I was forced into using a macbook pro by my employer 5 years ago after previously using linux laptops and desktops (mostly scientific linux and Ubuntu, I'm a scientist doing lots of data analysis). I have to admit that I have gotten quite used to certain nice things about macs, mainly the battery life and aesthetics of the all-aluminum construction.

So, internet, help me out. Because Apple is a crap company and is clearly heading towards *not* making performance-based laptops for creative professionals and scientists anymore, and I want my next computer to be a linux machine.

What would you recommend?

1) Money is not a major constraint
2) Battery Life is close to paramount -- I work on trains, plains, buses, cars, in parks, coffee shops etc. I realize 6-8 hours isn't likely but I'd like at least 4 with "normal" usage.
3) Aesthetics is very important. The only non-macbook laptop I have seen that I like is the HP Envy (and similar macbook clones).
4) I would like something with a lot of processing power and memory (say, 4 dual cores and 32 or 64 GB)
5) Weight and slimness kind of matters, but not to the point that I'm happy with how macbooks are sacrificing everything for it.

I'm obviously looking for both hardware and linux flavor recommendations. On the latter, I've heard that WattOS is power-optimized. Anything else out there I should look into?

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 or 17 7000 depending on your preference. Way cheaper, great looking and extremely reliable. The only real downside is if you plan on using GPU in any meaningful way, thermal throttling reduces actual performance to about 30% of the capacity.

It kicks in around 70C (which is about 5 minutes of using GPU) at which point it downclocks it by about 70%. Common configuration with slim laptops where cooling paths for GPU and CPU are combined.

I only tested it with OpenSUSE and it worked great (both Leap and Tumbleweed,) but I'm sure it'll work well with any Linux distro.

1 members found this post helpful.

Great! Thanks for the recommendation. I also found this guy's blog post which suggested the XPS line of Dell: https://medium.com/broken-window/my-...e-e549ea2b2dee

Quick question -- let's say you're working on battery, doing mainly web surfing, email, maybe a text editor, and a VNC session to a remote server. How long do you think the battery would last?

At low brightness, the 17" I had lasted over 5 hours with Nvidia GPU off while I was reading an article online. 15.6" will likely be slightly above that since the battery is the same.

1 members found this post helpful.

etm345,

Welcome to LQ.

As you suggest, the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu could be the answer.

This review includes details of power consumption and battery time:
https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/20...17/?comments=1

1 members found this post helpful.

yeah, if battery was a concern, I'd go with the XPS so that you're only powering the Intel GPU, and I'd get the 1080P instead of the QHD+ (fewer pixels to power = less power used, and I personally think a 13" display is too small to enjoy that resolution, whereas it's perfect IMO with 1080P).

1 members found this post helpful.

etm345,

Another review with battery run-down tests:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/31618...-that-can.html

Hello etm345, I can recommend without hesitation the Dell Precision 15 5000 series as a MacBook 15" replacement, or the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition as a MacBook 13" replacement. Either of those models are available with Linux pre-installed.

I service various Macs all day long at work (I have one of the new TouchBar 15" MacBooks on my desk at the moment), and come home at night to a Precision 15 running Fedora Linux. (It came with Ubuntu pre-installed, but I prefer Fedora.) I think the Precision 15 ticks all your check-boxes: great Linux support, sleek design, aluminum lid, fast CPU options (up to Xeon quad core), lots of RAM (up to 32gb), business-class GPU, reasonable battery life if you get the upgraded battery and choose FHD screen instead of UHD touch-screen. (I typically get 4-8 hours battery life, unless I am running an application that requires the GPU).

XPS 13 I do not personally own, but a friend has one. Compared to the Precision 15, the XPS 13 is more portable and has better battery life. But it is a less powerful computer (2 core CPU instead of 4 core).

Or, if you are looking for an even more powerful "desktop replacement" and portability is not important, I hear great things about (but haven't personally tried) the Dell Precision 7000 series. It's available with Xeon CPU, up to 64gb RAM, RAID SSD's, high-end mobile workstation GPU, etc.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi,

HP is good. I have an HP and it works quite well, both good looks and performance (especially battery life) are satisfactory. One more thing if you like battery life, avoid the ones with graphic cards; Intel HD Graphics are extremely good and power saving as well.

A laptop with 64GB RAM is rare. You'll find the 12GB RAM more common but most of the time they are upgradable.

IBM laptops are good as well in terms of performance but you probably won't get the good looks you're looking for.

As for the distro, since you have used Linux before, maybe you can explore a bit and try Debian, CentOS or Slackware.

I am scientist too and I personally prefer Slackware. It takes some time to get used to, but it is geared towards developers and it can be very lightweight on hardware.

But I advise you to read as much as possible before you install any Linux distro. New laptops are coming in UEFI mode and it is not that straightforward to multi-boot.

https://distrowatch.com/
https://www.howtogeek.com/56958/htg-...lace-the-bios/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ware_Interface

1 members found this post helpful.

Just curious why you would get a Precision over Inspiron? IMHO they are badly overpriced and offer nothing over the Inspiron line.

Got a link to where I can buy an Inspiron with quad core i7 or Xeon processor, 32gb RAM, pcie SSD, Nvidia GPU, and Linux preinstalled?

Nothing wrong with Inspirons (we have hundreds of them at work) but they're not the first thing that comes to mind when I think "high end MacBook Pro replacement for creative professionals and scientists."

1 members found this post helpful.

I confused Precision with Lattitude. Ignore my question :-)

1 members found this post helpful.

Just a word of caution about HPs. I have nothing against HP. I own two of them. One is currently not working. It has a component failure on the motherboard. They both run hot. This could be relevant, since you mentioned number crunching. Depending on how the code is written, you could have all of the cores running at the same time. I do a fair amount of number crunching where the code can run for more than four hours. With all four cores running at full load, the cpu temp approaches 90 F. This would trigger a firmware shutdown. So I have to place it on a Coolermaster cooling mat which is just a USB fan that pulls heat from the base of the laptop.

I have seen some impressive reviews for System 76. They seem perfectly suited for number crunching. But the power consumption could be an issue. The build quality is good. Solid chunk of granite.

1 members found this post helpful.

etm345, I don't know if you are in a hurry or where you live, but in Europe I am about to receive a Tuxedo laptop (free delivery here), and I encourage you to check their specs (Kaby Lakes, up to 32 G RAM, multiple SSDs with... many Tb on each, all possible ports...)
For what concerns the look, they just updated their line and personally I find it quite good, specially the 'light' models (à la macbook air, just with all the ports...)
If you are not in a hurry I should receive mine within a week or two, and can report here or try simple performance tests if you have something specific in mind...
H.
P. S. I forgot the obvious : they come preloaded with one of 5 distros, mostly ubuntu-based, but the idea is it works out of the box

1 members found this post helpful.

I come back as announced : in short I got the machine, and it definitely works out of the box for all physical interfaces and the standard Ubuntu Mate preinstalled that I asked for. (I am still quite a newbie for what concerns applications, as I am coming from OSX)
Don't hesitate to react if you need more info...
H.

1 members found this post helpful.