I’m considering getting a laptop for Linux and want to know a few things before I do. Some important info before I start: I don’t plan on using the laptop for anything too intense, mainly writing, digital art, streaming, browsing, and maybe very mild video editing (cropping at least and shortening at most). I would also prefer the laptop to be inexpensive, preferably under 1000 USD

I mainly want to know if whether I should get a laptop by a manufacturer that specializes in Linux or a laptop that runs a different OS (exp: Windows) to install Linux on later. I’ve also scouted out quite a few distros and have a good idea of which ones I would like using

I’ve already looked at a few mainline Linux hardware producers like System76 but want to know if it’s worth it before sinking money into it

  • delial@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    I’m relatively happy with my System76, but based on your needs you could get a lot of value from a $500 used ThinkPad on Ebay.

    • Meow.tar.gz@lemmy.goblackcat.com
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      1 year ago

      I get a lot of value from my 150.00 ThinkPad T430s but then all I do is web browsing and occasionally compiling software on it so not exactly intensive things. It’s a basic machine. A ThinkPad T series closer to 500.00 would be very functional.

      • delial@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, I have a couple T420 ThinkPads, and for $100 they’re pretty sweet, but they show their age.

    • PurrJPro@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      Ooo, what do you like about System76? I know they’re well respected, but I’d like to hear about it from somebody who actually uses the hardware, especially since Pop!_OS has caught my attention more than once

      • delial@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        The main thing I like is the hardware support. I knew before purchasing that everything would work, and that helped me feel okay dropping a pretty penny on a new laptop. Besides that, I’d say they’re fine. They aren’t designing and manufacturing their own hardware (at least not back when I bought one); the laptops are pretty standard off-the-shelf stuff. System76 just promises that it’ll all work out-of-the-box. I’ve never used Pop!_OS, so I can’t speak to that. Arch and Debian work great, though.

        The only negative I can think of is: once the battery started to go after several years, they didn’t have a replacement in their store, but because it’s a generic laptop, there were new ones available on Amazon. It just would’ve been nice to get it from System76.

        All-in-all, I’m a happy customer. I’m keeping my eye on Framework, though. The MNT Reform is also interesting. I don’t like how thick it is, but that’s because it uses 18650s for the battery, which would solve the problem of buying a new battery just to find that all the batteries were manufactured at the same time, so there are no working replacements.

        • letbelight@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Their battery can be replaced with any battery? How to do that? Other manufacture OEM battery?

            • letbelight@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              ah… you mean refilling the battery right?

              I tried that last time… I have no luck… Poor X220 can’t get 10 hours with 9 cell like old times :'(

          • delial@lemmy.sdf.org
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            1 year ago

            It’s not any battery. They just didn’t do the original manufacturing, so you can find compatible replacements elsewhere.

            I bought the System76 Kudu laptop back in 2016, but it is actually a W670RZ model laptop manufactured by Clevo Co. in China (unlike my previous laptop which was a MacBook Pro manufactured by Apple in China). System76 wasn’t the only company selling the W670RZ, so they’re not the only ones you can go to for replacement parts.

        • PurrJPro@beehaw.orgOP
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          1 year ago

          Ooo, good to know! It sucks they don’t offer hardware replacements on-site, but it’s good to know that they’re easy to find. And I doubt I’m going to be using Arch anytime soon (due to personal inexperience) but I would like to test Pop!_OS. Thank you for the detailed reply :D

      • JoeyJoeJoeJr@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        FWIW, I have a galp5, and had a lot of stability issues with Pop. I used it for well over a year, as I thought using their own OS on the machine they sold me would give the best results. Ultimately I spent a lot of time opening support tickets, and trying to work around issues (desktop stuttering, crashes, touchpad randomly would stop responding, etc). I did not find their support team particularly helpful. I finally installed stock Ubuntu, and it’s been significantly more stable.

        I don’t plan to buy from them again. If I were buying now, I’d be looking at Framework (probably their upcoming, larger model with the dedicated GPU).

      • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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        1 year ago

        My laptop still runs Ubuntu. But the 500 mb boot partition is basically now non functional and since I use luks on the main partition and hate snap I’m just strongly considering moving to pop. I also use an egpu quite frequently.

        • PurrJPro@beehaw.orgOP
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          1 year ago

          Ahh, I see. Well, what’s your experience with the hardware itself, then? Specifically the durability, weight, etc.

          • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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            1 year ago

            Sorry. I dont use a system76 laptop, i looked at getting the Lemur when i bought mine, but stock was hard to come by (it was the whole covid and supply chain nonsense).

            I ended up getting a razer blade stealth 13 with the 11th Gen intel CPU.

            Ultimately I wanted portability to be the primary thing over all else. BUt a GPU was nice to have.

            My laptop is solid. But i tend to take pretty solid care of this stuff. Wouldnt necessarily reccomend any razer product to most personally. Their QA is questionable. And I take certain steps to keep it stable (ie: blocking some of their software at the firewall etc)

              • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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                1 year ago

                lol me too. Was pretty risky for me, even going in eyes wide open. Would probably do a lemur or framework next laptop. In fact that may be what I get the wife.

                That or a MacBook Air. But I’d like to avoid that.

                • PurrJPro@beehaw.orgOP
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                  1 year ago

                  I’ve heard amazing things about noth Framework nd System76! I’m sure u can’t go wrong with either :) and I feel ya w/ ur avoidance of Apple products, lol