Want a good laptop which supports windows and ubantu/fedora or linux flavours
 

Hi,

I want to purchase a laptop with below configurations,and models.

HP-Laptop 1 :

HP 431 Laptop (2nd Gen Ci3/ 2GB/ 500GB/ DOS/ 1GB Graph)


HP-Laptop 2 :

HP Pavilion G6-2230TX Laptop (3rd Gen Ci3/ 2GB/ 500GB/ DOS/ 1GB Graph)



Lenovo-Laptop 1:

Lenovo Essential G580 (59-355385) Laptop (2nd Gen Ci3/ 2GB/ 500GB/ DOS/ 1GB Graph)

Lenovo-Laptop 2:
Lenovo Essential G580 (59-341688) Laptop (2nd Gen Ci3/ 2GB/ 500GB/ DOS/ 1GB Graph)



Did any one tried for dual mode ... Ubantu/Fedora and Windows support for above configs.

Also please let me know if any other Laptops with same
config supports for dual boot.

In general, I'd avoid Win8 if at all possible; by definition, that means avoid buying a laptop with UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface -- "secure boot") at least for now. Seems to be a lot of problems dual-booting even if you select the legacy support (BIOS) that is a built-in. It might be useful if you Google for "uefi + linux" to get a feel for what you may be up against.

Manufacturers; e.g., Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, offer BIOS-equipped Win7 models that would, most likely, do just fine for you for at least a few years (or until this secure boot nonsense gets sorted out) -- you can install a Linux distribution on pretty much any Win7 platform. All you have to do is shrink the size of Win7 so you can create disk space for Linux with a built-in Win7 utility for disk management; pretty easy.

On my systems, I buy a server or laptop (I have one laptop that's usually sitting on a shelf, not a big laptop fan) that does not have super-jazzy graphics -- I don't play games on them so I insist on standard graphics (Intel), which work just fine for my needs. I see a lot of problem posts on LQ about proprietary graphics drivers, I don't need 3D graphics for anything so I avoid them. Your needs may differ, of course, and you need to evaluate what you want and need.

Keep in mind that computers are commodities; they're all pretty much the same with a few different bells and whistles. They're made to run Windows so they all do, pretty much the same ways with tweaks here and there. My systems get turned into Linux machines the first time they're fired up -- I wipe the disk, install Linux (Slackware), install VirtualBox (only on one server and that lonely laptop) then install Windows as a guest in a virtual machine. That works for me, it may not work for you. I must have Windows, I do not have use for it but people do pay me for doing Window-things every now and then so I bite the bullet, hold my nose and install it in VirtualBox so it stays completely out of my way otherwise (almost all of my Windows use is limited to Patch Tuesday every month, YMMV).

Sit down and really think through what you need to do what it is that you want then look at the spes of machines on offer and go for it.

Hope this helps some.

Hi tronayne,

Thanks for your posting and got very good info from you.

As per my understanding from your comments,that win7 supports dual boot/Linux OS.Can you please point a particular Laptops (please give complete details of laptop so that i can purchase it)so that it would be helpful.

Basically i want i3 2nd/3rd gen proc, 500GB HDD,2/4 GB RAM and Graphics is an optional for me,I was thinking to get all in a bunch
Even like if graphics is supported only in Windows platform it's ok for me.

My requirement is to use run cross/native compilers or glibc tools which are used embedded techies in Linux machine.And some c/c++
and some embedded tools in any windows versions.

Thanks..!!

This is where you want to get on the phone or on the manufacturer's web sites and tell them what you want (and what you don't want) and let them suggest something for you -- that's why they have knowledgeable folks on staff.

It's not that Win7 "supports" dual boot -- that's done at the master boot record (MBR) or by some other method; the typical Linux boot loaders are Lilo or GRUB and those are how you select what to boot in a multiple boot system. The problem you're going into is UEFI and "secure boot" for Win8; essentially Microsoft doesn't want you to be able to load a competitive operating system (like Linux) without signed keys issued by, guess who: Microsoft. All that stuff is up in the air right now and there does not seem to be a good solution yet.

Something you might notice is that business is not buying Win8 machines -- Win8 is starting to look like Vista and business is avoiding it in favor of Win7, it's a devil you know sort of thing.

Contact Dell, H-P, Lenovo and ask -- they want to sell hardware and they'll be happy to help out. I really can't tell you, I'm just not that up-to-date on every flavor available. I'd probably start with H-P (they offer both Intel and AMD processors), then Dell, then Lenovo.

Another option: do you have a friend who is a first-adopter? Somebody that must have the latest and greatest? If you do, ask about a last-year super-doper laptop that might be unused that you can pick up for cheap (these things are like automobiles, the first buyer pays a lot, the second pays a whole lot less and they're usually not beaten-up, those first-adopter guys generally take care of things). Just something to think about.

Anyway, contact the manufacturer's and ask.

Hope this helps some.

Laptops tend to be poor choices for direct booting of linux.

I agree that Windows 8 is not a newbie way to try dual booting just yet.

If you want you might find it easier to run a virtual machine for linux if the laptop you want for windows only has Windows 8. Those Core i5 and i7 are good for virtualization. Might buy a bit more ram.

As to what to choose, the best bet is to find some reference by some current user of those. Second to that would be a laptop that is also sold with linux on it.

I disagree, Linux runs fine on my laptops/netbooks.

All machines the OP described in his first post come with DOS installed (most likely FreeDOS), which means that neither Secure Boot nor UEFI will be an issue here, Windows 8 runs fine without those features and should have no problem at all with a dual-boot configuration on such a machine.
Except that all machines the OP presented have i3 CPUs, not i5 or i7, and recommending virtualization of Linux on Windows 8 on a dual-core machine without Hyperthreading is not something I would do.

@kodamagulla.kalyan: Any of the machines you presented in the first post look fine for use with Linux and Windows, although I would recommend to upgrade to at least 4GB of RAM. Look out that you don't get one of the infamous Nvidia Optimus configurations, they are currently still not supported very well (Nvidia is actually working on that with their latest driver versions). If you don't want to play games the integrated Intel graphics will be fine. Depending on which distribution you use it might be possible that you will have to fiddle with the Linux installation to get wireless working, but with Ubuntu or Fedora that shouldn't be a problem, as long as you have access to a wired connection for installing drivers/firmware.

"Linux runs fine on my laptops/netbooks." However you are not a newbie. It is trivial for you to correct any issue I'd suspect.


There is nothing wrong with the Core i3 processor that disallows it from running a VM. The good part of that may be that if it is running the Intel graphic then it would be more easily supported or used by a newbie in dual boot. The new core i line are good choices over some of their lower products.

Those choices are still laptops and I doubt you'd get too many people who'd agree that laptops are the best choice to run linux. They are more likely to be in need of some special tweaks and study in my humble opinion.

I am not sure what he would be actually buying so I can't say for sure if they would be 100% supported out of the box by any distro. Simple issue like broadcom nic may be a challenge to a newbie.

Your choices from post #1 are not bad choices. Owners of HP, & Lenovo boxes are generally happy with them.

Avoid windows 8 unless you have a touchscreen. It's unbelievably woeful and awkward

Finally i had selected lenovo.Lenovo ppl suggested to go for free DOS os so that it can be support dual boot.But as per my analysis by reading many Q's and Ans,looks like in ubantu wifi support/sound will not be there.

I going to take :
Lenovo Essential G580 (59-337031) Laptop (2nd Gen Ci3/ 4GB/ 500GB/ DOS): (Choco)

if req graphics just suggesting below one also.
Lenovo Essential G580 (59-336936) Laptop (2nd Gen Ci3/ 4GB/ 500GB/ DOS/ 1GB Graph)
(Cherry Red)

Let me know if any one has already using this.

I had an HP laptop and it was awful. The video card or screen was broke in less than two months in both Windows and Linux.

I both agree and disagree with this.

I've used Sony Vaio's for numerous years, and all of them have (at least 95%+) 'just worked' right out of the box. Linux loaded and ran just fine, and the things that DIDN'T work were, in my opinion, not of much importance and/or trivial to fix. Things like the FN keys for volume...solutions were easy to find and implement, but the mixer slider worked just fine (trivial issue). nVidia graphics? Drivers were simple to find and install. WiFi? Years ago, that was a bit of a chore, but now, I'd say most will 'just work'.

All that aside...if you get ANY brand of laptop and shove a Windows install disk into it (on a blank drive, mind you), chances are there are going to be things that don't work. You'll then have to dig for a solution, grab drivers, etc., to get it going. Most laptops come with a Windows distro that has been tweaked and modded by the laptop manufacturer to support their custom hardware. In my opinion, it's not more difficult to get Linux running 100% than it is to get Windows going 100%.