X220, but certainly also the very new ones.
No problem here on an older Macbook Air with dual boot and Arch. OS X Sierra rewrote the default boot option, but pressing Alt (or Option?) whilst powering on, gives you a boot menu. The linux program efibootmgr can be used to change the default.
Dell XPS 13 Dev edition – came with Ubuntu, have since installed Fedora. Not yet had anything not “just work”. Doesn’t hurt that they look good too.
Not got one myself yet, but System76 seem to have some great Linux only laptops. Looking at the lemur myself – https://system76.com/laptops/lemur – plenty of options to choose from and reasonably priced levels.
Have both Lemur and Gazelle laptops. Installed Manjaro on them. No problems so far.
Well my laptop, a 14 year old Vaio BX197XP (because it has a 17-inch 16:10 screen) is just about holding on. Don’t worry I also have a i7 desktop with decent specs!!!
I’ve pondered what would make me buy a new laptop and I hope that the Retro Thinkpad will see the light of day – http://blog.lenovo.com/tag/retro+thinkpad.
Thinkpads die-hard user for years here. I live the sturdiness and the Trackpoint.
Currently using :
– T450s with Ubuntu 16.04 as my external production computer. Upgraded the external battery to the bulkier 6 cells. Internal+ external battery gives me between 8 and 16 hours of juice, depending on type of work.
– T431s with Lubuntu 14.04 as my airgaped production computer. The touchpad sucks. I use the Trackpoint and reconfigured the touchpad as a giant button (3 areas to emulate 3 buttons).
I also manage a fleet of around 90+ thinkpads, all running either Ubuntu or Lubuntu. The mix includes x201, x220, a few x230 and 15 x T431s. All our computers are bought second hand from the same shop and we save a great deal. Hardware problems are almost non-existent and users are very happy because of the keyboard and speed (we upgrade all computers to SSD storage as a rule).
For me Dells have always played nice and all components work under linux (t least on the three models I’ve had).
In my experience you can get linux working on almost all laptops, it may just be a distro you do not like that works. Xubuntu has been my go to distro because it just seems to work on everything, also running it on chromebook with crouton.
Thinkpads, Thinkpads, Thinkpads.
Worked for me since 2001, all Thinkpads still working, be it 900MHz or 3.2GHz. Several chipsets all working
from day one.
Refurbished Thinkpads, for three reasons:
1. Good ‘bang for buck’ performance/price (e.g. an X220 with 8GB RAM, 250GB SSD = £350 inc. delivery)
2. Great keyboards on most models.
3. Lots of developers use them, so I can be confident that there will be drivers for all the parts and any bugs are likely to be fixed quickly.
Ex Corporate Thinkpads…. They can be picked up for a song. Are ruggedly built, and use standard components so work well with Linux drivers.
I write this on a T420 I picked up for under £200. Added some memory, and Linux, runs a dream.
I have a Dell Precision m4800 (pricey but a real PRO laptop!) and an Asus Zenbook. I installed Linux Mint on both without any problem. Everything works perfectly.
Dear, please … what version of linux mint do you have installed? because for several days I have not been able to make the wifi network work and I could not make it use the nvidia drivers
Last year, ahead of starting a distance learning course where one of the software components only ran on Windows, I reluctantly agreed to pay Windows Tax on a cheapo ASUS X453M which set me back at most £160. It’s very plasticcy, and does not feel very robust, but have it running KDE and Gnome Shell very smoothly, and it handles HD video like a dream. All that from a Intel Bay Trail M Dual Core processor with 2GB RAM. Just proves that even low-end components are happy with Linux too. It makes an annoying squeek when running on battery and the volume is up though!
Love Asus Intel laptops and have run Linux on several with no major problems other than some wireless drivers. Not a problem for Ubuntu based drivers. Currently use a little i3 Vivobook and I love it, no issues with any distros and just a really nice small laptop. But Oh God do I want a Dell XPS 13 Dev Edition.
Dell 7568 2in1, works out of the box with any distro with a 4.x kernel. Centos needed an updated kernel 🙁 but others worked right away. All hardware, even rotations worked with no trouble.
Zareasons.
I started out using Ubuntu Linux on an old Dell laptop, then upgraded to a Dell XPS17. After running Ubuntu on it for a few months, I wiped out the Windows partition and made it a pure Ubuntu machine. I still have that one, but it’s not what one would call a lightweight. I use it more like a desktop machine.
I bought a Dell XPS 13 developer edition, touch screen. I still use that because it is so light, small, and fast. I just wish I could add RAM to the XPS 13 and bring it up to 16 GB.
A few months ago, after hearing and reading about the Thinkpad T420 as a workhorse laptop, I picked up an i7 on eBay for $250 that was in beautiful condition. It has hardly any wear and it has become a workhorse for me. I did increase RAM from 8 GB to 16 GB (who ever heard of putting one RAM slot on the bottom, and the other under the keyboard). Anyway, that was a simple upgrade that took just a few minutes. I also replaced the 500GB drive with a 1TB hybrid drive. I installed Ubuntu-Mate 16.04 (my new, latest flavor of Ubuntu), and everything worked. No tweaking to get the hardware to work.
I love that the T420 has a bunch of usable ports that don’t need dongles, and SD card slot. I do have a mid-2013 MacBook Pro 15″ that I use a lot, also, especially as my portable digital darkroom. I think it will be my last Mac because the new ones don’t fit with the way I compute and I don’t like the whole minimalist, idiot-proofing mindset that seems to be Apple’s direction.
Anyway, that’s my story and I am sticking with it. 🙂
I thought. To spread linux to those who only have a laptop. Why not try a dedicated pc or a fast rasperry pi and install a vnc server and linux on it. I mean. Its really cheap to access the Linux software on any laptop. Could be gift idea perhaps. You dont need to loose anything. Just powerup the pi and connect with vnc. /peroglyfer
I just bought an InfinityBook from Tuxedo and am quite pleased with it. You get them preinstalled with all diferent kinds of Ubuntu flavors and elementaryOS. I run Linux Mint Cinnmon on it and that works quite well.
Very well designed, a matt display, keyboard illuminated (can be switched off) … Love it already …
Both the Asus S300-CA and the Asus N61-JQ
Both have served me quite well and continue to do so.
Hardware is a serious problem.
I do a some HD video editing, so a powerful laptop is a must. I also want a light one. But finding one is increasingly difficult. I was happy with my Lenovo IdeaPad (great Linux support) until one day when the hinge broke. It was 18 months old, but was told it was not repairable! Utterly bonkers. I won’t buy another Lenovo again based purely on that.
Dell have good machines but I refuse to buy from after they screwed up an order years ago and I had to battle for months for them to even acknowledge there was a problem.
So the last one I bought was a Macbook Pro. It’s taken me a lot of fiddling to get it to work, but it does the job and at least I know my model will be supported well for years to come. Yes they’re expensive, and they’re ditching ports, but even with the recent changes, Mac’s may still be the best solution for those wanting a high end solution.
I have herd that the Microsoft Surface is an excellent Linux computer. Can anyone here confirm?
1.) Sony Vaio VGN-NR21M – Xubuntu 16.10, DualCore, 2 GB Ram, 128 GB SSD (absolutly important), Display 1280×800 (it’s ok). Works fast and silently.
2.) Medion Akoya, i3, 4 GB Ram, Xubuntu 16.10, 128-GB-Sata (will be a SSD!). Display 1366×768, dull. Works fast and quietly.
Dell xps-13; 2014 model works quite well with Ubuntu 16.04. Only problem is sound, and only when ]you boot into Windows and then back to Ubuntu. Volume is mute when you do that, but if you reboot, sound works again.
Refurbished thinkpad. You can always find ex-fleet ones refurbished to a high standard on ebay. They are great value and it’s less ecologically bad than buying new.
I used to own a ThinkPad, but in recent years I’ve bought a couple of laptops from Novatech, with no OS installed, which run Linux without any problems.
Self-Refurbished Thinkpad X200 with SSD and libreboot, trisquel. Excellent daily workhorse, 2008 Core 2 Duo works fine.
I’ve had lots of laptops in the last years running all sorts of Linux distros. It all ran without a problem, with one notable exception: NVidia Optimus chipsets. The support is horrible !
I’ve just built Linux From Scratch on an cheap Acer (and made uefi work), run Mint KDE on a pair of Acer netbooks and have a PCSpecialist gaming laptop with a mint partition. All work as I wish with no extra work. I’ve never encountered an issue with a laptop that couldn’t be solved, but know people that have. As always proprietary binary blobs and closed hardware were the issue. I think research is the answer, checking specs of hardware, and these days bios/efi as implementation of the ego framework seems variable and patchy.
System76 Galapago Pro. Don’t do them any more, which is a great pity. Rock solid machine: fast, crisp display, nice keyboard and v good touchpad. Everything just works. Came with Ubuntu, now running Elementary. Have had several intrigued (and impressed) people asking “what’s that?!?”. Only downside was shipping. System76 will send but had to pay import tax on receipt in the uk. Otherwise great. Do have an old MacBook Pro which has been rejuvenated with Elementary too. Wouldn’t touch a new one.
Workhorse laptop is an old dell latitude D6xx which I think was Xp originally, been running Fedora on it for a very long time after trying various others. Day to day on the go its an acer aspireOne which I’ve had a few distros on but for the last 2 years or so have Kali Rolling release. Not least because with its 32bit side it seriously dropped my options, a lot.
A lot of people have mentioned Dell laptops and I agree that my experience backs that up as far as being good in the Linux compatibility area.
This includes a Dell studio model with 6 GB of memory and a 15 inch screen from 2009, which also proved useful because of its built-in Blu-ray drive. Almost everything seemed to work (currently use Ubuntu/Kubuntu 14.04), but eventually stopped being my daily driver because of issues with power management on the inbuilt AMD GPU that means it has a tendency to fall over if it gets driven hard and it makes an awful lot of fan noise.
I have also had good success with the Lenovo ThinkPad T440p that I use for work, which currently runs Linux Mint 17.2.
I have had a rather more mixed success with HP machines. I currently use Linux Mint 17.3 on an HP Spectre 13-3000ea 13 inch Ultrabook. This is an early 2014 model. Most of it works, but I have had issues with Wi-Fi on suspend and resume with currently installed Linux Mint 17.3. I tried installing Linux Mint 18, but although that seemed to solve the issue with the suspend and resume, it introduced significant problems with Bluetooth when using Bluetooth headsets and speakers (which I understand it is a known issue, not unique to Mint).
I also have an HP Pavilion 11 inch machine which generally works quite well, but I’ve never managed to get Bluetooth to work with it and the inbuilt Wi-Fi does not connect to higher speed networks.
In summary, I would have to say that Dell and Lenovo get my vote, but personally I would be a little careful with HP, especially if we are talking ultra books.
I would also agree with previous posters who point out that a lot of the success or otherwise, especially on laptops, is down to the distro that you use and even the desktop (for example, I use KDE and had problems on the aforementioned HP Spectre laptop with that desktop and Mint 18 KDE which I haven’t seen on other machines I have tried).
I’m tempted to buy something new next year and that could be the Dell XPS 13 inch developer edition that appears to be so well received.
As far as laptops go my go to has been the Lenovo x2xx series for the last few years. I’m currently useing a x230i picked up at a computer auction for £65, no that’s not a typo, I bought 2. i3cpu and 8 gig ram, I’ve swapped out the spinning disc for a SSD and it runs like a dream. But I’ve also had good experiences with DELL kit over the years and have a less portable DELL 15.4″ desktop replacement i5 for when I need the larger screen which worked out of the box when installed with my go to distro Mint. But having installed Linux on many laptops over the last 7-8 years most older hardware seems to work just fine occasional wifi issues in the past, generally resolvable but these seem to be a thing of the past if your not running the latest (most expensive) graphics hardware in a laptop, anything older than a year just works. Being someone who likes value (a miser) I rarely by new kit so it’s never been an issue for me.
I agree with one of the posts above. The System 76 Galago Ultrapro is a rock solid machine for real work. Light and portable on the go but a real powerhouse if you want to use it docked.
Only letdown was the import tax and the plug not having a swap-able plug head. Had to use an adapter for the UK plug socket.
Here is the problem with old Thinkpads. I picked up a formerly corporate L520, i5, 4Gb, 320Gb with Win7 pro for $130 locally. I put 16.04 on it and it worked flawlessly. Problem: I have had to buy 3 more for friends, two of which were for people who switched fresh to Ubuntu and one old user. I should have marked them up for the first person!
I’m currently using an HP Elite x2 1012 G1. Ubuntu 16.10 works very well on it. Well, I haven’t tested the webcam yet, but everything else is working.
Thinkpads.
I’ve had a T40, T61p and a W520.
The last one I bought cheap on ebay and like for the screen, keyboard, loads of slots and hatches to expand with. I pulled the HD out of the T61p, put it in the W520 and everything just works.
Nothing bad to say about it, except that it is a bit heavy – but I bought it as a desktop replacement.
I have latest Ubuntu 64 bit running on my MacBook Pro 2013. It runs awesome and everything works. I’ve wiped of the Mac OS and replaced it with Ubuntu by using USB stick with Ubuntu installer on it. It seems the new Kernel supports all the hardware of my MacBook. But don’t use a brand new MacBook. It needs time until the kernel supports new MAC hardware.
I have three laptops dual-booting to 64bit versions of Ubuntu 16.04 and Linux Mint 18. I follow the tactic of one hard disk serves all, which means that they are all clones of the initial setup I use (e.g. I make a fresh install to a machine, check that everything works, and then clone that disk to my other two laptops). Their kind of similar hardware specifications help big on that.
The laptops I have:
1) 13,3″ Lenovo Ideapad S300 – Intel 997 1.6Ghz – 4GB Ram
2) 11,6″ Acer Aspire One 756 – Intel 1007U 1.5Ghz – 4GB Ram
3) 11,6″ Acer Aspire One 756 – Intel 887 1,5Ghz – 4GB Ram
The Lenovo is my home workhorse, while the 1007u powered Acer is my out of home sidekick as it is lightweight so I carry it with me. The 887 powered Acer is my general home tinkerer (and backup as an out of home machine). They all are using 7mm 7200rpm 500GB Hard disk drives.
They all perform perfectly fine, on full hardware recognition without the slightest tinkering, with the 1007u Acer being the snappier of all.
Fantastic forum! Thanks to all who report great details. I got more here in one read than from 3 hours of web surfing. Currently using Mint 17.3 Cinnamon on old Dell desktops and ready to move into Laptop builds.
Happy to report that I have a twelve year old Samsung NC10 humming happily with Linux Lite 32 bit. It has a new SSD and a bit of extra RAM and it’s fine.