Anybody installed Mint on Lenovo 100 S ? What do you think?

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hiwayman

Anybody installed Mint on Lenovo 100 S ? What do you think?

Post by hiwayman »

Reason I ask... I've been casting around for a newish laptop, not wanting to pay for Windows 10, not wanting a touchscreen much, but 64 bit & HDMI would be nice.

SO- there's this Lenovo 100s Ideapad closing out at Best Buy for U$ 150. It has win10 on it, but at that price I could wipe it or dual boot it, whatever.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage. ... &keys=keys

Lenovo has a very similar model that is sold as a Chromebook. The 100s has gotten oddly good reviews in several places, and it has HDMI out.

Here are various details:
16" display Typical 1366 x 768 HD resolution. Energy-efficient LED backlight.
Intel® Atom™ processor Z3735F Entry-level quad-core processor for general e-mail, Internet and productivity tasks.
2GB system memoryn Enough high-bandwidth RAM to meet the system requirements and run basic programs, but not many at once.
32GB eMMC flash storage This ultracompact memory system is ideal for mobile devices and applications, providing enhanced storage capabilities, streamlined data management, quick boot-up times and support for high-definition video playback.
Intel® HD Graphics On-processor graphics with shared video memory provide everyday image quality for Internet use, basic photo editing and casual gaming.
Weighs 2.2 lbs. and measures 0.69" thin Ultrathin and ultralight for maximum portability, featuring a smaller screen size and omitting the DVD/CD drive to achieve the compact form factor. 2-cell lithium battery.
Built-in media reader for simple photo transfer Supports microSD memory card format.
Wireless network connectivity Built-in high-speed wireless LAN connects to your network or hotspots on the most common Wi-Fi standards.
Built-in webcam with microphone
Microphone-in/headphone-out combo jack.


It is not a widescreen format and it has no DVD drive. I prefer the taller 4:3 format for page work, and I have an external burner if ever needed. It has no CAT5 socket and the 2 gigs of RAM seem limiting; but 17.3 is running fine on my old Tosh with 2 gigs and a dual core Pentium.

I may be attracted to it because it is so cheap and also RED.

What do you guys think?
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bbaker6212
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Re: Anybody installed Mint on Lenovo 100 S ? What do you think?

Post by bbaker6212 »

The Intel® Atom™ "bay-trail" processor Z3735F is still not well supported by most Linux distro's. It might be able to be made to work but not so easy.
I recommend you go for a Celeron machine instead like this Acer for the same pricehttp://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-aspire ... Id=5033632

Here is a forum member who is using it with Linux Mint 17.3: viewtopic.php?f=49&t=216630
Linux Mint XFCE 21.1 , Windows 11, Pop!_OS 22.04 Acer Aspire 5 A515-57 (linux-probe), Core i5-1235U, 16GB RAM
Lenovo Ideapad 330S-15IKB (linux-probe), Core i5-8250U, 20GB RAM
hiwayman

Re: Anybody installed Mint on Lenovo 100 S ? What do you think?

Post by hiwayman »

Thanks bbaker!
After a few days of restraining myself, I think it might have just been the red casing... :shock:
You prob'ly saved me from winding up returning it. And I don't want ultimately cheap if it will be a perpetual pain to use
I looked at several reviews for the Acer and the article you linked. Couple things of note- poorly secured touchpad, and CPU pushed to 100% by Chrome or Firefox. USB 3 but not on the SD card, which is the logical way to upgrade these machines. It is one of the nicest thing about Raspberry Pi machines.
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jimallyn
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Re: Anybody installed Mint on Lenovo 100 S ? What do you think?

Post by jimallyn »

Several Mint users have installed on the Lenovo, but not without problems:

viewtopic.php?t=211457

viewtopic.php?t=224602
“If the government were coming for your TVs and cars, then you'd be upset. But, as it is, they're only coming for your sons.” - Daniel Berrigan
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bbaker6212
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Re: Anybody installed Mint on Lenovo 100 S ? What do you think?

Post by bbaker6212 »

For low cost and decent performance, while still decent battery life, check out notebooks with the Intel Braswell Celeron and Pentium processors which are 4-6 watt TDP. Those are more likely to run most Linux distro's with the least driver/firmware/etc. tweaks needed. Some are quad-core and pretty decent speed for the money. AMD also has some value offerings. A8 or A10? Intel Core-M processors or Core i3's are good value but usually a bump up in price.
Intel has announced that Atom's are going away and even now, they are not well supported other than for Windows.

I would also go with at least 4GB of RAM. 2GB will run fine if you are conservative with running stuff at once, but if you are are an internet power-browser with normally lots of browser tabs open 2GB won't be enough.
Linux Mint XFCE 21.1 , Windows 11, Pop!_OS 22.04 Acer Aspire 5 A515-57 (linux-probe), Core i5-1235U, 16GB RAM
Lenovo Ideapad 330S-15IKB (linux-probe), Core i5-8250U, 20GB RAM
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Andow
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Re: Anybody installed Mint on Lenovo 100 S ? What do you think?

Post by Andow »

Well, I have a Lenovo Ideapad 100s with 4GB Ram 128GB SSD, I'm running a duel system W10 with Linux Mint Cinnamon. No I would not recommend it since it crashes a couple of times a day, spell-checkers do not work yet,but Its still work in progress. All the best in your quest.
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