I’m currently in the process of looking for a new laptop to use as a daily driver. My main use cases are: coding & occasional casual gaming (nothing AAA).
I’ve previously bought a couple of laptops from Linux-specific vendors, but I’ve been let down by the build quality & customer service. One has a difficult to use trackpad, and seems to require a new top case every year or so (when the screen hinge mounts disintegrate). The other has a keyboard that is so bad that I find myself no longer using it for coding. This has been replaced twice to no avail; once by me & once by the vendor (whose courier damaged it, but neither the courier nor the vendor would do anything about it).
This is a roundabout way of saying I’m not inclined to throw more money on the fire that is buying from another Linux-specific laptop vendor. My new strategy is to go for a more mainstream ‘Linux-friendly’ manufacturer, or at least one where people have had good experiences with hardware compatibility in the past.
Can anyone recommend a laptop/manufacturer that:
Has good Linux compatibility or is ‘Linux-friendly’ (e.g. makes use of LVFS).
Is not a small niche Linux-only vendor.
Has a 14-in display.
Has a decent AMD CPU & GPU (APU is fine — Doesn’t need to have a discrete GPU).
Has 16+ GB of RAM (R is not the most memory efficient of programming languages).
Costs ≤ €2k.
So far, I’ve found these two options, but I was wondering whether anyone has any other suggestions:
HP Elitebook 845 G10/11. Had both. Great laptops. 2.5k 500-nit screen available. 2 SODIMM slots. Socketed wifi, although it does come with AMD/Mediatek so Linux works with it.
I was HIGHLY disappointed in the 2.8k OLED on the P14s gen4 myself (same panel as the gen5 high end option)
I would take the Lenovo over the Dell every day of the week! Is on sale here and also is non touch screen which i would prefer myself. I’m sure they have different models in your location than what is available here.
I don’t know about this Lenovo model, but I have bought a lenovo ideapad slim 3 15abr8 (cheaper than the one you want) without searching for Linux compatibility issues and my model has a lot of issues with things like sleep and less annoying stuff like fingerprint reader and battery overcharge protection. I have solved most of the issues with workarounds but the sleep is issue is kind of annoying.
I am in love with my Framework 13 laptop; I’ve had it for a year and a half now with only minor, fixable issues. Though it’s 13", not 14", the aspect ratio of the screen is tall, so for tasks like coding it may actually be better than some 14" laptops.
Framework may not be mainstream yet, but it’s growing very fast and is, as OP requested, “linux-friendly,” not linux-specific. There was a funny anecdote that the company CEO is the dedicated Windows tester because none of the engineers want to use windows.
Do take a close look at the integrated graphics choices, though. It may not be enough for medium-duty gaming.
it’s actually the first time i hear about LVFS. For me it seems like a big limiting factor for little gain. windows ISOs can be freely downloaded from the microsoft website and installing a windows copy for 1 hour also doesn’t require any payment. is it a hassle? it is. but many laptops don’t even get one firmware update in their lifetime.
checking if there is a firmware update is as simple as visiting the manufacturer’s website, you don’t really need a tool to check for new updates.
I was initially considering an AMD Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 Gen 9, but I was worried about hardware support on Linux. I was kind of using LVFS as a proxy indicator for all the hardware being well supported.
What I do is this: I search for a model I like (metal chassis is important for me, RAM & SSD upgrade-ability, or at least a minimum of double the RAM of what I currently need, if it’s soldered), then I search for compatibility of that particular model with Linux, based on forum posts on all possible Linux forums, or reddit.
The recommendation I made above is what I personally use (it’s a machine i bought half a year ago), and everything just works (including the graphics which no longer rely on Optimus because there is just the one card built into the CPU and it works with the kernel provided drivers). It has good (and quiet) thermals, very good graphics performance, good CPU and fast RAM.
On the other hand, the Lenovo LOQ model which is closely priced (but has a dedicated GPU, being gamer oriented) has a myriad of problems with Linux, documented by users on forums. So every model needs to be considered, that’s why I said, pick a model and not a brand.
This being said, I think right now in a laptop, if you want to go AMD route, a very good choice is the 7840HS or 8845HS CPU (the latter being a rebranded 7840HS), or if you have access to 9th gen Ryzen whatever they got out by the time of your purchase that has the successor of the Radeon 780m built into it.
Business class laptops get new BIOS CONSISTENTLY, whenever the CPU manufacturer releases security updates for their CPU, they get updates. I’ve had 4 or 5 updates so far this year for almost all my ThinkPads and HP EliteBooks/Zbooks, including the Thinkpad that’s coming up on 3 years old. This is one of the reasons that some people prefer the business laptops, they simply have more secure implementations of the low level OS nowadays to prevent security issues.
I’ll just point out, it’s not ENTIRELY a rebranded 7840HS. It does have EXTREMELY minor differences in silicon, having 2 XDNA NPU cores instead of the 1 in the 7840HS. Otherwise, yes, it’s identical.
I’m not saying it’s a great change. Just want to clarify that it’s not actually a rebrand. The 5x25U/5x75U were rebrands. The 7x30U were rebrands. The 7x35U are rebrands. The 8845HS does have minor changes in the silicon, so it’s not a rebrand. Just wanting OP to be aware if they do consider it.