Best 17.3" laptop for Linux in 2020?

Framu · 02-10-2020, 10:57 AM

Hi all,
I have a decent 16" laptop that is circa 2009 and weights over 6 pounds, but it may soon be time for an upgrade, as it is slow and the battery is not working well.

Is there a really good 17.3 inch laptop on the market these days? My goals for this purchase are:

1. 5 pounds or lighter (less than 2.3 kg).
2. Good screen that does not have PWM (it causes eye strain).
3. Works well with Linux e.g. no issue with losing Wifi during suspend.

I don't plan to use the keyboard much (I prefer my 60% mechanical) but it shouldn't be terrible because I may take the computer to a library or coffee shop.
Thanks.

business_kid · 02-12-2020, 07:00 AM

I've a Samsung NP350 which is still on sale with better specs than mine. It's mainly Intel peripherals, with Atheros/Realtek commsa (wifi, bluetooth, nic). Mine's from 2012/13

The things that suck are: Battery life; HD4000 graphics (probably better now); AR 3012 Bluetooth is nasty; Sound works, but isn't inspiring; RTL5129 SDCard works, but is slow; perhaps they all are.

I'd avoid it if they still have the Series 7 chipset. Screen is 1600×900, good, and is probably HDMI by now. If you want battery life most laptops are going to disappoint. Macintoys might be better.

Minux1 · 02-20-2020, 06:22 PM

My best luck has been with Lenovo ThinkPads except those with Broadcom wifi cards.
The Acer Aspire series have performed well for me with Linux Mint XFCE and Peppermint.
Most of my Linux boxes are legacy laptops pushed well beyond their “best before” years (by the MS Windows standard of measure).

Hermani · 02-22-2020, 04:27 PM

Have a Lenovo Thinkpad and it is wonderful. The keyboard is supposed to be the gold standard for laptop keyboards and it IS really nice to use (I am using it right now).

Everything works out of the box, I use Ubuntu.

You can check the Ubuntu certified hardware list here: https://certification.ubuntu.com/.

beachboy2 · 02-23-2020, 10:18 AM

Framu,

Not too many options in 17.3 inch these days.

There is the Lenovo P73, which I think is the one used by Hermani (above):
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo....445929.0.html

https://certification.ubuntu.com/hardware/201909-27344

Hermani · 02-23-2020, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

Not too many options in 17.3 inch these days. There is the Lenovo P73, which I think is the one used by Hermani (above)

Actually I use a ThinkPad T460s but I would in the market for a 17" ultrabook. I don't care much for raw computing power in a laptop because it will always be a tradeoff. However I WOULD like a nice, large and sharp 17" 4K screen. LG has their Gram line of laptops and their 17" looks like it would fit the bill. However there are reports that it does not play very nice with Linux and has problems using power control, like not being able to go to sleep mode (a big no for a laptop).

Did you think about getting two computers and sync them up? I have been using a laptop and a seperate desktop with synced document folders for a long time now (using different methods) and I have yet to discover any large problems doing so. You can use a powerful desktop at home and take a smaller and lighter laptop when out and about.

Minux1 · 02-23-2020, 03:22 PM

The computers I bought for Linux are cheapskate < $100 jobbies off of eBay.
All screen sizes.
Lenovo ThinkPads and Acer netbooks worked the best.
Got a 17" late 2011 non retina MacBook Pro dirt cheap off eBay and after some hardware swap outs and upgrades (more RAM, 1 TB SSD) tried Linux on it ... that didn't end well so I installed OSX Catalina and all is well.