I would like to purchase a laptop soon. Any recommendations on which one is compatible with Slackware? Any issues?

If it's compatible with Linux, it's compatible with Slackware. But watch out for Broadcom wifi cards; they need special firmware to run.

1 members found this post helpful.

IMHO, I would also avoid the ones using an integrated intel GPU and a nvidia one and switching between the twos using optimus technology as setting it up via software and maintaining it could be a little PITA...

1 members found this post helpful.

Don't buy a HP. Mine has a couple of issues, and that's despite me specifically getting a model with intel wifi.

It seems HP in their infinite wisdom hard lock the wifi radio rather than soft lock it when the machine is put to sleep. Which, given that the wifi control key on the keyboard only toggles soft lock means that once you sleep it you can no longer use wifi.

Also, there's an annoying issue with the keyboard where keys autorepeat endlessly like they're getting stuck down, but it's not a stuck key: It's more like the key release event is being lost in firmware.

Other than that, some of the letters are wearing off of the key caps, so all in all I'm not impressed and won't be buying HP again.

1 members found this post helpful.

Do you mean they need some firmware files from /lib/firmware and that firmware files for Broadcom cards are not provided in kernel-firmware-20161211git-noarch-1 package?

I have not experienced WiFi issues on any HP I've worked with. I did have one with the stuck key issue, though.

If you get a laptop with an ATI RX580 video card, you might need to upgrade the kernel to 5.x, and you might also have to use slackware current: I had an issue with linux 4.19 where the screen stayed blank on resume.

You haven't mentioned price range nor purpose, so i'll give my generic response.

The lenovo's T and X series are usually compatible with linux. Some dell laptops as well. If you don't need a dedicated videocard for high performance video, It's best to stick to Intel IGP. it can run blobfree. You probably want to search for blobfree internals in general, because they will give you the best result, compatibility wise, for now and in the future. Even a recent (<3yrs) refurbished Lenovo T or X series is probably a better choice then a new midrange laptop.

I have a toshiba tecra that is completely blobfree, except for the fingerprint scanner, which I don't use, but that thing is 8 years old, so I have no idea how the recent tecra's are. Perhaps you could also look at the bigger vendors, and check if they sell models with linux installed, and buy a similar one. But even that won't guarantee you a blobfree one, especially with the wifi adapters.

i have had good luck with older thinkpads, i keep an eye on the local used computer shop for second-hand Lenovo Thinkpads for sale, i have a T420 and a T510 and both run Slackware64-Current nicely , the only Lenovo laptop i heard had problems was some Yoga versions needed a BIOS firmware upgrade to allow Linux to boot and install and run,

previously i had an Acer G5739 that worked good with any distro i thrown on it

some new laptops in order to save money are doing some things that make them non upgradable like instead of using sockets to plug in components in like wifi & ram they solder them directly to the board so changing them is impossible

just remember Caveat Emptor

Got a zenbook ux303. Changed hdd to ssd and added ram without problem. Fully compatible (I quite do not use Nvidia gpu but it works well).
After 3,5 years I had to fix the lid hinge with some good (bison) glue. My lack of care might be the cause...

when i bought my first SSD i was impressed by the improvement in everything, the speed that Linux installed on it was much faster, it booted up faster, and the response of executing commands and launching & running applications much much faster, i was immediately hooked, i still have some old drives with spinning platters but i just use them for backup and data storage, all my PCs and laptops use ssd for the operating system

I've had really lousy luck with integrated graphics on laptops, but I don't expect to game on them, either. This past week, I tossed slackware-14.2 on an old laptop we had around the house (lenovo) and everything pretty much worked except for the aforementioned integrated graphics. (But, to be fair, my partner had trouble with it, too.)

If you want compatibility and don't mind shelling out the money, system76 is pretty nice. I had one of their laptops that I really liked after I got Ubuntu off of it. It was my go-to for years, and I did my doctoral recital on it. It was a pangolin, and I think if I had to do a lot more remote gigs, I'd look into purchasing another. It took a beating on many cross-country flights, too.

I have a couple of differnt Dells. One newer one for work and an older XPS-12 for personal. The newer work Dell is on 14.2 and the XPS is running current without issue right now. I had some headaches with the newer Dell and UEFI/Keyboard/NVMe, but they were resolved fairly quickly. The XPS was a breeze with current.

Be aware of newer drive support and 14.2 (if you elect to run stable). NVMe drives are not supported by the 14.2 installer. One solution is posted here, and worked very smoothly for me (thanks to Didier Spaier for that).

I just installed Slackware current on a new HP Elitebook 840 G5 which works very well. I have also installed Slackware on a couple of Thinkpads (T430s) which is very smooth.

I'll take a look at the recommendations. Looking for something I can use to develop on.

I've had very good results using HP, Dell, and Lenovo laptops.