Mint compatibility with laptops

[tyw7]

I am looking into buying a Windows laptop and convert it into a Linux laptop.

Does anybody have any experience with converting these into Linux machines?

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computin ... 0-pdt.html
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computin ... 9-pdt.html

If I install Linux on https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computin ... 9-pdt.html, does the touchscreen still work? Also, which pen would work with it?

I had spoken with PC World and they said if something goes wrong, I would need to re-install Windows on it. How easy is it to re-convert these laptops back to Windows?

[deepakdeshp]

Mint hardware.

https://community.linuxmint.com/hardware

[michael louwe]

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Those laptops with 8th-gen Intel processors are still too new for LM 19's kernel 4.15 = not yet fully-supported, eg freezing problems. They may need at least Linux kernel 4.17 to work properly or fully. Rolling releases like Arch Linux may work.

The recent Linux kernels support touchscreen.

[Pierre]

if you can get it - - try obtaining an second-hand Win-7 Laptop,,
rather than the later versions of win-8 or win-10,, which are more tricky to convert,
- but, not impossible - just not as easy to convert.


and I've had much success with the Lenovo Brand,,
but, also Toshiba, Acer, do work well too.
those HPs,, Dells, are also a little tricky, but again, not impossible.

[JosephM]

I don't own one of those specific machines but I do own 3 other HP machines. All of them "just work" with Linux Mint. The newest is about a year old and has a touchscreen that seems to work just fine under Mint Cinnamon though I'll admit I'm not a heavy user of the feature.

Someone mentioned the 8th gen intels being an issue. System76 ships Ubuntu 18.04 machines with these so I'm not sure how concerned I'd be but might be worth looking into a bit more.

[tyw7]

.

.
Those laptops with 8th-gen Intel processors are still too new for LM 19's kernel 4.15 = not yet fully-supported, eg freezing problems. They may need at least Linux kernel 4.17 to work properly or fully. Rolling releases like Arch Linux may work.

The recent Linux kernels support touchscreen.

So I'll need to update to the latest kernel version after install?

[tyw7]

if you can get it - - try obtaining an second-hand Win-7 Laptop,,
rather than the later versions of win-8 or win-10,, which are more tricky to convert,
- but, not impossible - just not as easy to convert.


and I've had much success with the Lenovo Brand,,
but, also Toshiba, Acer, do work well too.
those HPs,, Dells, are also a little tricky, but again, not impossible.

How about single boot? Most problem I see comes from dual booting

[Pierre]

can be the same issues with Single Boot, if that is on an more recently made machine:
- it's that hardware that was changed with win-8x,, & win-10 machines.

one thing that is suggested, is to rip out the existing HDD & replace that with a new & bigger HDD,
than the one that the machine comes with - - keep the original HDD for any warranty purposes.

[tyw7]

can be the same issues with Single Boot, if that is on an more recently made machine:
- it's that hardware that was changed with win-8x,, & win-10 machines.

one thing that is suggested, is to rip out the existing HDD & replace that with a new & bigger HDD,
than the one that the machine comes with - - keep the original HDD for any warranty purposes.

Is it the UEFI?

I'm not too familiar with newer laptops but my old laptop had a recovery media version tool that can be used to reinstall the OEM version.

What would be the correct procedure if I want to convert it and keep the warranty?

[Pierre]

it's both the UEFI & the Secure Boot thing, that some machines are difficult to deal with.

some of the HPs have a recovery partition, system partition, boot partition, C: drive,,
so there is no Free Partition to use under ms-dos type partitioning. & that can be a decision to deal with.

if you are concerned with any warranty, then you do need to backup everything,
before to erase any partitions, & before you install any Linux System.

if you do have the ability, then it's often easier to just swap out the HDD,
and then use a new HDD for the Linux Installation,, or even pay a shop to do that for you.

[tyw7]

it's both the UEFI & the Secure Boot thing, that some machines are difficult to deal with.

some of the HPs have a recovery partition, system partition, boot partition, C: drive,,
so there is no Free Partition to use under ms-dos type partitioning. & that can be a decision to deal with.

Complete wipe of the partitions? And do the machine come with some sort of recovery media creation tool eg burn to DVD or USB?

[tyw7]

I don't own one of those specific machines but I do own 3 other HP machines. All of them "just work" with Linux Mint. The newest is about a year old and has a touchscreen that seems to work just fine under Mint Cinnamon though I'll admit I'm not a heavy user of the feature.

Someone mentioned the 8th gen intels being an issue. System76 ships Ubuntu 18.04 machines with these so I'm not sure how concerned I'd be but might be worth looking into a bit more.

So only the core function works?

[Pierre]

the decision usually comes with deciding on which partition to Delete & then re-use.
& if you back-up the recovery partition to disks - - usually 3 -4 DVDs are needed.
then you can now use that partition to re-size the whole HDD & to install that Linux System.

you can get lucky with those newer machines & the Linux System will just work,
& you are rather pleasantly surprised - - it does happen.

try talking to the shop, where those machines are, about converting them,
and ask if you can "test drive" them, with a bootable usb stick,, to see if they do work - or not.
as the problem that I've often had, is that shop is staffed by youngsters, who often know little about recycling hardware.
ie: they know how to use the Windows System & that's about all that they know. ..

[dmntdew]

I just bought an Acer Aspire 3 A317-52-569E. After some work I have it running Linux Mint 20.2 well. I haven't seen any problems so far. I did order a second solid state M.2 drive and replace the windows drive in case I wanted Windows down the road. I had to make changes in Bios and change the SATA mode from RST to AHCI (press ctrl+s in the main BIOS tab in order the option to appear).

[SMG]

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