Hardware Recommendations for Laptop Please
 

Hello,
it's decided, I sold my pinebook.

I do want a laptop though (3).

This is in addition to my desktop computer, which remains my main machine.
And I don't game, so it doesn't need to be a powerhouse, but video playback needs to work (1).
I want it to be small & light, but large enough to house a real keyboard (2).
The less moving parts (fan, hard drive) the better.
And of course it should work well with Linux.

I prefer to buy used, most likely via ebay, so please recommend stuff that's been on the market for at least 1 year.
no dual/hybrid graphics please, that still seems to be a nightmare on Linux?
i'm guessing all-intel would be best.

(1) one of the reasons i got rid of the pinebook
(2) from what i've seen recently, i would say 11" here, but that's screen size, not the device itself. if the bezel was really narrow, the screen could be slightly larger while keeping the device small enough. but i'm not averse to a slightly larger laptop.
(3) not a tablet! must be a "real" laptop with keyboard.

PS: I saw a really nice laptop here recently (somebody had a question/problem about it), i think it was one of those cheapo manufacturers, chuwi or huawei... but it looked really good, had an extremely narrow bezel and wasn't large, and affordable, and had good reviews too. can't find it now... the thread was from this year definitely, after the summer.
Every now and then i stumble upon other recommendations, but of course when one needs them one can never find them...

I would recommend:

• Choose your graphics (Nvidia/ATI), then your cpu. Intel GPUs sadly suck.
• I think hybrid graphics are actually ok now imho, if your setup isn't complex. Guys who want to have half a dozen monitors hanging out of various orifices still end up in a home for the bewildered, but you've got sense.
• Avoid things which feature in desparate acpi problems, or heat issues.
• Avoid things that regularly feature with UEFI problems. I believe Dell is good here.
• Look carefully at boxes with Via or SiS chipsets. While still a newbie I landed the WORST possible motherboard (featuring Via MPV3 chipset, Realtek 8129/8139 nic & SiS 6326 Graphics), all full of well & lesser known problems. Both companies still turn out the occasional bummer.

I would stress that you need to do homework, or you'll be punished for it.

I disagree with business_kid about Intel graphics. I have Intel GPUs and they work very nicely (I'm not a gamer). I've never had an issue with their performance.

Many of the members of my LUG favor Lenovos as good value for the money and generally Linux-compatible.

My laptop is a Zareason and I'm quite happy with it, but I note that Zareason doesn't have as many options as they used to; my machine was significantly less expensive than their current least expensive offering. I have a ThinkPeguin machine (not a laptop) that I'm very happy with; I also had a tech support question and found their tech support to be superb--competent, timely, and (most surprising of all) human.

Dell sells one model of their XPS 13 line with Ubuntu 18.1 preinstalled (Developer Edition).

That particular model is pretty heavily equipped and priced accordingly, but it bodes well for less expensive versions of the XPS model working well with Linux.

I had several Dells that worked very nicely with Linux.

The only issue was that, at least on their lower end machines (Inspirons, for example), Dell favors Broadcom wireless, and it usually takes a couple of extra steps to get Broadcom working with Linux. But I must say that I got my money's worth from every Dell I owned.

I also must say that I appreciate the luxury of buying native Linux computers, because everything works out of the box.

i'm pretty sure i want to buy something used.
i'm guessing that zareason or thinkpenguin are going to be difficult to find used.

for regular consumer models, the drop in prices for used (or "outdated") models is so huge, it makes me hot.
i don't want to spend much.

one thing i realised and didn't mention so far is sturdiness, battery life, and a good screen that remains usable in strong light situations.
how do lenovos (thinkpads?) fare in that respect?
and dell?
the dell xps 13 keeps popping up - seems there's an older and a newer model?
or this one. although i wonder how it fares with an amd radeon gpu.

and then huawei seems to be making some cool small laptops recently.

and the one i mentioned in the PS in my op, i know others posted to that thread, does anybody remember?
i simply cannot find that thread anymore.

PS:
so what exactly is the state of dual/hybrid graphics laptops and linux?
i was under the impression that it still requires manual switching, or running on the better gpu all the time, with battery drain etc. not so keen on that.

PPS:
i think my biggest concern is video playback, esp. highly compressed stuff like HEVC (x265). here's a page with test videos. the left hand side is all hevc. this should work on my next laptop. it requires GPU support for decoding.

From memory, Lenovo are funny with ACPI. There's special kernel options for them. I don't know whether these apply to old, new, or all Lenovos. Screens I can't comment on.

Dell are cool generally for Linux. You get what you pay for. It used be that the Inspiron was the cheapo laptop, and the Latitude the business one, but the Inspiron quality has come up and the Latitude is being squeezed.

Basically every laptop has to be good enough on the basics. I would concentrate on what's under the case.

AMD were stuck on comparatively large wafer fab equipment (28nm) which slowed their CPUs & GPUs. But they have Samsung doing it for them now (on 11nm) which is a huge improvement. That improves power consumption, increases speed, and allows more complexity. Newer AMD stuff is competitive. Their products just jumped up a gear. Likewise Intel started shipping 8th Gen stuff using AMD graphics.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rumor...l?guccounter=1

There's homework to be done, ondoho, and I am suggesting you do it.

Same here. I run KDE and it has quite alot of effects, and I never had a problem with doing that, even with old intel cards. I am not a gamer either, but I've tried some steam games. Some work at the lowest settings, some work at medium. But then again, this is not a gaming laptop, just a 5 year old midrange GNU/Linux laptop.

For me Intel graphics have been excellent, I never had any troubles with the drivers and everything just worked as expected.

For me, regarding laptops, I have had very good personal experience with Acer machines that comes with Linpus pre-installed. They generally cost $100 less than their equivilants with Windows. You don't need to use Linpus, but at least you know the hardware works on the Linux Kernel.

Aside from that Acer has always chosen to supply these GNU/Linux laptops with the best midgeneration technology and hardware, but at a very reasonable cost. Like this 5 year old laptop and my new one that I don't even use, both came with "at the time" premium mobile CPU's, best of their generation stuff. Both were very lightweight, 1.5kg or less, and both had battery time of more than 8 hours, something which was very rare and expensive at the time I bought my 5 year old laptop. Not only the battery, but also the thin build of the machine and the lightweight nature. Aluminium casing was also rare. Anyways, this 5 year old laptop has great hardware choices and is pretty much a perfect machine for it's time. It even had a "professionally tuned" Dolby sound output. And it was not a gimmick! I had to replace the HD with an SD myself, but other than that, everything was perfect. Equivilant machines sold for €1500 at the time. Zenbook etc. My machine cost €500, plus the SSD.

Anyways, I always keep an eye on new Acer machines that come out with GNU/Linux preinstalled on them.
1. I don't have to pay Microsoft
2. I get a machine that is proven to run the Linux Kernel out of the box
3. I get excellent hardware choices
4. I get a good price
5. I support Acer releasing machines that comes without Windows and with some Acer version of GNU/Linux installed

What is your Linux distro of choice? Many distros have a database of "certified hardware." I'd start there with your research. :)

I personally am using Dell XPS 2-in-1 9365, running Fedora, as my "travel" laptop. Dell 9365 is one of the few half-decent laptops that is totally fanless, and has an SSD, so therefore no moving parts whatsoever (apart from the keyboard and hinge). I'd be happy to answer any questions about it.

as long as the fan is quiet, it is not really a problem to have it there.

I have two, a 'luggable' laptop (15" screen isn't exactly tiny), a Sony Vaio, with decent amount of grunt. nVidia graphics, and I don't drive an external monitor with it. OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on it, everything 'just worked' out of the gate. That's what I take to client sites.

For traveling (airplanes and such), I have a Microsoft Surface Pro. 12" screen and CAN drive a second monitor. Decent battery, and with the type-cover, VERY portable. Tumbleweed on it too. Needed a little jiggling to get 100%, but not a ton. My biggest gripe is that it's NOT serviceable, without some specialized tools and/or a lot of work. Fits the 'no moving parts' criteria, decent CPU/Memory, but their SSD's are apparently made from solid gold, given the price differences between 128GB and higher. Not a huge issue, though, since between VPN and cloud storage, I can still get everything. Can easily find both used.

I personally like having a travel laptop that is a sealed unit, with no vents for dirt, sand, or pet hair to get inside. Makes me more confident using it outdoors or in a messy environment. I just don't like the idea of a fan sucking up someone else's dust mites.

The tradeoff of course is that it's a lower power CPU.

YMMV.

They work, agreed, on my 5 Year old good-for-little HD4000 (Ivy/Sandy Bridge?). The drivers are reliable. It will keep lip synch on full screen if there isn't a lot going on in the background, but if a fast moving video runs with a newsreader, it's sad. Google Earth won't do 3D, which is basic on every entry level tablet or mobile. Even Intel have given up on them, using AMD cores in their 8th Gen. stuff. If I want to use Google Earth, I use my tablet. I'm no gamer either, but phoronix.com charts GPUs and it's definitely

1. Nvidia
2. AMD/ATI
3. Intel

So I'm guessing you want fairly inexpensive, so I'll post my thoughts.

1. Acer Aspire 1 14 (A114-31). Larger than you want, and the bezels aren't insanely small. But it is insanely light and thin, so I think you still might like it. Apollo lake quad core celeron w/ 4 GB ram, 32 GB eMMC drive, and a lovely matte 1080P IPS LCD. I'm actually using it right now with Debian stable to post this. I've also used Fedora and Arch on it, all without any hardware issues. Can be had brand new for around $220, used for under $200 (technically, mines for sale on craigslist due to my having too many laptops).

2. Chuwi Lapbook 12.3. This is a little closer to the size you like. The exact same Aollo Lake quad core celeron as the Acer, but this time 6 GB ram (dual channel, too) so it performs a bit better, and 64 GB eMMC with a m.2 2242 slot to add a real hard drive if you wanted (I added a 120 GB). 2K LCD (2736x1824) is GORGEOUS. If you work on TTY's a lot, not for you, but if you do mostly gui then it's fantastic as long as you don't mind scaling your video. Everything is SMALL by default. I have it set to 1.5 scale in plasma. But another great laptop for good price. Can be found new for just over $300, used for around $200-$250. I've got Fedora on mine, but I've also had Arch on there, both worked without any issues.

3. Chuwi Lapbook 14. Another larger than you prefer, smaller bezels than the Acer, so bit smaller overall, and just as thin and light. Yet again, quad core celeron w/ 4 GB ram and a 32 GB eMMC. Still has the m.2 slot for adding a real hard drive. 1080P LCD. I've had Neon, Arch, Debian, and Fedora on mine when I had it. Ran great, the touchpad is...meh, at best, the keyboard is only ok. But can be found new for around $270 and used for just over $220.

4. HP Chromebook 14 (14-ak060nr or 14-ak050nr) (kip) w/ mr. chromebox firmware. Quad core celeron (baytrail) w/ 4 GB ram and a 16 GB eMMC. I keep getting rid of these and then getting another one because I like them so much. The 16 GB doesn't leave a TON of room, but it has a 6 GB swap built in, so the entire 16 GB is usable for the OS without worrying about swap. I ran GalliumOS on mine (Ubuntu + chromium driver stack for perfect support of chromebook hardware) w/ plasma 5 (neon repos) and never got close to running out of space, was usually around 50% usage. Another beautfiul matte 14" 1080P lcd, and can easily be picked up (if you can find one) for under $150 now. WONDERFUL keyboard, great touchpad, just a fantastic laptop once the mr. chromebox firmware is installed on it. There's a reason I keep buying anothher one when I find them cheap.

That's my shortlist. I'm mostly concerned with the LCD when buying a laptop, which is why you won't ever see a recommendation for something that doesn't have a gorgeous LCD from me. If you like lower resolution LCD's, you should probably ignore my suggestions, as the LCD is quite literally my #1 priority when shopping. Also I tend towards Intel graphics as they simply work. Newer AMD graphics actually just work too once you install the firmware. I tend to avoid Nvidia because I don't game and so don't want to have to keep installing proprietary drivers, which the open source Nvidia drivers MOSTLY work, but not always.