Hey all.
I’ve booted Linux Mint Debian Edition and Arch on to a couple old machines including my old laptops. The performance is still rather brutal because these machines are so old and their battery lives are rough. They are also bulky and uncomfortable to carry around.
So, I’ve been thinking about getting a more modern laptop and putting Linux on it but I’ve been out of the laptop market for so long now I have no idea what’s good and what’s not anymore. Any recommendations?
I think I’ve heard decent things about Chromebooks but how’s the hardware of those? Are they relatively locked down and don’t play nice with Linux? I’m just looking for a machine for daily use (browser, light coding, remote connecting to my desktop for heavier stuff)
Thanks in advance
EDIT: Thank you to everyone for responding, I did not expect so much discussion! I’ve certainly changed my mind on Chromebooks and will look into the options recommended below in the coming months. Thanks!
Not often mentioned, but Surface Laptops run Linux thanks to Linux Surface on Github. I’ve been running Mint on a Surface Laptop 4 13.5" for years with zero problems. Used and refurbished models are much cheaper than the other options mentioned here.
Positives - Excellent display and keyboard, nice form factor, very light and thin, comfortable fabric cover on keyboard bezel.
Negatives - Smaller SSD (256g), limited ports, larger display bezel, reportedly somewhat difficult to disassemble, initial Linux installation a bit of a pain.
13.5" models with I7, 16g and 256g ssd are going for around $300 on ebay.
I have a Surface Go 1 and I’m really happy with it.
But, I have to admit it was tricky to boot Linux on it and the blutooth doesn’t always work. The cameras too, but I don’t care.
Still, it’s a great device that you can attach to a big screen to get the best of both worlds (easy to transport and useful at home).
Some Bluetooth/wifi adapters are a real[tek] pain in the ass. The adapter in my HP laptop is constantly trouble and well known for it, but the Intel adapter in my Surface works without any issues at all. At some point I’ll replace the Realtek in the HP with an Intel.
I agree it was somewhat cumbersome to set up Linux initially, but the excellent guide by the Linux Surface folks on Github made it just a matter of following the directions. For me the biggest annoyance was having to use a USB keyboard and mouse until the Surface kernel was loaded. The good thing is once the kernel was loaded everything just works and has for years.
I have a surface pro 6 and I love it.
You should, however, mention that the cameras do not work (yet), which makes this a no-go as a full laptop replacement.
It wasn’t mentioned because the camera works on the Surface Laptop 4.
What is the battery situation like?
The older, cheaper devices are obviously, well, older and thus the battery degraded a bit. Linux isn’t exactly optimized for these things either. I would expect less than great battery life.
The battery on my 3 year old AMD model lasts 6+ hours on a full charge.