Which new laptops will run Mint12?

[madwoollything]

I'd like to purchase a new laptop and have been looking around for some guidance as to which of the latest crop of laptops sub £400 will have compatibility with Mint/Ubuntu - i.e. all the hardware just works, wireless, microphone, webcam, keyboard shortcuts etc.

I've found some sites such as http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/ & http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1543006&highlight=acer & http://www.linux-laptop.net/ but these resources don't seem to cover the laptops I'm considering such as:

- Acer Aspire 5733 15.6 inch Laptop Intel Core i3-370M Processor
- Toshiba Satellite Pro C660-255 Laptop Intel Core i3 Sandybridge
- LENOVO Z575 15.6" Laptop Quad-core AMD A6-3420M processor
- TOSHIBA Satellite L750D-14R 15.6" Laptop Dual-core AMD E-450 processor
- HP Pavilion g6-1353sa 15.6" Laptop Dual-core Intel® Pentium® B960 processor

As I am buying on-line, it is not possible to run a live CD to discover whether the hardware will work.
Can anyone suggest any links or resources where I can discover (before making a purchase), which laptops are likely to work 'out of the box' with Mint12?

[AlbertP]

I would take one with Intel graphics. Of course the Lenovo one is also a good laptop and Lenovos usually work well with Linux, but its AMD graphics may cause all sorts of problems. I don't really have much experience with Toshibas, but the L570D also has AMD graphics.

Acer laptops sometimes have wifi problems, but the Toshiba C660 and HP ones should be OK. The HP laptop has a bit slower CPU than the others, but this can also mean that the laptop has longer battery life (haven't checked the capacities of the batteries of them yet, however).

[babysitteronacid]

I've got a Toshiba satellite L750/L755 and it runs Linux very well. I'm running Katya on it. The only thing that's noticeable is a graphical Hiccup every 20 secs or so - when Gnome 2 desktop effects are switched on AND there is some moving graphic thing going on (like a game or the screen saver). It doesn't do it when gnome 2's effects are switched off. Some conflict with Sandybridge I think.
With Debian Mint I had the problem that there was no sound coming out of the phones jack. (sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
then add " options snd-hda-intel model=ideapad " (Reboot) . That fixed the problem quickly).
KDE desktops worked better I found.
BOA

[clatworthy]

I have loaded Mint 12 Gnome onto a widescreen Compaq Presario (like the HP Pavillion I think) with an nVidia graphics card and it works a treat - you should have no problems with any other Compaq.

[AlbertP]

I've got a Toshiba satellite L750/L755 and it runs Linux very well. I'm running Katya on it. The only thing that's noticeable is a graphical Hiccup every 20 secs or so - when Gnome 2 desktop effects are switched on AND there is some moving graphic thing going on (like a game or the screen saver). It doesn't do it when gnome 2's effects are switched off. Some conflict with Sandybridge I think.

This must be a different L750 model - the one madwoolything mentioned is an AMD based version instead of an Intel based one.

[madwoollything]

I've got a Toshiba satellite L750/L755 and it runs Linux very well. I'm running Katya on it. The only thing that's noticeable is a graphical Hiccup every 20 secs or so - when Gnome 2 desktop effects are switched on AND there is some moving graphic thing going on (like a game or the screen saver). It doesn't do it when gnome 2's effects are switched off. Some conflict with Sandybridge I think.

This must be a different L750 model - the one madwoolything mentioned is an AMD based version instead of an Intel based one.

Is Intel generally a better bet than AMD for comparability?

[AlbertP]

For graphics, yes. Other AMD hardware is usually fine.

[madwoollything]

Thanks for all comments so far ......

I've found a Samsung NP300E5A-AO2DX core i5 for a good price. Anyone any experience of this or similar laptops?

[AlbertP]

Samsung seems to be working OK as I don't see much complaints about them on the forum. The NP300E5A has Intel HD Graphics 3000 which should work fine.

[madwoollything]

Samsung seems to be working OK as I don't see much complaints about them on the forum. The NP300E5A has Intel HD Graphics 3000 which should work fine.

Brilliant .... thanks

[icoto]

The Acer works great, i'm using it and, by far, haven't had too much problem.

[overthetop]

Strangly enough, every computer I ever ran Mint on was an HP with nVidia graphics and it works great! The graphics driver runs perfectly and Mint runs fast and smooth.

Good luck!

[AlbertP]

That's true. My HP also has nvidia.

But HP's laptops of today use NVidia Optimus which is not really working in many cases. There are some complaints/problems about those HP's on the forum. It also happens that you are using Intel graphics without knowing this.

[madwoollything]

Thanks for all comments so far ......

I've found a Samsung NP300E5A-AO2DX core i5 for a good price. Anyone any experience of this or similar laptops?

PS New machine is just brilliant ....... Samsung NP300E5A-AO2DX core i5 ..... all the hardware works out of the box!

[george-e-porge]

Thanks for all comments so far ......

I've found a Samsung NP300E5A-AO2DX core i5 for a good price. Anyone any experience of this or similar laptops?

I am using a Samsung QX411 and it is brilliant. That is, if you don't mind paying a little more for what you get. I'm not sure of the exhcange rate, but i bought mine new for $750 USD at Best Buy, so i am sure you could find one $650 range online.
Pros: super battery life, first day i got it, i ran it for nearly 9 hours before plugging in
Core i5 2450m has huge muscles for the amount of battery it sips
Super sexy finish, brushed aluminum on black
gorgeous LED display, although slightly glossy
1000Gb storage

cons: Heavy for a 14 incher, due to the aluminum chasis
Non-removeable battery
No native "pause/play,previous, or next" buttons,
8Gb maximum RAM (comes with 6Gb)
Built-in microphone is kinda weak

Other thatn that, it's perfect for me. Mint 12 works perfect, but use a 64-bit version.

[madwoollything]

Thanks .... Samsung laptops seem to be really nice and run Mint 12 nicely

[chalkoboard]

Thanks .... Samsung laptops seem to be really nice and run Mint 12 nicely

nicely if you dont mind your Fn key functions to not work properly, your screen resolution to be limited, your wifi on/off physical button to be functionless and a few other problems. yea works great with the new samsung laptops.

[AlbertP]

nicely if you dont mind your Fn key functions to not work properly, your screen resolution to be limited, your wifi on/off physical button to be functionless and a few other problems. yea works great with the new samsung laptops.

@ chalkoboard: you seem to have a problematic Samsung model. Most Samsungs are fine however, especially if you take one with Intel graphics only which doesn't have resolution issues.

[chalkoboard]

nicely if you dont mind your Fn key functions to not work properly, your screen resolution to be limited, your wifi on/off physical button to be functionless and a few other problems. yea works great with the new samsung laptops.

@ chalkoboard: you seem to have a problematic Samsung model. Most Samsungs are fine however, especially if you take one with Intel graphics only which doesn't have resolution issues.

I am using the samsung qx411 as the user above. i am unable to increase my resolution higher than 1366x768
and the Fn keys to control brightness and other functions (which is a known problem)

[AlbertP]

You could better have said that the QX411 wasn't working well, instead of that Samsung in general is working badly which is not true. By the way we were talking about cheaper laptops with integrated graphics instead of one with nvidia optimus.