Ask HN: Linux laptop on a budget?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16449153

by jason_slack • 8 years ago

10 17 8 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I need a Linux laptop on a budget. Doesn't need to be fancy. Perhaps supporting 8gb RAM (or more) and the ability to put in an SSD. Working Wifi and Ethernet and sleep (close the lid and wake it again later). I am doing platform agnostic c++ development. I can't afford another Macbook Pro.

I have a Thinkpad X240, 8gb RAM and a 256 SSD. However Debian and Ubuntu fail to recognize the trackpad, Wifi, sleep, etc properly. Try as I might.

Any recommendations?

tmaly2• 8 years ago

I can't say much about thinkpads as the last one I owned I ran linux/bds on but it was in 1999.

If you want to go $200 or less in some cases get a cheap chrome book that allows you upgrade the SSD size. Then you can create a dual boot with your version of linux.

jason_slack4• 8 years ago

I had thought about this route. My issue is there are so many chromebooks to choose from. If you have thoughts on a decent one I'd be happy to listen :-)

tmaly2• 8 years ago

some of the Acer chromebooks have the option to upgrade the RAM or SSD. I would consider one of these, but you will have to search if the one you are interested has this feature.

infiniteseeker2• 8 years ago

I am typing this on a Lenovo X220. This laptop has an i5 with 8G of RAM (going to add 8G more to get to 16) and a 250G SSD (it came with 4G of RAM and a 250G hd but I replaced the 4G stick with an 8G DDR3 stick and the hd with ssd). It is almost as good as anything on the market out there - barring retina display. I would suggest this without hesitation.

jason_slack4• 8 years ago

What distro are you using? Did it work out of the box or did you have to tweak conf files to get it working?

infiniteseeker2• 8 years ago

Ubuntu, but I have tried Tumbleweed, Arch and OpenBSD on these laptops and no issues whatsoever. Works OOTB for Ubuntu. For OpenbSD, I had to dl the "non-free" firmware for Wifi but em0 (ethernet) works out of the box

thinkxl• 8 years ago

I use a Thinkpad X220 too.

There's an entire community around getting your Thinkpad the way you want.

One time I had to replace the wireless card and instead of going to a technician or Best Buy I asked in the IRC channel (##ibmthinkpad on Freenode); the people in there gave me instructions and the exact Amazon links for what I needed. It saved me time and money.

- http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/ubuntu/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/4lwc01/challenge_...

Edit: added some links and IRC channel.

nkkollaw3• 8 years ago

After spending EUR 1,800 on my 10th and last Apple laptop--the new MacBook Pro which after much frustration I sold for EUR 1,000--I bought the Cube Thinker.

Horrible keyboard, but 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD.

Most importantly AMAZING hidpi/retina touchscreen. Same exact screen as the Surface Book: 3000x2000 (almost 4k), 3:2 so that you get 25% more vertical space.

Ubuntu works great with 4.16 kernel (coming out soon, RC2 works perfectly). Even the touchscreen works.

$500 on GearBest.

stealthcat• 8 years ago

How horrible is horrible

nkkollaw3• 8 years ago

Yes but the MacBook Pro was horribler.

sicelo• 8 years ago

It seems to me you already have a good laptop. What version of Debian/Ubuntu are you using? kernel?

jason_slack4• 8 years ago

Debian 9 or Ubuntu 16.04.03

Zelmor• 8 years ago

T420 with Debian 9, everything works out of the box.

kanishkdudeja• 8 years ago

XPS 13 9360. I use it and it works flawlessly.

slipwalker• 8 years ago

my 2cents is look for a Dell. I have been using a FullHD Dell XPS lx502 for over 4 years now as my main system, and both Slackware or Ubuntu ( to stay compatible with my bank... ) ran fine. Easy to upgrade, replaced RAM to 16Gb, HD to SSD and wifi miniboard to 802.11ac over the years, and still running strong, although optimus video is a real pain and lately the loudspeakers are getting funny...

Ask HN: Linux laptop on a budget?

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